Image by Antonio Manfredonio (CC by 2.0)
Michael Jackson’s family found this parody distasteful. Now, UK TV giant Sky has cancelled the upcoming parody episode with the King of Pop. Guess what happens next?
Several days ago, Sky TV revealed the first trailer of their upcoming comedy program, Urban Myths. In the trailer for an upcoming episode, Joseph Fiennes portrayed Michael Jackson. The episode was set to deal with a fabled road trip Jackson, Elizabeth Taylor, and Marlon Brando took following the 9/11 attacks.
The journey features laughably bad costumes, while chipping away at age-old celebrity worship. These are the celebrities that demanded our attention with their extreme lifestyles and excesses. Then, lambaste us for poking fun.
And die-hard Michael Jackson fans take themselves really, really serious. Accordingly, fans immediately took to social networks like Twitter and Facebook to express their outrage. Fans called the portrayal “disgusting” and “disrespectful.”
It didn’t take long for the family to pop out of their bubble. In fact, the late King of Pop’s daughter Paris Jackson posted the following tweets.
@TheMJCast 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-Michael K. J. (@ParisJackson) 11 de enero de 2017
@TheMJCast 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-Michael K. J. (@ParisJackson) 11 de enero de 2017
The King of Pop’s nephew, Tai Jackson, also posted a tweet blasting the portrayal.
@soledadobrien Unfortunately this is what my family has to deal with. No words could express the blatant disrespect. https://t.co/WKCiwOqPpN
— Taj Jackson (@tajjackson3) 11 de enero de 2017
The outrage!
Joseph Fiennes knew the portrayal might cause immediate outrage. Speaking to The Hollywood Reporter last year, he understood why people “were up in arms.” Fiennes admitted,
“The decision with the casting and the producers — I wrangled with it, I was confused and shocked at what might come my way. I knew the sensitivity, especially to Michael’s fans and to Michael’s family. It doesn’t negate who he was.”
UK pay TV giant Sky listened to the backlash. In a press release published today, the media giant 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 light-hearted look at reportedly true events and never intended to cause any offence. Joseph Fiennes fully supports our decision.”
And what happens next?
Unfortunately for the Jackson family, we’ve seen this movie before. Call it a variation of the ‘Streisand Effect,’ but a little-known Michael Jackson spoof now has national attention. Which means a leak is entirely possible, with a cult classic possibly in the making.
Stay tuned.
Frankly, the trailer looked pretty bad. While it might’ve been fun to see Brian Cox in his role, I really don’t think we’re going to be missing out on that much.
Family “whines about it”? WTF is wrong with you? How about the fact that it’s a WHITE dude portraying MJ? Say all the shit you want about his skin color (proven to be due to vitiligo) but doesn’t change the fact that MJ was a black man, and proud to be one. Nice crappy mannequin picture you posted along with the article as well. Shitty, lazy writing at its finest.
He did have Vitiligo, but clearly used Benoquin to remove the remaining pigment from his skin.
http://www.umassmed.edu/vitiligo/blog/blog-posts1/2016/01/did-michael-jackson-have-vitiligo/
If they cast a black actor, he would have to be in whiteface, and I can’t see how that’s any better.
Stop making sense. People need to find a race violation wherever they can; it is an American cultural value now.
Wacko bleached himself into a white lady. Get a grip, gripless troll. You racist nag.
Troll who talks to his sick self. You love to make money for all the tabloids. You couldn’t write to save your sad life. Jealous much? You’re nothing but a bum troll who is most unhinged from reality. Jacko was a white lady when he killed himself on drugs. You’re blind as well as stupid.
No one with vitiligo bleaches themselves white. Wacko lied. He had just a mild case of it. He was a mentally ill man who died a white lady.
Troll, you love to make money for all the tabloids. You couldn’t write to save your sad life. Jealous much? You’re nothing but a bum troll who is most unhinged from reality. Jacko was a white lady when he killed himself on drugs. You’re blind as well as stupid.
After reading this I wanna see this content.. can someone plonk it on YouTube or something..
I don’t know why the family is so upset about it.. all over the Internet there’s
disparaging things written about him.. so a comedic spoof seems quite mild
by comparison.