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The British TV series Urban Myths had a great premise — the anthology series would recreate well-known urban legends featuring famous personalities in an outlandish, comedic way — and it featured a cast of top-notch actors. But one of the show’s episodes, about a purported road trip taken by Marlon Brando, Elizabeth Taylor and Michael Jackson after the 9/11 terrorist attacks, was pulled just a day before it was set to air, because of outrage that white actor Joseph Fiennes was playing Black pop star Jackson.

At the time, Jackson’s daughter Paris wrote that she was “incredibly offended” by the choice to have a white actor fill her father’s shoes, and numerous other publications and fans criticized the choice, as well. In an interview with The Guardian this week, Fiennes owned up to the gaffe, saying that “people are absolutely right to be upset” by his casting.

“It was a wrong decision. Absolutely. And I’m one part of that – there are producers, broadcasters, writers, directors, all involved in these decisions. But obviously if I’m upfront, I have become the voice for other people,” he said.

The actor continued, “I would love them to be around the table as well to talk about it. But you know, it came at a time where there was a movement and a shift and that was good, and it was, you know, a bad call. A bad mistake.”

At the time, when the trailer for the series launched, Fiennes called his episode of the show, “a tongue-in-cheek, fun, light look at three wonderful characters.”

But after Jackson’s immediate family expressed disapproval, Fiennes told The Guardian, “I asked the broadcaster to pull it. And there were some pretty hefty discussions, but ultimately people made the right choice.”

The episode also starred Stockard Channing as Taylor and Brian Cox and Brando. And despite the controversy surrounding that particular episode of the series, it went on to run for a total of 26 episodes.