Television American Gods: Orlando Jones claims he was fired by new showrunner because Mr. Nancy "sends the wrong message for black America", showrunner counterclaims that the dismissal is "plot-related"

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

Ohhhh boy.

Quote

In a searing video message shared on his Twitter account Saturday morning, Orlando Jones says he was fired from American Gods season 3 and alleges new showrunner Charles Eglee decided his character, Mr. Nancy, sends “the wrong message for black America.”

 

[Mercury33]

WOW. He was literally the best part of that show. And what was the wrong message? That he was an angry black man? Yeah cool, no thanks on ever watching that show again and probably won’t pick up Starz again. 

[skillzdadirecta]

Hmmm... "woke liberal white guy" tells black person what's right for black folks. Sounds about right.

[Brian]

https://deadline.com/2019/12/orlando-jones-fired-american-gods-racism-gabrielle-union-fremantle-starz-neil-gaiman-1202809444/amp/

 

fake news. Lakeside focus and his character along with others aren’t present 

[Mr.Vic20]

Regardless of which narrative is true, losing Nancy is a big hit for the show as a whole. 

[Guest]

1 hour ago, ManUtdRedDevils said:

https://deadline.com/2019/12/orlando-jones-fired-american-gods-racism-gabrielle-union-fremantle-starz-neil-gaiman-1202809444/amp/

 

fake news. Lakeside focus and his character along with others aren’t present 

How did you “fake news” this by quoting the producers  Yes, I’m sure they will admit that they fired an actor for racist reasons  

[elbobo]

this show has been such a cluster fuck from a production stand point since day one 

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

9 hours ago, elbobo said:

this show has been such a cluster fuck from a production stand point since day one 

It's almost as if "divine forces" are actively working against it!

[Spawn_of_Apathy]

15 hours ago, sblfilms said:

How did you “fake news” this by quoting the producers  Yes, I’m sure they will admit that they fired an actor for racist reasons  

Alternate facts. Many truths. 

[stepee]

Me: Trump doesn’t actually have a 95% approval rating with republicans and never has.

 

ManUtdRedDevils: 

fake news. Donald Trump just tweeted out that he does in fact have a 95% approval with Republicans.

 

 

[skillzdadirecta]

So you're saying Trump doesn't have 95% approval rating amongst Republicans?

[stepee]

12 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

So you're saying Trump doesn't have 95% approval rating amongst Republicans?

 

Nope. He has never had that number nor had record approval amongst Republicans. There is no  actual poll that shows it, it’s just another random lie he keeps weirdly touting over and over.

 

https://www.washingtonpost.com/politics/2019/11/01/trumps-approval-with-republicans-is-nowhere-near-where-he-says-it-is/?outputType=amp

[Greatoneshere]

I mean, I definitely want to hear more from Orlando Jones' side of the story, but if they aren't using his character for season 3 since he's not in that section to be adapted from the book, then it makes sense not to re-hire him for the season.

 

But if he's this pissed, and Mr. Nancy comes back later . . . how you gonna get him back then? He was one of the best parts of the show. Unlike many I felt season 2 was pretty solid (if shortened and not as good as season 1) and Eglee is a pretty solid showrunner . . . we'll see.

[skillzdadirecta]

All I'll say is if Orlando Jones is making these claims based on absolutely nothing than he's mentally disturbed.  For a black person in Hollywood to come out this publicly in this way leads me to believe that SOMETHING happened for him to say this. And based on stories I've heard from other writers of color, not just black ones mind you, I don't have a hard time believing this at all. He wasn't just an actor in the show BTW, he had moved into the writer's room so there's more to this than what the producers are trying to say. That's all I'm saying.

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

2 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

All I'll say is if Orlando Jones is making these claims based on absolutely nothing than he's mentally disturbed.  For a black person in Hollywood to come out this publicly in this way leads me to believe that SOMETHING happened for him to say this. And based on stories I've heard from other writers of color, not just black ones mind you, I don't have a hard time believing this at all. He wasn't just an actor in the show BTW, he had moved into the writer's room so there's more to this than what the producers are trying to say. That's all I'm saying.

That's where I'm at too.

 

I simply refuse to believe that he said this without some basis in reality, knowing full well that it could cost him his career.

[skillzdadirecta]

55 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said:

That's where I'm at too.

 

I simply refuse to believe that he said this without some basis in reality, knowing full well that it could cost him his career.

He also named names. You don't do that if there's nothing there unless you're flat out suffering from a nervous breakdown. Could this be a Jussie Smollett thing? Sure. But I suspect there's more to it than just that.

[Guest]

Interesting that he had gotten into the writer’s room. It’s a place still even whiter than the directors chair, especially at the highest levels of the industry. 

[SimpleG]

@skillzdadirecta

Maybe you can answer this but was he brought in to the writers room for just this character and now because that character isnt being used he's being let go? I have no idea how the writing process works ,do writers typically only work on certain characters or are they involved in the entire thing?

[Ghost_MH]

22 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Interesting that he had gotten into the writer’s room. It’s a place still even whiter than the directors chair, especially at the highest levels of the industry. 

 

I believe the reports say it was Gaiman that pushed him into the writer's room because Jones seemed passionate about the character.

 

EDIT: And as soon as I post this, I see EW pushed out a big interview with Jones.

[Guest]

4 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

@skillzdadirecta

Maybe you can answer this but was he brought in to the writers room for just this character and now because that character isnt being used he's being let go? I have no idea how the writing process works ,do writers typically only work on certain characters or are they involved in the entire thing?

You certainly could have somebody in the room

due to their expertise on a particular character, but generally the modern writers room works as a team to break the story, then individual episodes get assigned to each writer. Once they complete their draft of the episode, it goes back to the room to be polished up. Jones is not credited with writing any of the episodes of American Gods from what I see, so he may have been in their for the breaking and punch up stuff, but never actually assigned an episode to write.

[Ghost_MH]

5 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

You certainly could have somebody in the room

due to their expertise on a particular character, but generally the modern writers room works as a team to break the story, then individual episodes get assigned to each writer. Once they complete their draft of the episode, it goes back to the room to be polished up. Jones is not credited with writing any of the episodes of American Gods from what I see, so he may have been in their for the breaking and punch up stuff, but never actually assigned an episode to write.

 

Skimming the interview, he says he was in the room helping write out other characters and the direction of the show, but was never actually assigned an episode to write. He claims that's what got him a producer credit, but not a writer credit.

[skillzdadirecta]

30 minutes ago, SimpleG said:

@skillzdadirecta

Maybe you can answer this but was he brought in to the writers room for just this character and now because that character isnt being used he's being let go? I have no idea how the writing process works ,do writers typically only work on certain characters or are they involved in the entire thing?

I think his case was atypical but actors often move into other phases of production on shows. Most of the time they become directors but sometimes the move into the writer's room. I know one of the actors on This Is Us was starting to become involved on the writer's side so it's not uncommon.  I don't know what the nature of Jones's involvement on the in the writer's room, but I know that process can be very weird and political.

[skillzdadirecta]

15 minutes ago, Ghost_MH said:

 

Skimming the interview, he says he was in the room helping write out other characters and the direction of the show, but was never actually assigned an episode to write. He claims that's what got him a producer credit, but not a writer credit.

That sounds right.

[Greatoneshere]

To be clear, I believe Jones because he's being so aggressive about this, but otherwise my original post still stands. If they ever had any intention of bringing him back in later seasons, pissing him off this much doesn't seem to be a great decision on the part of the producers and showrunners.

 

As for his involvement in season 2, he was brought in for rewrites and to punch stuff up, particularly after they dropped the season 2 showrunner near the end of principal photography of the last episode or two. He definitely helped, but not enough to be credited for anything written in particular. Regardless, he was one of the best things about season 2, so . . . 

[skillzdadirecta]

1 hour ago, Greatoneshere said:

To be clear, I believe Jones because he's being so aggressive about this, but otherwise my original post still stands. If they ever had any intention of bringing him back in later seasons, pissing him off this much doesn't seem to be a great decision on the part of the producers and showrunners.

 

As for his involvement in season 2, he was brought in for rewrites and to punch stuff up, particularly after they dropped the season 2 showrunner near the end of principal photography of the last episode or two. He definitely helped, but not enough to be credited for anything written in particular. Regardless, he was one of the best things about season 2, so . . . 

 

On television, getting a producer credit is basically getting writer's credit. People you see with producer's credits on episodic television are often the writers. So for him to get a producers credit means he was definitely participating in the the writer's room. The only reason he didn't get a credit as a writer on an episode is because he was never assigned an episode, which is how writer's get episodic credits.

[skillzdadirecta]

3 hours ago, sblfilms said:

Interesting that he had gotten into the writer’s room. It’s a place still even whiter than the directors chair, especially at the highest levels of the industry. 

it's definitely getting better with more people of color in the room but still a boy's club. What's even more amazing is that this extends to shows you think it wouldn't. Like shows with casts that are primarily people of color. A good friend of mine is on a HUGE show that we will definitely be discussing on this board when it comes out and he HATES it. Partially for that reason.

[Guest]

18 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

it's definitely getting better with more people of color in the room but still a boy's club. What's even more amazing is that this extends to shows you think it wouldn't. Like shows with casts that are primarily people of color. A good friend of mine is on a HUGE show that we will definitely be discussing on this board when it comes out and he HATES it. Partially for that reason.

Very male dominated, indeed. I saw an interview with Mindy Kaling recently where she talked about even with as kind as Greg Daniels was, there were a lot of times where she had to fight more for her position than any of the other writers who were (I think) all white males. Definitely all guys. And that’s a show with very prominent female roles and a huge female audience, so you would hope a female POV would get equal representation.

[skillzdadirecta]

7 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Very male dominated, indeed. I saw an interview with Mindy Kaling recently where she talked about even with as kind as Greg Daniels was, there were a lot of times where she had to fight more for her position than any of the other writers who were (I think) all white males. Definitely all guys. And that’s a show with very prominent female roles and a huge female audience, so you would hope a female POV would get equal representation.

 

It's even prevalent in shows with female dominated staffs. A friend of mine who is a woman of color (Middle Eastern) just finished a show that was run by all women but she was the only woman of color in the room. She talked about how marginalized SHE felt as she had to constantly fight to be heard in a room full of white women who thought they could speak to the minority experience better than an actual minority. Shit is CRAZY out here. Lindelof even talks about it in that interview in the other thread about Watchmen. At least he's AWARE of it and he said it was a struggle to step outside himself to realize that he couldn't speak definitively about experiences that weren't his own. Not a lot of these folks are self aware enough to do that.

[skillzdadirecta]

The Plot Thickens... Orlando Jones Interview

[Commissar SFLUFAN]

35 minutes ago, skillzdadirecta said:

The Plot Thickens... Orlando Jones Interview

Yeah, there's something there.

[Guest]

Hmmmm, in someways it sounds more like dysfunction than anything especially when he starts talking about the issues with getting season 2 made.

[skillzdadirecta]

12 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

Hmmmm, in someways it sounds more like dysfunction than anything especially when he starts talking about the issues with getting season 2 made.

Not when he talks about not getting his letter stating the never officially renewed his option. That happens WAAAAY earlier than September because you have to give the person your releasing time to find another job. Usually when they don't renew your option, they let you know shortly after the preceding season ends. And if they new what direction the 3rd season was going in, they would have known WELL in advance that they wouldn't need him. 

 

25 minutes ago, SFLUFAN said:

Yeah, there's something there.

 

Yeah there's definitely something there. Not sure what though. Could be an actor's bruised ego responding to poor managerial practices or something else.

[Guest]

1 minute ago, skillzdadirecta said:

Not when he talks about not getting his letter stating the never officially renewed his option. That happens WAAAAY earlier than September because you have to give the person your releasing time to find another job. Usually when they don't renew your option, they let you know shortly after the preceding season ends. And if they new what direction the 3rd season was going in, they would have known WELL in advance that they wouldn't need him. 

 

 

Yeah there's definitely something there. Not sure what though. Could be an actor's bruised ego responding to poor managerial practices or something else.

That’s what I mean, they seem to be kinda bad at this whole producing a show thing.

[skillzdadirecta]

4 minutes ago, sblfilms said:

That’s what I mean, they seem to be kinda bad at this whole producing a show thing.

It could be but sounds more like what HE'S alluding to and not simple dysfunction or incompetence. It could be... but it's starting to sound like it isn't.

[Guest]

Just now, skillzdadirecta said:

It could be but sounds more like what HE'S alluding to and not simple dysfunction or incompetence. It could be... but it's starting to sound like it isn't.

I get that, I do think it’s important to separate editorial comments from the more statement of fact pieces. I don’t doubt he has reason to view things as he does though, he’s worked at a pretty high level in the industry for quite some time.