‘American Gods’ Star Orlando Jones Says He Was Fired, Puts Showrunners on Blast in Heated Video

Update: in a follow-up tweet, Jones later clarified that he meant to say Sept. 10, 2019, not Sept. 10, 2018. The quote has been changed to reflect that.

Actor Orlando Jones has been fired from American Gods, he told fans on Saturday. The actor posted a video on Twitter early in the morning explaining that he had been let go from production over a year ago. Fans were furious to lose to the sinister voice behind Mr. Nancy.

“[On] September 10, [2019], I was fired from American Gods,” Jones said in the clip. “There will be no more Mr. Nancy. Don’t let these motherf—ers tell you they love Mr. Nancy. They don’t.”

The video showed Jones through a filter, which put a “REC” graphic in the top corner and a “BREAKING NEWS” chiron across the bottom of the screen. It flashed various flippant messages throughout the video, including “Orlando Jones fired from American Gods,” “caution: hot tea” and a series of emojis and hashtags.

Jones went on to place the blame for his firing squarely on the shoulders of Charles Eglee, the showrunner for Season 3 of the series. He suggested that Eglee fired him because he thought Jones’ portrayal of Anansi — known on the show as Mr. Nancy — was somehow socially dangerous.

“I’m not going to name names, but the new Season 3 showrunner is Connecticut-born and Yale-educated, so he’s very smart,” Jones said wryly. “And he thinks that Mr. Nancy’s angry, ‘get s— 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 BFFs who are his advisers who 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?” he continued. “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. 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 and I hope you loved it as much as I loved doing it.”

American Gods is based on a book by the same name, written by Gaiman. In the original text, Mr. Nancy is a pivotal character, with a big role to play right up until the end of the narrative. Since the show not done adapting the story told in the book, it is unclear how it will handle Mr. Nancy’s absence.

So far, Eglee and Starz have not commented on Jones’ video. American Gods Season 3 is filming now. The first two seasons are streaming on Starz.