Donald Glover asked Jordan Peele to convince Liam Neeson to parody racism controversy on ‘Atlanta’
Donald Glover has revealed that it took Jordan Peele to convince Liam Neeson to star in the Atlanta episode ‘New Jazz’ and parody his 2019 racism controversy.
At the time of the incident, Neeson incited widespread anger while on the press tour for Cold Pursuit. He admitted that after a Black man sexually assaulted a friend, he took to the streets with a weapon. He hoped a “Black bastard” would “have a go at me…so that I could kill him”.
Now, in a new interview with GQ, Donald Glover, the creator of Atlanta, has explained what it was like recruiting Neeson for the episode that parodied his racism controversy. “When I got in touch with him, Liam poured his heart out,” Glover said. “He was like, ‘I am embarrassed. I don’t know about this. I’m trying to get away from that.’ And I was like, ‘Man, I’m telling you, this will be funny! And you’ll actually get a lot of cream from it because it’ll show you’re sorry.’ He asked me to let him think about it. Then he sent me an email saying, ‘I don’t think I can do it and best of luck with “Atlanta,” blah-blah-blah.'”
Glover thought Neeson was perfect for the episode, so he turned to a famous friend to help him change his mind. “Liam said [after the incident] he talked to Morgan Freeman, Jordan Peele and Spike Lee. So I was like…Jordan Peele!” Glover said. “I hit Jordan Peele up and I was like, ‘Look, man, I got this idea. He said that he trusted you. Tell him it’s a good idea!'”
“Jordan thought it was hilarious! So Jordan talked to him. Liam hit me back and said he talked to Jordan and his son and thought it’d actually be a good thing,” Glover continued. “But what was so funny is, like, I forgot to hit Jordan back. I was so excited about Liam doing it. So Jordan hit a friend of mine, and was like, ‘Am I on a prank show where Donald got me to forgive Liam Neeson? Was this a joke…on me?'”
Never Miss A Scene
The Far Out Film Newsletter
All the latest film news from the independent voice of culture.
Straight to your inbox.