American Gods Creator Neil Gaiman Comments on Orlando Jones Firing

American Gods actor Orlando Jones on Saturday claimed he’d been fired from the Starz series due to issues related to race. Fans were not happy with the news. Starz and Freemantle, the show’s studio, released a statement insisting that Jones being left out of American Gods Season 3 was due to the absence of his character, Mr. Nancy, from this portion of the plot of the novel on which the show is based and not for any reasons related to race. American Gods author Neil Gaiman has now commented on the situation, praising Jones while remaining neutral on the reasons the actor will not return for the show’s third season.

“Orlando is an astonishing actor, and as a writer/producer was vital in helping get us through Season 2 of American Gods,” Gaiman tweeted. “I’m so glad he got to be part of the American Gods family. (And no, I don’t have a say in contractual renewals etc.)”

When he first spoke out about being let go from the show, Jones had only kind words Gaiman and the creators of the television series. “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.”

Jones’ harsher comments were reserved for the show’s new season three showrunner, Charles Eglee. “There will be no more Mr. Nancy,” Jones said in the video. “Don’t let these motherf****** tell you they love Mr. Nancy. They don’t. I’m not going to name names, but the new Season Three showrunner is Connecticut-born and Yale-educated, so he’s very smart. And he thinks that Mr. Nancy’s angry, get s*** done is the wrong message for black America. That’s right, this white man sits in that decision-making chair and I’m sure he has many black BFFs who are his advisors who made it clear to him that if they did not get rid of that angry god Mr. Nancy he’d start a Denmark Vesey uprising in this country. I mean, what else could it be?”

Photo by Tara Ziemba/Getty Images