Urban Myths Star Joseph Fiennes:

Posted in: TV | Tagged: brian cox, Joseph Fiennes, michael jackson, Sky Arts, Stockard Channing, Urban Myths, whitewashing

Joseph Fiennes (The Witch Farm) on his “bad mistake” of deciding to play Michael Jackson in the Sky Arts anthology series “Urban Myths.”

Actor Joseph Fiennes is opening up about his experience and regret playing Michael Jackson for a 2017 episode of Urban Myths, the Sky Arts anthology series. The episode in question, “Elizabeth, Michael, and Marlon,” focused on the late “King of Pop,” who passed in 2009, taking a post-9/11 road trip with Marlon Brando (Brian Cox) and Elizabeth Taylor (Stockard Channing). As if the singer wasn’t controversial enough given his past legal issues, Fiennes’s casting as Jackson, who’s African American, created a whitewashing backlash as the actor donned a prosthetic nose to play the role.

“I think people are absolutely right to be upset,” Fiennes told The Observer while promoting his play Dear England in London’s National Theatre. “And it was a wrong decision. Absolutely. And I’m one part of that — there are producers, broadcasters, writers, and directors all involved in these decisions. But obviously, if I’m upfront, I have become the voice for other people. I would love them to be around the table as well to talk about it. But you know, it came at a time where there was a movement and a shift, and that was good, and it was, you know, a bad call. A bad mistake.” The actor revealed he “asked the broadcaster to pull it, and there were some pretty hefty discussions, but ultimately people made the right choice.”

Sky pulled the episode before its intended broadcast, releasing a statement, “We have taken the decision not to broadcast ‘Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon,’ a half-hour episode from the Sky Arts ‘Urban Myths’ series, in light of the concerns expressed by Michael Jackson’s immediate family. We set out to take a lighthearted look at reportedly true events and never intended to cause any offense.” Jackson’s daughter Paris Jackson blasted the episode online, writing, “It honestly makes me want to vomit.” You can check out the rest of the interview here.

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