“In the audition, he has to say the ‘n-word’ and I wouldn’t do it,” the musician said
Machine Gun Kelly nearly had a role in Sinners, but he ultimately chose to pass on the box office hit because he didn’t want to use a racial slur. MGK made the revelation during his appearance on ESPN’s The Pat McAfee Show over the weekend, sharing he had auditioned for the Ryan Coogler film.
“Like Sinners, I was supposed to be in that,” MGK said. “The vampire, they had me set up to do the audition. It’s the one that’s in the house, so he’s the second vampire, the one that the guy comes and he eats the family up. In the audition, he has to say the ‘n-word’ and I wouldn’t do it.”
The character MGK refers to is Bert, a KKK member and husband to Joan, played by Lola Kirke. Peter Dreimainis of July Talk ended up getting the role he passed on.
“I have a lot of aspirations to be in movies, it just hasn’t panned out that way,” he said. But “I’m on universal timing… It’ll align. The angels will put something in the works.”
MGK has several acting gigs under his belt over the years. He played Felix in 2018’s Bird Box, Tommy Lee in 2019’s The Dirt, Cal in 2021’s The Last Son, and Cole in 2022’s Taurus. He was also on the Cameron Crowe-directed show Roadies as Wes in 2016. “There’s been plenty of movies that come out that I was like, ah, I was supposed to be in that, or I did auditions for that,” MGK said during the interview.
The new interview comes just days before MGK is set to release his seventh studio album, Lost Americana, this Friday. The album features singles “Cliché,” “Miss Sunshine,” and “Vampire Diaries,” which was co-produced by Travis Barker. (Bob Dylan narrated the LP’s trailer.)
