The director of Peter Andre’s new crime-comedy Jafaican has responded to the almighty backlash the trailer received after it was first released online.
The two minute and 14 second clip had people up in arms after it featured singer-turned-actor Andre — who was born in England, raised in Australia and is of Greek-Cypriot descent — was shown playing a Jamaican gangster wearing fake dreadlocks and and speaking with a dodgy dubbed Jamaican accent.
The film follows a small-time crook from London called Gazza (Andre), who takes on a high-stakes con job to cover a £35,000 bill for his grandmother’s care home fees. The plan is to impersonate a notorious gangster and steal £3m, all while navigating a crash course in Jamaican culture.
Following special screenings across the UK on Tuesday, one of which was attended by The Standard, a filmed Q&A with both Andre and filmmaker Fredi Nwaka was shown.
Asked about the backlash to the trailer, including accusations of cultural appropriation, Nwaka said: “Do you know what, we live in a world that is so serious right now.
“People are getting sick and dying. This is really serious and I feel like I just want people to leave with laughter, leave with love and this feeling they had back in the day that you could live, laugh and almost take the p*ss out of yourself.
“It’s a comedy. Comedies are supposed to make you smile, they are supposed to make you laugh, they’re supposed to make you feel good and when you go home, it’s a bit of relief from everyday stuff.”
Suggesting he viewed the project as a love letter to Jamaica — where part of the film was shot — Nwaka, 53, added: “Also, another thing is, go to Jamaica. It’s an amazing country, man. If you haven’t been, go to Jamaica — you’ll love it.”
Jafaican had its official debut at the Gold Coast Film Festival in Queensland, Australia earlier this month.
In an interview with Channel 7 ahead of it, Andre - who deleted his original social media post featuring the trailer following the furore - was asked: “The trailer did see some headlines about an English-born Australian-raised actor playing a Jamaican character, you know about that. Are you surprised there’s been some mixed feedback here or were you anticipating that?”
Andre replied: “Well, to be fair, I mean, I think it’s good to get all sorts of feedback. I mean, this is not … it’s my first lead role but I’ve done quite a few roles before. And all of them, I’ve played different characters.”
The Mysterious Girl hit-maker continued: “So for me, it’s acting – I get to do something light-hearted, something funny. Something that y’know is the kind of film I’d wanna watch. So it’s almost like a little bit self-indulgent in the sense that I get to do something that I’ve really, really wanted to do.”
