American Gods probably isn’t what people expected to be reading about this weekend, but the show has found itself in the spotlight for all the wrong reasons today. Now one of the series’ former stars is addressing his frustration about the difficult situation that he has found himself in. Earlier today, Orlando Jones shared the news that he had been fired from the show on Twitter. Needless to say, the platform exploded as many fans of the show were really upset that he had been fired. Jones was very blunt in the video as he called the new showrunner for Season 3 into question. The actor also alleged that there were racial tensions on set with respect to how his character would be handled. This has become a giant story and the star sat down with Variety to discuss how all of this has affected him.
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“Now you are a pariah, for what?” Jones began. “That’s for me what’s most perplexing, most hurtful about it. It’s like, what did I do to you people? It’s not my first time having a bad thing happen. But this is purely different, because it does seem extremely personal and extremely pointed.”
Jones is offering his situation as a lesson for other actors who might find themselves in this difficult situation. “And I certainly don’t want my daughters to think that the way that you deal in situations like this, is to swallow your pride and duck… But if you’re going to do it, try and take the high road as best you can.”
“I wish these people acted more responsibly,” he shared. “I wish they acted more respectfully. And it would have been nice to get a proper ‘thank you’ and would have been nice to be paid. You know, my children aren’t in cages. I’m not in Aleppo. I still see myself as very privileged and, and I’m super grateful. But nobody else needs to go through this. Not for doing your work, for doing your job, to get screwed over like this.”
But, Jones did take a second to thank the creators of American Gods. “To the wonderful Neil Gaiman, thank you for allowing me to play this role, for opening the door for me to become a writer and a producer on Season Two of American Gods, thank you, sir. To the magnificent Bryan Fuller and the incredible Michael Green, thank you for creating this series and for allowing me also to become Mr. Nancy. I hope the fans enjoyed it because really this is about you and I hope you loved it as much as I loved doing it.”
