Uh? What did he just say?

New 007 author Anthony Horowitz has recently received flak due to comments he made on Idris Elba's potential casting as the successor to Daniel Craig's big screen version of Bond.

Horowitz spoke to an English news outfit over the weekend to talk about "Trigger Mortis" and his first go-around as the 007 writer.

"I remember seeing Dr No in the cinema at the age of eight. It was one of the most significant moments of my life," the 60-year-old Englishman told Daily Mail.

He then went on to praise Daniel Craig's portrayal of Bond. He said, "Casino Royale" is his favorite 007 movie post-Sean Connery. The author didn't have a liking for Craig's following Bond outings, though, with "Skyfall" being his least favorite.

"Bond is weak in it. He has doubts. That's not Bond," Horowitz explained. "And if you have to protect the Head of MI6 from a madman, do you take her to a Scottish farmhouse with no weapons? And tell your bad guy where you are, so he will arrive with six people to kill her? And then M escapes and stands on top of a hill waving a torch to tell them where she is! It's that sort of thing that made me angry."

But the most noteworthy bit of the interview came when Horowitz was asked to comment on a fan-favorite actor to succeed Craig.

"Idris Elba is a terrific actor, but I can think of other black actors who would do it better," said the author."For me, Idris Elba is a bit too rough to play the part. It's not a colour issue. I think he is probably a bit too 'street' for Bond. Is it a question of being suave? Yeah."

Naturally, this did not sit well with social media users, who eventually accused him of racism. Horowitz has since addressed the issue on his Twitter account. He said that he used the word "street" as he recalled Elba's tenacious TV character John Luther, although he admitted that his choice of word was clumsy.

Horowitz's comments do not affect any casting choices for the next Bond, though, since Eon Productions has the final say on every 007-related film. On the other hand, the Ian Fleming estate has total dominion over every iteration of Bond in literature.

"Trigger Mortis" is set two weeks after the events of Fleming's "Goldfinger" in 1957. Its story deals with space race in the late '50s and will feature the feisty Pussy Galore. The novel will be released on Sept. 8 while "Spectre" will hit theaters on Nov. 6.