Uproar Prompts Sky To Pull Short Flick About Michael Jackson From Its Schedule

Paris Jackson said last week that she was "incredibly offended" and wanted to vomit at the thought of the bizarre casting of a white actor as her iconic pop star father in a short movie entitled ‘Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon’.
The short film was meant to be aired as part of a series called ‘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."
But a trailer for the TV show caused huge controversy when it was uploaded onto social media on 11 January. It immediately received a huge backlash from fans of the King of Pop. The MJCast – a Michael Jackson podcast – called for a boycott of the TV show and they even tweeted Paris, asking her for thoughts on it all. She clearly wasn’t impressed, saying: "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.”

A spokesperson for Sky Arts said: “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.”
Responding to the news, Paris Jackson said: "I'm surprised the family's feelings were actually taken into consideration for once, we all really do appreciate it more than y'all know".
Paris Jackson also said last week that she was insulted to see her godmother Liz Taylor being portrayed in the TV show too. In the clip, you 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”. At the time of his casting last year, he said of the role, “One must determine if this portrayal is one that is going to be positive entertainment, and one that will not bring about division and put anyone's noses out of joint, so I went with the mind that this was a positive light-hearted comedy."

Ben Palmer, who directed four episodes of the new series, had originally defended 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 had also originally defended the casting of Ralph Fiennes before the backlash. "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 last year when eyebrows were first raised about a white actor playing Michael Jackson.

But the spokesperson for Sky said that Fiennes fully supports the TV station’s decision to pull the show. In all likelihood, the episode will probably now never see the light of day.