American Gods' Orlando Jones Says He Was Fired, Blames New Showrunner: 'There Will Be No More Mr. Nancy'

Ryan Schwartz

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Orlando Jones, an original cast member on American Gods, claims that he has been fired from the Starz adaptation and will not appear in the upcoming Season 3.

Jones shared the news in an expletive-laced video posted to Twitter, in which he alleges that new showrunner Charles “Chic” Eglee thought the character of Mr. Nancy sends “the wrong message” to “black America.” (Starz and production company Fremantle did not immediately respond when TVLine reached out for comment. UPDATE: The series has since put out a statement, which you can read here. )

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“There will be no more Mr. Nancy,” he said. “Don’t let these motherf—kers tell you they love Mr. Nancy. They don’t. I’m not going to name names but the new Season 3 showrunner [Charles “Chic” Eglee] is Connecticut born and Yale-educated, so he’s very smart and he thinks that Mr. Nancy’s angry, get s—t done [attitude] 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 and 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?

“To the wonderful Neil Gaiman, thank you for allowing me to play this role, for writing this wonderful book, for opening the door for me to become a writer/producer on Season 2 of American Gods, thank you sir,” he continued. “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. I hope you loved it as much as I loved doing it.”

In a second tweet, Jones directly called out Fremantle, which produces American Gods for Starz, calling them a “nightmare” and connecting his firing to the recent dismissal of America’s Got Talent judge Gabrielle Union:

Shortly after Jones went public, former American Gods showrunners Bryan Fuller and Michael Green responded on Twitter. “HEARTBREAKING,” Fuller wrote. “I loved every minute of working with this wonderful man,” Green added. “His talent is 🔥🔥 and his 🔥🔥 is essential.” Fuller later replied to Green’s tweet, calling Jones “a pro, a thoughtful creative partner, an insightful storyteller and a remarkable human being.”

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