Joseph Fiennes is reflecting on the most controversial role of his career: Michael Jackson.
A 2016 episode of the anthology series Urban Myths: A Brand New Collection of TV Comedies starred the British actor, 53, as the late King of Pop — alongside Brian Cox as Marlon Brando and Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor — embarking on a road trip following the events of 9/11.
“It was a wrong decision,” Fiennes told The Observer on Sunday in an interview about his on-camera work.
“I’m one part of that — there are producers, broadcasters, writers, directors, all involved in these decisions,” he said.
“But obviously if I’m upfront, I have become the voice for other people. I would love them to be around the table as well to talk about it. But you know, it came at a time where there was a movement and a shift and that was good, and it was, you know, a bad call. A bad mistake.”
Fiennes’ casting as Jackson in the comedic series recreating apocryphal stories about celebrities drew outrage when it was announced in 2016.
The music icon’s daughter Paris Jackson made her feelings clear when she tweeted, “It honestly makes me want to vomit… 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.”
Soledad O’Brien joined those weighing in on Fiennes’ casting when a trailer for the Urban Myths episode appeared. “I woke up feeling like it’s going to be a beautiful day and then I remembered this is someone’s idea of Michael Jackson,” tweeted the broadcaster.
At the time, production company Sky Arts told PEOPLE in a statement that the episode was “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.”
However, the company then took the controversial episode off the air. “This decision was taken in light of the concerns expressed by Michael Jackson’s immediate family,” Sky Arts tweeted in 2017. “We set out to take a light-hearted look at reportedly true events & never intended to cause any offense. Joseph Fiennes fully supports our decision.”
The Emmy-nominated Handmaid’s Tale star had originally expressed surprise about the casting decision, telling Entertainment Tonight in 2016, “I’m a white, middle-class guy from London.” Of Jackson’s skin color, which the singer claimed later in his life was a result of the skin disease vitiligo, Fiennes commented that “he was probably closer to my color than his original color.”
The actor now looks back at the whole experience with regret. “I think people are absolutely right to be upset,” Fiennes told The Observer. “I asked the broadcaster to pull it. And there were some pretty hefty discussions, but ultimately people made the right choice.”
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