--- title: Sky Cancels Michael Jackson Episode of Urban Myths Comedy description: Sky Arts has cancelled an episode of their 'Urban Myths' comedy series after backlash surrounding Joseph Fiennes playing Michael Jackson. canonical: https://time.com/4634758/sky-cancels-michael-jackson-episode-joseph-fiennes/ author: Cady Lang article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-01-13T20:09:28.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:40:10.667Z og:title: Sky Pulls Michael Jackson Comedy Sketch After Backlash og:description: "In light of the concerns expressed by Michael Jackson’s immediate family" og:url: https://time.com/4634758/sky-cancels-michael-jackson-episode-joseph-fiennes/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a3efdb0cca03b10/6988b590428a9e78b3cd57ba/joseph-fiennes-michael-jackson-sky-cancels-urban-myths.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: 2017 Winter TCA Tour - Hulu TCA Winter Press Tour Day - Arrivals og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Sky Pulls Michael Jackson Comedy Sketch After Backlash twitter:description: "In light of the concerns expressed by Michael Jackson’s immediate family" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a3efdb0cca03b10/6988b590428a9e78b3cd57ba/joseph-fiennes-michael-jackson-sky-cancels-urban-myths.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # 'Urban Myths' Episode With Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson Cancelled After Jackson's Family Voices Concerns  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 13, 2017 8:09 PM CUT  Joseph Fiennes attends the Hulu TCA Winter Press Tour Day at Langham Hotel on January 7, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic) Joseph Fiennes attends the Hulu TCA Winter Press Tour Day at Langham Hotel on January 7, 2017 in Pasadena, California. (Photo by Paul Archuleta/FilmMagic)Paul Archuleta—FilmMagic  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Jan 13, 2017 8:09 PM CUT After [the family of Michael Jackson expressed distaste for an episode of Sky Art’s _Urban Myths_](http://time.com/4633055/michael-jackson-paris-jackson-joseph-fiennes/ "undefined") comedy series that cast Joseph Fiennes as Jackson, Sky has confirmed that they will pull the episode because of the “concerns expressed” by the Jackson family. The project began receiving backlash in early 2016 for [the controversial decision to cast Fiennes, a white actor, as the King of Pop](http://time.com/4195480/joseph-fiennes-michael-jackson/ "undefined"); however, when a trailer showing Fiennes as the iconic singer, [Jackson’s daughter Paris](http://time.com/4606751/macaulay-culkin-paris-jackson-pedicure/ "undefined") and his nephew, Taj Jackson, took to social media to voice their displeasure with the portrayal of Jackson, with Paris going so far as to say that it made her “want to vomit.” In a [statement on their website](https://corporate.sky.com/media-centre/news-page/2017/statement-on-sky-arts%E2%80%99-elizabeth,-michael-and-marlon "undefined"), Sky announced that they will not broadcast the episode. “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. We set out to take a light-hearted look at reportedly true events and never intended to cause any offense. Joseph Fiennes fully supports our decision.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4634758/sky-cancels-michael-jackson-episode-joseph-fiennes/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4634758/sky-cancels-michael-jackson-episode-joseph-fiennes/"},"headline":"'Urban Myths' Episode With Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson Cancelled After Jackson's Family Voices Concerns","datePublished":"2017-01-13T20:09:28.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:40:10.667Z","description":"Sky says they cancelled \"in light of the concerns expressed by Michael Jackson’s immediate family\"","url":"https://time.com/4634758/sky-cancels-michael-jackson-episode-joseph-fiennes/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Entertainment","michael jackson","Culture"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a3efdb0cca03b10/6988b590428a9e78b3cd57ba/joseph-fiennes-michael-jackson-sky-cancels-urban-myths.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a3efdb0cca03b10/6988b590428a9e78b3cd57ba/joseph-fiennes-michael-jackson-sky-cancels-urban-myths.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"2017 Winter TCA Tour - Hulu TCA Winter Press Tour Day - Arrivals","caption":"2017 Winter TCA Tour - Hulu TCA Winter Press Tour Day - Arrivals","creditText":"Paul Archuleta—FilmMagic","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4634758/sky-cancels-michael-jackson-episode-joseph-fiennes/","name":"'Urban Myths' Episode With Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson Cancelled After Jackson's Family Voices Concerns"}}]}] ```