Peter Andre: ‘I’ve worn an Afro for a music video before – no one cared then’
'I wouldn't want to hurt a fly.'
Peter Andre doesn’t understand why there’s such a fuss about his new comedy film, Jafaican.
For the film, the Mysterious Girl hitmaker, 52, plays ‘wheeler-dealer and troublemaker’ Gary Buckle (Gazza) who, in an effort to raise £35,000 to pay for his gran’s care home, impersonates a Jamaican gangster in a role that sees the singer donning a wig of dreadlocks.
After some initial excitement, Jafacian was soon met with criticism online, with some not understanding why the flick – which seems like it’s been plucked straight from the 2000s – is happening. Some dubbed the comedy ‘racist’ and another called it the ‘modern day blackface’.
‘For every one comment that we were getting on X that was negative, we were getting hundreds of comments on Instagram and all these other social platforms saying how much that they love it,’ Pete tells Metro.
‘We understand if somebody genuinely is offended. Of course, their voices need to be heard, and that was never the intention.
‘Anybody that knows me knows I wouldn’t want to hurt a fly. I found it interesting that they almost think the character I’m playing is me.’
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Previous Page Next Page In it he plays a wheeler deeler who impersonates a Jamaican gangster to make money (Picture: Radioactive Pictures)Director Fredi Nwaka hesitates to call the response to the trailer ‘backlash’ – but more differing opinions.
‘I don’t see it as backlash. I see it as a point of conversation. Anything that provokes or promotes conversation and debate, to me, is good. Everyone’s got an opinion,’ he says, sitting alongside Pete on a Zoom call.
‘I’ve never actually said this,’ begins Pete, ‘but everyone knows in Australia, I had a massive song called Get Down On It, which was a Kool & The Gangtrack. I re-released it in 1996 and it was huge in Australia.
‘In that I’m wearing a wig, and the wig is an Afro. That’s been out for years.’
Pete admits he’s had ‘controversy loads of times’ with ‘intimate’ video clips being banned in some countries.
‘I was just a bit surprised that this was the one that seemed to cause controversy, and not the role that I played in Fredi’s last film, where I actually had to play someone that was racist,’ he says, referring to 2022 film On the Other Foot, where he played a member of the EDL.
‘But again, you have to listen to people, if someone genuinely feels wronged, we understand. We never intended that, ever.’
Since taking up the role of Gazza in Jafacian, Pete has been offered a part as a serial killer in another movie.
Some people have branded the film ‘racist’ (Picture: Radioactive Pictures)‘I’m hoping it’ll happen, but I would never, in my wildest dreams think, “Oh, if I play a serial killer, people are actually going to think that I’m a serial killer, or I’m offending someone,” because I’ve never killed someone,’ he says.
It didn’t dawn on Pete that Jafaican could prove controversial over their two and a half years of filming.
‘Our line producer is from Jamaica. Half the characters in the film are Jamaican,’ he says, adding: ‘The other lead actor Will Johnson was in the latest Game of Thrones. Great actor. He’s Jamaican.
‘In the whole process of the film, we got to sit with legends like Sizzla Kalonji, who’s a reggae icon, and I got to do my part with him [while wearing] the wig.
