With controversy raging over Joseph
Fiennes' casting as Michael Jackson in a
British TV production, a 1993 video has
surfaced of the late singer saying he
didn't want a white actor to portray him
on screen. Fiennes is set to play the pop star in the
half-hour comedy "Elizabeth, Michael &
Marlon," which centers around a fabled
road trip in which Jackson, Elizabeth
Taylor and Marlon Brando tried to get
home to Los Angeles from New York after the September 11 terrorist attacks. In a 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey,
Jackson rejected the idea of having a
white actor portray him on screen.
Winfrey had asked him about reports
that he wanted Pepsi to cast a white
actor to play him as a child in a commercial. "That is so stupid," Jackson said. "That's
the most ridiculous, horrifying story I've
ever heard. It's crazy." Jackson added, "Why would I want a
white child to play me? I'm a black
American. I'm proud to be a black
American. I am proud of my race. I am
proud of who I am." Jackson makes the comments at around
the 23:59 mark in a video of the
interview posted on YouTube. Fiennes told "Entertainment Tonight"
that he too was surprised by his casting. "I'm a white, middle-class guy from
London," the actor said. "I'm as shocked
as you may be."
