Joseph Fiennes regrets playing Michael Jackson in Urban Myth episode: ‘It was a bad mistake’

Joseph Fiennes has admitted that playing Michael Jackson in a canned episode of Urban Myths was a “mistake” and a “bad call”.

The Sky Arts series was shrouded in controversy back in 2016 when Fiennes, a white man, was cast as the late singer in the instalment titled Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon.

The unaired episode followed Jackson on a road trip with Dame Elizabeth Taylor (Stockard Channing) and Marlon Brandon (Brian Cox) from New York to Los Angeles in the wake of 9/11.

Jackson’s daughter Paris notably criticised the show after watching the trailer, tweeting that she wanted to “vomit” and felt “incredibly offended”.

Following the outrage, Sky then made the decision to axe the episode before it was broadcast “in light of the concerns expressed by Michael Jackson’s immediate family.”

Reflecting on the furore seven years on, Fiennes claimed he was the one who demanded that Sky pulled it.

He told The Observer: “I think people are absolutely right to be upset. And it was a wrong decision. Absolutely. And I’m one part of that – there are producers, broadcasters, writers, directors, all involved in these decisions.

“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.

“And, just to say. I asked the broadcaster to pull it. And there were some pretty hefty discussions, but ultimately people made the right choice.”

Initially, Fiennes defended the episode in 2017 branding it “satire” and explained that it was made “to examine the disconnect of iconic celebrity”.

Speaking to Vulture at the time, he shared: “So we have to look at it through that lens. The depiction of the three characters is very satirical, comic, light-hearted, to examine the disconnect of iconic celebrity.

“So the three of them got in a car and drove 500 miles to Los Angeles. It took them a while because they had to stop at a lot of Burger Kings for Marlon; but they got out!

“It’s a lovely thing about Michael’s relationship with Liz Taylor and Marlon Brando. It’s a fun, light-hearted tongue in cheek road trip of what celebrity of that kind is like. But also it’s rather beautiful and poignant about their relationships as well.”