Correction: I was fired Sept 10, 2019 like @itsgabrielleu @OfficialMelB @NickCannon @heidiklum all have said @FremantleUS is a nightmare. They treated you like a 2nd class citizen for doing your job to well. Stay tuned. More to come. #AngryGetsShitDone pic.twitter.com/DQYtaMfs8O
— Orlando Jones (@TheOrlandoJones) December 14, 2019
This morning, American Gods star Orlando Jones revealed that he had been fired from the Starz series. Now he’s taken to Twitter again with another comment about the situation. He shared a cut-down version of his original video, correcting the date to September 10th, 2019 (in the original video he mistakenly said the firing occurred in 2018). He also responded to comments from Gabrielle Union, Hedi Klum, Melanie C, and Nick Cannon to concur that Freemantle, the production company behind American Gods, “is a nightmare.” He further commented on the way in which he was fired, saying “They were exceptionally nasty and evil the way they did it.”
ComicBook.com has reached out to Starz for comment on the situation. We are still awaiting a response.
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This morning, Jones tweeted out a video in which he claims the show’s new showrunner, Charles Eglee, fired Jones because he didn’t agree with the message being sent by Jones’ character, the African trickster-god of stories Anansi, aka Mr. Nancy. “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?”
All true sis. They were exceptionally nasty and evil the way they did it.
— Orlando Jones (@TheOrlandoJones) December 14, 2019
Despite his firing, Jones had kind words for 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.”
The Starz series is based on the novel of the same name by Neil Gaiman. Bryan Fuller and Michael Green developed the series for television and served as showrunners for the first season. Jesse Alexander replaced them in the show’s second season.
