Fans of the Gloved One want the white actor cast to play Michael Jackson in a new British TV comedy to “Beat It.”
Joseph Fiennes, best known for his role in “Shakespeare in Love” — and for being the younger brother of Ralph Fiennes — will play Jackson in “Elizabeth, Michael and Marlon.”
The short film is about a rumored road trip the King of Pop took with Hollywood stars Marlon Brando and Elizabeth Taylor.
MJ fans were less than thrilled.
“Because we aren’t whitewashed enough in Hollywood, apparently,” read a tweet posted on BET’s Twitter page on Wednesday.
“They seriously couldn’t find a black actor to play Michael Jackson?” tweeted DeRay Mckesson, an American civil rights activist and leader in the “Black Lives Matter” movement.
Imani Gandy wrote, “They cast a white guy to play Michael Jackson. I think we can admit that this whole ‘planet earth’ thing isn’t working out.”
“Congratulations to noted African-American actor Joseph Fiennes on being cast as Michael Jackson,” tweeted Forbes film critic Scott Mendelson.
Even Fiennes, 45, noted in an interview this week that he felt the role would be “a challenge” as he described the plot of the film, which is based on a 2011 Vanity Fair report saying the superstar trio were stuck in the Big Apple and wanted to get home to California, but were grounded in the wake of the 9/11 terrorist attacks.
So they allegedly piled into a car and hit the road, making it as far as Ohio — after multiple stops so Brando could gorge on fast food.
“It’s a comedy. It doesn’t poke mean fun but it’s a story, possibly urban legend … It’s a lovely thing about Michael’s relationship with Liz Taylor and Marlon Brando,” Fiennes told WENN. “It’s a fun, light-hearted, tongue-in-cheek road trip of what celebrity of that kind is like. But also it’s rather beautiful and poignant about their relationships as well.”
The 30-minute comedy, which is being made by Sky Arts, has already been filmed and also stars Stockard Channing as Taylor and Brian Cox as Brando. Screenwriter Neil Forsyth tweeted Wednesday that the film is set to be released in the UK “soon.”