Just days after British cable TV’s Sky Arts released the official trailer for its upcoming “Urban Myths” anthology series, which featured a a hugely controversial 30-minute comedic satire starring Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson, news came today that the featurette has been pulled from the show’s Jan. 19 premiere.
According to a story on HollywoodReporter.com, the cable giant released a statement, which read in part:
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, said Sky. We set out to take a lighthearted look at reportedly true events and never intended to cause any offense.
The statement also noted that Fiennes “fully supports our decision.”
Huge social media backlash has plagued the project since early 2016 when it was announced that the Fiennes was playing Jackson in the spoof, which also features Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor and Brian Cox as Marlon Brando in a “fable” about the trio’s car trip out of New York City in the wake of 9/11.
Among the harshest critics of the projects following the trailer’s Wednesdsay release was Jackson’s daughter Paris, who tweeted Thursday:
The episode was scheduled to air Jan. 19 in the U.K.
