American Gods: Watch Orlando Jones' Mesmerizing Racism Speech (NSFW)
When American Gods‘ Mr. Nancy makes an entrance, Mr. Nancy really makes an entrance.
In this just-released clip from the Starz drama’s upcoming episode (Sunday, 9/8c), the African folktale character Anansi — played by Sleepy Hollow‘s Orlando Jones and known in human form as Mr. Nancy — appears to a group of kidnapped black men on a slave ship bound for America and lets them know what awaits them in the new land.
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“Guess what?” he says in the scene, his audience rapt. “You all get to be slaves. Split up, sold off and worked to death.” In colorful language, he explains that the core of the black experience in America won’t change for centuries: “A hundred years after you get free, you’re still f–ked.”
Jones tells TVLine that even though the scene first appeared as one of the “Coming to America” vignettes in Neil Gaiman’s book written nearly 20 years ago, “I didn’t feel like it was going to be marred by time, because the circumstances over such a long period of time, they don’t shift from week to week or year to year.”
He adds, “It seemed quite timeless and prophetic, but mostly it was unapologetic, and it was powerful in its simplicity.”
Near the end of the clip, Mr. Nancy encourages his small audience to get furious about their lot in life. “Angry is good,” he says. “Angry gets s–t done.”
Press PLAY on the NSFW video (language!) below to watch Mr. Nancy’s entrance, then hit the comments with your thoughts!
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