The descendants of slaves are being sought by a task force.
An official from the task force didn't rule out targeting Benedict's family.
There were 250 slaves on the sugar plantation that belonged to Cumberbatch's ancestors.
According to The Telegraph, Benedict Cumberbatch's family could face demands for compensation for slavery over historical links to a sugar plantation.
The wealthy descendants of slave owners are being targeted as part of a campaign to get compensation for slavery.
The National Task Force on Reparations, part of the Caricom Reparations Commission, used to focus on seeking compensation from colonial powers and wealthy institutions that made a lot of money from slavery, according to The Guardian.
The British Conservative Member of Parliament Richard Drax was targeted for the first time over his family's ownership of a sugar plantation.
The Guardian reported last month that David Comissiong, the ambassador to Caricom and deputy chairman of the state's task force, said that Drax and other families could face litigation if they don't agree to pay compensation.
He said it was before the government of Barbados. At the highest level, it is being dealt with.
The family is facing a claim. Comissiong didn't rule out the possibility of pursuing the family of Benedict Cumberbatch.
He said it was at the beginning. We are just getting started. There is a lot of this history that is not currently known.
David Denny told The Telegraph that descendants of plantation owners who benefited from the slave trade should be asked to pay compensation.
The Cleland plantation was purchased in the 18th century by Cumberbatch's ancestors. Slavery was abolished in 1834.
The family made a lot of money from the plantation. The family received a payment from the British government after the abolition of slavery.
The actor talked about his family's past. "You don't have to look far to see the slave-owning past," he told The Telegraph. It's a shock that we were part of the entire sugar industry.
In the movie "12 Years a Slave," he played a slave owner, and in the movie "Amazing Grace," he played William Pitt the Younger.
The role in "Amazing Grace" was seen by Benedict as an apology for his family's involvement in the slave trade.
According to the newspaper, Cumberbatch's mother once told him not to use his family's last name professionally in case he became the target of a campaign for compensation.
Cumberbatch didn't reply to the request for comment.
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