- Music
- 12 Jan 17
Paris Jackson says she's "incredibly offended" and wants to vomit at the thought of the white British actor Joseph Fiennes playing her iconic pop star father.
Joseph Fiennes plays the King of Pop in an episode of Sky Arts new TV show, entitled ‘Urban Myths’, which is a collection of eight original one-off shows that will "look at remarkable stories from well-known historical, artistic and cultural figures, which may or may not have happened in real life."
The trailer was only uploaded onto social media yesterday and already the MJCast – a Michael Jackson podcast – is calling for a boycott of the TV show. They tweeted Paris asking her for thoughts on it all and she responded: "I'm so incredibly offended by it, as I'm sure plenty of people are as well, and it honestly makes me want to vomit.”
Paris Jackson also added that she was insulted to see her godmother Liz Taylor being portrayed in the TV show too. In the clip, we can see Joseph Fiennes star as the late Michael Jackson, Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor and Brian Cox as Marlon Brando, all sitting in a car together.
"It angers me to see how obviously intentional it was for them to be this insulting, not just towards my father, but my godmother Liz as well,” Paris wrote.
In a series of angry tweets, Paris Jackson added: "Where is the respect? They worked through blood, sweat and tears for ages to create such profound and remarkable legacies. Shameful portrayal."
Joseph Fiennes himself has admitted that he was shocked to be picked for the role and said that he knew that “this is territory that is sensitive”.
Ben Palmer, who directed four episodes of the series, defends the casting of a white actor as Michael Jackson. He said the decision was based on the performance rather than physical resemblance.
"We were really looking for the performance that could unlock the spirit, and we really think Joe Fiennes has done that. He’s given a really sweet, nuanced, characterful performance," he said.
A spokesperson for Sky Arts has also defend the casting of Ralph Fiennes. "Joseph Fiennes is cast as Michael Jackson. It is part of a series of comedies about unlikely stories from arts and cultural history. Sky Arts gives producers the creative freedom to cast roles as they wish, within the diversity framework which we have set,” the spokesperson said.