Atlanta got progressively weirder as the series progressed. It certainly isn’t a bad thing but it also created some polarizing moments. There was Kevin Samuels’ posthumous appearance that led to a significant backlash, though Donald Glover’s brother and show co-creator, Stephen Glover, said that they weren’t aware of his controversial takes. However, it felt a bit hard to believe that statement after Liam Neeson’s appearance in, “New Jazz.” During the episode, he apologized for the racist 2019 comments he made as a fictionalized version of himself.
The scene nearly didn’t go down, according to Donald Glover. “When I got in touch with him, Liam poured his heart out,” Glover told GQ. “He was like, ‘I am embarrassed. I don’t know about this. I’m trying to get away from that.’ And I was like, ‘Man, I’m telling you, this will be funny! And you’ll actually get a lot of cream from it because it’ll show you’re sorry’…So, he asked me to let him think about it. Then he sent me an email saying, ‘I don’t think I can do it and best of luck with Atlanta, blah-blah-blah.’”
Jordan Peele Helps Secure Liam Neeson Cameo
Glover recalled Neeson saying that he spoke to Morgan Freeman, Spike Lee, and Jordan Peele after the incident. “I hit Jordan Peele up and I was like, Look, man, I got this idea. He said that he trusted you. Tell him it’s a good idea!…Jordan thought it was hilarious! So Jordan talked to him. Liam hit me back and said he talked to Jordan and his son and thought it’d actually be a good thing,” Glover recalled.
However, Donald Glover didn’t inform Peele that the Gangs Of New York actor agreed to appear in Atlanta. Ultimately, the Get Out director believed that Glover pranked him into forgiving Neeson. “But what was so funny is, like, I forgot to hit Jordan back,” Glover continued. I was so excited about Liam doing it. So Jordan hit a friend of mine, and was like, ‘Am I on a prank show where Donald got me to forgive Liam Neeson? Was this a joke…on me?’”