Paris slams casting of Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson: 'It honestly makes me want to vomit'

By Angie Chui | Jan 13, 2017 09:26 AM EST

The first stills of Joseph Fiennes playing Michael Jackson in the biopic Urban Myths is finally out and the Jackson family, as well the King Pop's fans are all up in arms over the casting.

This was not the first time that Fiennes' casting met opposition as the producers already took a hit when they announced the casting choice for the actor who will play the music icon, New York Daily News reported. The main problem cited by fans is the blatant whitewashing of the role by having a white man portray a black man in a show that is classified as a biopic.

Jackson's daughter Paris has been quite outspoken about how offensive  she found the casting choice. "It honestly makes me want to vomit," she tweeted. Her uncle Taj had no better words to say, posted E! 

In a tweet, Taj Jackson said that he is saddened by this development and saw Fiennes' casting as a "blatant disrespect" to their family.  While it was widely speculated that Michael took measures to alter his skin tone to become white, fans argued that Michael remained a proud black man to the end with his words and actions.

According to a petition to boycott the biopic, it was because of Jackson's vitiligo, a skin condition that causes skin to lose pigment Michael's skin tone changed and not because of any attempt on his part to become white. The petition cited that all of the pop icon's actions supported the fact that he was proud of his race so any suggestion otherwise is baseless. 

The petition has been signed by over 20,000 users and has a goal of garnering 25,000 supporters in total. The episode, which will revolve around the epic road trip that Michael, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando had to make in order to get home in the wake of the 911 bombing, will air later thsi year on the Sky Arts channel.  

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