Black or White? Actor Fiennes cast to play singer Michael Jackson

(Reuters) - British actor Joseph Fiennes has been cast as iconic African-American pop star Michael Jackson in an upcoming TV comedy, provoking scorn on social media on Wednesday and fuelling a controversy in the entertainment industry over opportunities for black artists. Fiennes, who is white, will play the late "King of Pop" in an apparently real-life story for Britain's satellite TV channel Sky Arts about a road trip across the United States the singer is said to have taken in 2001 with movie stars Elizabeth Taylor and Marlon Brando. Sky Arts said in a statement on Wednesday that the 30-minute comedy, called "Elizabeth, Michael & Marlon," is "part of a series of comedies about unlikely stories from arts and cultural history.