Orlando Jones who played the role of Mr. Nancy on the hit series “American Gods,” based on the Neil Gaiman novel, will not be returning for season 3. According to Jones, the series’ new showrunner Charles Eglee fired him because, in his opinion, the character isn’t right “for black America.”
The news was shared via Jones’ Twitter account Saturday in an angry video alleging that Eglee decided that Orlando’s portrayal of the god sends “the wrong message for black America,” according to EW.
I know ya’ll have Lots of questions about the firing,” Jones said. “As always, I promise to tell you the truth and nothing but,”
According to the actor, he made significant writing and producing contributions during the second season after the original showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green exited.
There will be no more Mr. Nancy. Don’t let these motherf-ckers tell you they love Mr. Nancy. They don’t,” Jones stated in the video. “I’m not going to name names but the season 3 showrunner is Connecticut born and Yale-educated. so he’s very smart and thinks that Mr. Nancy’s angry, get shi- 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 bbfs who are his advisors and made it clear to him that if he 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?”
Jones’ Mr. Nancy is the West African god Anansi, a spider who often acts and appears as a man. He is the god of all stories, and a trickster who likes to pull pranks. The first time we see Mr. Nancy in the series he is on a slave ship after being prayed to by a desperate worshipper.
In my opinion, Orlando Jones was a great fit for the role of the trickster god. If you were an African God who was there to witness slavery, racism, the Jim Crow era, and this mistreatment of your people, you’d be pissed off too.
https://twitter.com/TheOrlandoJones/status/1205836143897579520
At the time of writing this Starz, “American Gods” and Eglee have not responded to the accusation.
