Machine Gun Kelly is facing some heat.
The rapper, real name Colson Baker, has a side hustle as an actor — he’s appeared in The Dirt, Bird Box, and the upcoming Midnight in the Switchgrass (where he met his current GF, Megan Fox), among others. Apparently, he’s ready to take his film career to the next level with a starring role — but his biggest project yet is stirring up some controversy.
The 31-year-old was announced as the lead for the drama Good News, written and directed by Tim Sutton. Here’s the plot of the film, according to Deadline:
“Good News tells the story of the last days of a rising but troubled musician (Baker). While the feature is a complete work of fiction, it takes its inspiration from the arcs of such contemporary artists as Mac Miller, Lil Peep, Pop Smoke and Juice Wrld.”
The character may be an amalgamation of a few gone-too-soon hip hop artists, but considering the movie’s title shares a name with the first single off Miller’s posthumous 2020 album Circles, fans justifiably assumed Colson would be playing the beloved artist (whose real name was Malcolm McCormick). And they weren’t happy about it. Twitter reactions included:
“MGK playing Mac Miller in a movie about his death.. This truly is the bad timeline its gotta be a sick joke”
“i’ll never understand why people can’t just let mac miller rest in peace. …
tim sutton (the director), you aren’t honoring his name, you are trying to profit off of a man who has passed away. respect his legacy and respect his family’s wishes”
“Someone needs to tell MGK that playing Mac Miller in a non-affiliated film still won’t get him respect from the Hip-Hop community.
Dude needs to make like he did in Bird Box & just leave.”
Even more significantly, the late musician’s brother Miller McCormick reportedly spoke out against the film, posting on his Instagram Story:
“f**k you
f**k your movie
at least change the title”
While the subject matter of the movie may still feel “too soon,” the title will, at least, be changing. Rivulet Media, the production company behind the film, released a statement to E! News:
“Our film is about a fictional musician on the rise with a troubled life. It’s not in any way a biopic or based on any artist’s true life. We realize the title, which was intended as an homage to Mac Miller, and other artists gone too soon, feels disrespectful. We’ve heard from many people on social media who have found offense with the title so, without hesitation, we will change it.”
Definitely the best move if this film is going forward. And they should probably be careful not to pull too much inspiration from Mac’s life, because if there are a lot of similarities when it’s finally released, we have no doubt protective fans will have a lot to say about it.
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