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Let Twitter Be Your Guide Through This Michael Jackson Casting Mess

NPR | By Leah Donnella
Published January 28, 2016 at 11:56 AM EST
Pop star and entertainer Michael Jackson performs a concert at the historic Berlin Reichstag on June 19, 1988. He died in 2009.
AFP
/
Getty Images
Pop star and entertainer Michael Jackson performs a concert at the historic Berlin Reichstag on June 19, 1988. He died in 2009.

Once in a blue moon*, the film industry makes a decision that leaves us speechless. We'd barely gotten our balance after laugh-crying over #OscarsSoWhite before Tuesday's big reveal: the decision to cast white actor Joseph Fiennes as Michael Jackson in a new 9/11 ensemble road trip comedy. We tried desperately to form some coherent thoughts on the matter, but we just could not even.

Fortunately, Twitter is never speechless. Here are the words that helped guide us through this emotional journey.

On first hearing the news:

After letting it sink in for a moment:

And then another moment:

The time we spent trying to rationalize:

The anger:

The desperate jokes:

The even more desperate jokes:

The desperation, sans jokes:

And finally, the moment of clarity:

*A blue moon is every two weeks, right?

Copyright 2021 NPR. To see more, visit https://www.npr.org.

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Leah Donnella
Leah Donnella is an editor on NPR's Code Switch team, where she helps produce and edit for the Code Switch podcast, blog, and newsletter. She created the "Ask Code Switch" series, where members of the team respond to listener questions about how race, identity, and culture come up in everyday life.
See stories by Leah Donnella

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