Paris Jackson is outraged by Joseph Fiennes' portrayal of Michael Jackson: 'It makes me want to vomit'

'It angers me to see how intentional it was for them to be this insulting'

Joseph Fiennes' casting as Michael Jackson in a new Sky Arts dramatisation received much backlash following its announcement last January, but now one member of the singer's family has spoken out against the project.

The first (rather bizarre) image of Fiennes in character as Jackson was released yesterday and it's left the singer's daughter Paris feeling sickened.

Jackson branded the project Urban Myths: A Brand New Collection of Comedies - from director Ben Palmer (The Inbetweeners Movie) - as "blatant disrespect," expressing her anger via Twitter.

The new series recounts various “true-ish stories” from the last century, including Elizabeth Taylor (Stockard Channing), Marlon Brando (Brian Cox), and Michael Jackson’s fabled journey back to the West Coast following 9/11.

Fiennes defended his casting stating that Jackson’s skin colour “probably [became] closer to my colour than his original colour,” adding: “I’m a white, middle-class guy from London… I’m as shocked as you may be.”

Palmer also felt the need to defend the project against claims of "whitewashing," telling The Guardian: “We were casting Michael Jackson in 2001 and that obviously is a challenge in terms of the physical resemblance.

“We were really looking for the performance that could unlock the spirit, and we really think Joe Fiennes has done that. He’s given a really sweet, nuanced, characterful performance.”

Other tales being told as part of Urban Myths will feature the characters of Hitler (Game of Thrones’ Iwan Rheon), Bob Dylan (Eddie Marsan) and Cary Grant (Ben Chaplin).