“Bad decision”: This white actor should have played Michael Jackson

Since 2017, the British show Urban Myths tells a fictional version of a more or less legendary pop-culture event, with real-life characters often reprized by famous comedians. It’s been delayed since 2020, but one day we may see a fifth season. That said, the show could have stopped in its first year!

The series has sparked controversy since episode 6 of the first season. Titled Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon, it tells the story of the group escape of Elizabeth Taylor (Stockard Channing), Michael Jackson and Marlon Brando (Brian Cox) after the September 11, 2001 attacks. The peculiarity of the episode is that Michael Jackson had to explain… to the white actor Joseph Fiennes!

Immediately, many protests flourished on the web guardian He calls the decision “problematic”. Paris Jackson, Michael’s daughter, said it was her “horribly upset” And that idea inspired him “vomit”. After this bad buzz, the producer channel Sky Arts decided not to broadcast the offending episode.

If Fiennes wasn’t really aware of the problem at the time, he is at the microphone today DeadlineHe returned to this period, retrospectively judged that the fact of being chosen for this role was a “bad decision”And that people had “reason to be angry”added:

I participated – as did the producers, broadcasters, writers and directors involved in these decisions. But it happened at a time when there was movement and positive change, and it was a bad choice. A terrible mistake.

The “moment” Fiennes referred to was the #OscarsSoWhite movement, which refers to the fact that the 2016 Oscar nominations were all for white actors and actresses, both for Best and Supporting Actor. In this context of the “too white” Oscars, the fact that a white actor played a black musician and dancer did not go unnoticed.

Remember there was precedent, as Mexican-British actor Diego Luna played a Michael Jackson lookalike in Harmony Korine’s Mister Lonely, released in 2008.