Today in news that sounds suspiciously like viral marketing but supposedly is not, The Sun is reporting that Benedict Cumberbatch scared off some muggers who were trying to steal a delivery man’s bike in London back in November. To make it even better, Cumberbatch played Sherlock Holmes on BBC’s Sherlock, and the incident happened relatively close to Holmes’ fictional home at 221B Baker Street. In another words, we’re all living in the Sherlock universe now, which means you can spend the day tidying up your Mind Palace while being a dick to everyone who just wants to help you solve mysteries. Don’t get too hung up on actually solving mysteries, though, as the true solution to any problem is the friends you made along the way.
As the story goes, Cumberbatch was riding in an Uber with a driver named Manuel Dias when he saw four muggers harassing a delivery man working for British food service Deliveroo. Cumberbatch jumped out of the car and pulled the muggers off of the man, at which point Dias joined him, noting that his famous passenger “seemed to know exactly what he was doing” and that he was “very brave.” Cumberbatch told the muggers to leave the guy alone, prompting them to try and hit him, but Dias says he defended himself and didn’t get hurt. At that point, the muggers must’ve noticed his cheekbones and realized who he was, because they then ran off.
Dias says Cumberbatch asked the delivery man if he was alright and gave him a hug. Back in the Uber, Cumberbatch reportedly insisted that “was not a hero,” and simply said, “I did it out of, well, I had to, you know” when asked why he stepped in. Of course, while London police did confirm that the incident happened, nobody other than the Uber driver and Deliveroo have said that Cumberbatch was the man who fought off the muggers. It’s possible Uber and Deliveroo made the whole thing up, since Cumberbatch would never come forward and say he didn’t do it, so let’s all assume the story is true but avoid using Uber and Deliveroo just to make sure we’re not being manipulated by advertisers.
If this were fake, though, would it have killed them to set the action near Greenwich Village in New York instead? The Avengers movies are hotter right now than Sherlock is, and back in the first paragraph we could’ve made a joke about Thanos’ goons trying to steal the Time Stone.