‘A day out of Sunderland is a day wasted.” So claimed Charlie Slater, council leader in the 1970s, and a man known as “Mr Sunderland” to generations of Mackems.

Actor and singer Cynthia Erivo is unlikely to agree. On a social media clip taken from an appearance on the Amber Ruffin show on NBC in the US, Erivo compared different British cities she had visited. Manchester, she told her American audience, is “incredible because it feels like London”. Sunderland, though … “You go to Sunderland and you’re like, ‘Where the fuck am I?’” The viral clip gets cut here. In the full interview, Erivo continues: “I don’t know where I am. This is not where I live.”

Born and raised in south London, Erivo is one of the outstanding talents of her generation, having won both a Tony and a Grammy for her role in the Broadway revival of The Color Purple. Ten days ago, she was appointed vice-president of Rada, the Royal Academy of Dramatic Art.

Over the past week, it is Erivo’s view of Sunderland, though, that has drawn attention. Some heard in the Amber Ruffin clip the “fashionable liberal metropolitan disdain” that had led to Brexit, or an expression of the north-south divide. Others were more disdainful of the criticism, seeing merely someone “cracking a joke”.

Erivo is not a politician or commentator, and she was taking part in a lighthearted interview. We should not impose too great a weight upon her comments, even given her new role as Rada’s vice-president. Nevertheless, the sentiments Erivo expressed,........

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