LONDON, Jan. 13 (UPI) — Britain’s Sky television network has canceled the planned broadcast of a controversial comedy featuring white actor Joseph Fiennes as African American singer Michael Jackson.
“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,” a Sky representative said in a statement Friday. “We set out to take a light-hearted look at reportedly true events and never intended to cause any offense. Joseph Fiennes fully supports our decision.”
The episode chronicled a fabled road trip Jackson reportedly took with his screen-star friends Elizabeth Taylor [played by Stockard Channing] and Marlon Brando [played by Brian Cox] in 2001.
Jackson, Taylor and Brando have all died in recent years. Jackson’s daughter, social-media star Paris Jackson, criticized the television project about them shortly after the trailer was released on Wednesday.
“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,” Jackson tweeted.
“It angers me to see how obviously intentional it was for them to be insulting, not just towards my father, but my godmother liz as well,” she added. “Where is the respect? they worked through blood sweat and tears for ages to create such profound and remarkable legacies. shameful portrayal.”
Urban Myths, an eight-part series that recreates rumored stories about celebrities, premieres on Sky Arts Jan. 19.
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