Oh God, Stop Telling Benedict Cumberbatch You Think His Mom Is 'Hot'

Filed under things I should never, ever have to tell you, everyone please stop going up to Benedict Cumberbatch and telling him you think his mother is hot.

For those that don’t know, everyone’s most beloved Tumblr gif is the son of actress Wanda Ventham, who yes, is quite beautiful indeed. She starred in the science fiction drama UFO and had a recurring role in a sitcom called Only Fools and Horses which sounds fucking awesome, obviously. In the understatement of the year, Cumberbatch says he feels “awkward” when strange men come up to him in small, enclosed spaces and want talk to him about his hot, sexy mom:

“I’ve been trapped with men in elevators who say to me, ‘Oh… I really used to like your mum. She’s really hot'”, he told the Daily Mirror. ”I don’t know what to say. If I say, ‘No, she’s not’, that is really insulting to my mother, and if I say she is, it seems very wrong. She is smokin’, I guess.”

Yes, he’s at a loss for words because he’s too busy running and screaming in fit of maniacal panic to find the bleach in which he might douse his mind.

So, we’re all in agreement on this one. Let’s not go up to actor Benedict Cumberbatch and talk to him about his super hot mom,OK? Here’s a suggested list of nice conversation starters you can use if you ever run into him at the Taco Bell by your dorm room, (which is a thing I know about 75 percent of you believe totally could happen for real) that don’t have anything to do with the man’s mother:

I really liked you in The Fifth Estate!
I can’t wait to see you play Alan Turing! Did they let you keep the suspenders?
What is it like to work with Julia Roberts?
What is your favorite Burt Reynolds movie?
So which one was the biggest diva on set, the Tinker, the Tailor, the Soldier or the Spy?
Are you sad that you were only in the reboot of a Star Trek movie and never got to work with William Shatner? I mean, that gig’s got to be all about the Shatner, yeah?
Were you robbed of the crown in the Best Ever Dance-Off?

There you go! Take your pick and enjoy your now slightly less awkward small talk with a celebrity!