Orlando Jones Fired From American Gods

American Gods star Orlando Jones says he has been fired from the show. Jones took to Twitter to talk about the news. He tweeted out a video in which he claims the show’s new, Season Three showrunner, Charles Eglee, fired Jones because he’s not happy with the message being sent by Jones’s interpretation of the African god of stories Anansi, aka Mr. Nancy. “September 10, 2018, I was fired from American Gods,” Jones says in the video. There will be no more Mr. Nancy. 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?”

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.”

ComicBook.com has reached out to Starz for comment on the situation. We are still awaiting a response.

American Gods has seen an unusual amount of turnover for a prestige television series, both in front of and behind the camera. It’s had three sets of showrunners in as many seasons. It also has regularly replaced or removed actors. Where the first season’s cast included the likes of Crispin Glover, Gillian Anderson, and Kristin Chenoweth, none of them are expected to return in the show’s third season.

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.