Peter Andre defends ‘Jafaican’ movie after accusations of cultural appropriation

Peter Andre has defended his function within the upcoming Jafaican movie, which sees him with a pretend Jamaican accent and dreadlocks.

Information of the movie and its trailer have been met with backlash when launched final month, forward of the the movie making its debut tomorrow (Could 9) on the Gold Coast Movie Pageant.

The plot follows a British character referred to as Gary Buckle (performed by Andre), who decides to impersonate a Jamaican gangster in an elaborate rip-off to pay for his personal grandmother’s care residence charges. The movie has been met with controversy as a result of depiction of Andre carrying dreadlocks and talking with a pretend Jamaican accent – resulting in some viewers taking to social media to slam the mission as “gross” and “mocking Jamaican tradition” in addition to cultural appropriation (through GB News).

Now the ‘Mysterious Lady’ star – born in England to Cypriot mother and father and raised in Australia – has spoken out about his function within the movie for the primary time following criticism, and defended the mission as “one thing light-hearted” and “one thing humorous”.

“[It’s] a heist such as you’ve by no means seen earlier than,” he advised Australia’s Channel 7, earlier than being requested whether or not he was anticipating the “combined suggestions”.

“Effectively, to be truthful, I feel it’s good to get all types of suggestions,” he responded. “It’s my first lead function however I’ve completed fairly a number of roles earlier than. And all of them, I’ve performed completely different characters.

“So for me, it’s performing – I get to do one thing light-hearted, one thing humorous. One thing that could be a movie I’d need to watch… It’s nearly a bit bit self-indulgent within the sense that I get to do one thing that I’ve actually, actually needed to do.”

The ’90s pop star additionally shared his reward for the film’s director Fredi Nwaka, saying: “He doesn’t let me simply play the character that you simply suppose you’re gonna play. He all the time will get me to play somebody very, very completely different.” Try the interview within the publish above.

Jafaican will launch on the Gold Coast Movie Pageant tomorrow and is ready to be aired in cinemas within the UK at a later date.

Sharing the trailer on Instagram, the caption in Andre’s publish learn: “UK… we’re coming. Keep tuned for the Premiere Data, Unique First Launch, Launch dates — dropping quickly.”