MGK (formerly known as Machine Gun Kelly) has revealed that he refused to audition for Sinners because he had to use the N-word.
- READ MORE: ‘Sinners’ review: sink your teeth into Ryan Coogler’s bloodthirsty blues horror
The bluesy Ryan Coogler film explored cultural and literal vampirism, with the box-office smash a mix of historical epic, racial allegory and supernatural thriller.
During an appearance on The Pat McAfee Show on Thursday (July 31), MGK opened up about his reasons for turning down a potential audition because of a racial slur in his script.
“Like ‘Sinners,’ I was supposed to be in that,” he said. “The vampire, they had me set up to do the audition – it’s the one that’s in the house, so he’s the second vampire, the one that the guy comes and eats the family. In the audition, he has to say the ‘n-word’ and I wouldn’t do it.”
The ‘Tickets To My Downfall‘ artist was likely referencing the role of Bert, a KKK member who was turned into a vampire by Jack O’Connell’s Remmick, who was ultimately played by Peter Dreimanis.
In a four-star review of the Sinners, James Mottram nodded to the film’s tackling of “serious themes”, including the oppression of Black Americans, writing: “Juke joints. Chain gangs. Cotton picking. The KKK. Ryan Coogler’s Sinners takes us right into the 1930s Deep South for a gory phantasm that sings the blues.
“If the Coen Brothers’ O Brother, Where Art Thou? and the Robert Rodriguez & Quentin Tarantino mash-up From Dusk Till Dawn had a love child, it might look something like this. Michael B. Jordan leads – playing twin brothers – but it’s Coogler’s imagination that stars.
Despite passing on the role, MGK embraced his inner vampire last year after getting a set of fake fangs done by cosmetic dentist Dr. Dani B. It coincided with him unveiling new ink in the form of a striking blackout tattoo, which he later explained he got for “spiritual purposes”.
Roxx, the artist who worked on the tattoo, told TMZ that he’d said he had a “spiritual consultation” and his previous tattoos were “too chaotic for him now and he was seeking change and order in his life” – with the blackout tattoo covering a number of his previous pieces.
On the Pat McAffee Show, MGK spoke about wanting to appear in more films, saying he was on “on universal timing”, adding: “It’ll align. The angels will put something in the works.”