Joseph Fiennes on the ‘bad mistake’ of his infamous unaired Michael Jackson satire

Actor Joseph Fiennes has opened up about his most infamous acting role – a performance so controversial it never actually aired.

Joseph Fiennes and Michael Jackson.

Actor Joseph Fiennes has opened up about his most infamous acting role – a performance so controversial it never actually aired.

Fiennes played late pop icon Michael Jackson in a 2017 episode of the TV show Urban Myths, a British-produced series of stand-alone episodes about different celebrity stories that have become “urban folklore”.

Joseph Fiennes played Michael Jackson in the episode, which never saw the light of day.

Fiennes played alongside Stockard Channing as Elizabeth Taylor and Brian Cox as Marlon Brando and was based on the rumour that the trio had taken a road trip out of New York in 2001 after the 9/11 terrorist attacks.

But merely a brief glimpse of Fiennes in heavy make-up and prosthetics was enough to cause controversy — with Jackson’s own daughter Paris slamming all those involved, saying the project made her “want to vomit”.

Grease actress Stockard Channing played Elizabeth Taylor.

In the backseat: Succession star Brian Cox as Marlon Brando.

As outrage among Jackson fans grew, the episode was pulled.

Six years on, Fiennes says in a new interview with The Observer that agreeing to play Jackson had been a “bad mistake.”

“I think people are absolutely right to be upset,” he told the outlet. “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.”

Fiennes says now the whole project was a “bad mistake.” Picture: AFP

Fiennes also revealed that he was among those who asked the broadcaster to pull the episode, saying it led to “some pretty hefty discussions, but ultimately people made the right choice.”

Fiennes struck a different note in an interview just three months after the episode was pulled back in 2017, telling Vultureat the time that it was meant to be a comedy.

“Well, it’s a satire, so we have to look at it through that lens. The depiction of the three characters is very satirical, comic, lighthearted, to examine the disconnect of iconic celebrity,” he said.

“In life, you can’t avoid getting into hot water. It’s all lessons and learning. As an actor, you take on roles, and nobody has seen it, so nobody can even have the full comment because they haven’t witnessed it.”