For a new Sky Arts comedy show Urban Myths, which centres around rumoured stories about real people, actor Joesph Fiennes has been cast in the role of late singer and performer Michael Jackson.
With white face, prosthetics and all.
Since the release of the show, there has been something of a backlash against the choice of Fiennes - a white actor - to play The King of Pop.
Some people seem to take issue with it due to television's propensity to whitewash characters.
Others are more generally offended by the cringey prosthetics.
But the Jackson family themselves are, perhaps understandably, the most horrified, and see this portrayal as sullying MJ's legacy.
Paris Jackson also found it deeply insulting to Elizabeth Taylor, who is portrayed by Grease actress Stockard Channing in the show.
Fiennes spoke to Entertainment Tonight about getting the role this time last year, saying,
'I'm a white, middle-class guy from London, I'm as shocked as you may be.'
He explained the story was not meant to offend,
'It's a light comedy look.
It's not in any way malicious.
It's actually endearing.'
And in regard to the issue of his race?
'[Jackson] definitely had an issue -- a pigmentation issue -- and that's something I do believe.
He was probably closer to my color than his original color.'
As we know, race is actually something than runs deeper than the tone of your skin, so this is a tricky situation.
The episode follows MJ, Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando (played by Brian Cox - not the physicist) go on a fictional road trip in 2001.
In the clip above you may recognise the Policeman to be Doc Brown, whose sister (bear with), Zadie Smith, wrote the short story this episode is based on.
The short story, Escape From New York, was in The New Yorker back in 2015, which was, in turn, inspired by this article, based on rumours itself, in Vanity Fair.
Joseph Fiennes said this of the script,
'It's kind of off the wall, but the writing is a delight, and the kind of interaction between the three of them is funny, and also full of pathos.
It's people who are so iconic, but also can be detached.
You know, you can get detached from society.
So it's examining that kind of wonderful and mad detachment.'
Daisy Murray is the Digital Fashion Editor at ELLE UK, spotlighting emerging designers, sustainable shopping, and celebrity style. Since joining in 2016 as an editorial intern, Daisy has run the gamut of fashion journalism - interviewing Molly Goddard backstage at London Fashion Week, investigating the power of androgynous dressing and celebrating the joys of vintage shopping.
