Paris Jackson
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Who Does Paris Jackson Play in ‘Swarm’?

As soon as Swarm dropped on Prime Video, it quickly took over the discourse on the internet. Viewers took to social media to discuss the miniseries’ references to Beyoncé, Donald Glover’s life post-Atlanta, Chloe Bailey’s and Dominique Fishback’s performances, Billie Eilish’s acting debut, and the sheer fact that Malia Obama wrote one of the show’s seven episodes.

Amidst all the buzz surrounding pop stars and former president’s daughters, one conversation that slowly gained traction was the one about Paris Jackson’s role on the series.

The daughter of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson, plays a very important part in one of Swarm’s earlier episodes, and lovers of the show haven’t been able to stop talking about her. But who does Jackson play, exactly? And why is her role so controversial?

What is ‘Swarm’ About?

Created by Donald Glover and Janine Nabers, Swarm is one of those shows that you are better off going into without knowing anything about it.

Still, we’re going to try to give you a general idea of the plot. Best known for her role as Deborah Johnson in the 2021 historic drama Judas and the Black Messiah, Dominique Fishback stars in the series as Dre, an extremely socially awkward young woman obsessed with Beyoncé-like popstar Ni’jah (Nirine S. Brown).

Dre shares this fangirl love with her sister and roommate, Marissa (Chloe Bailey) – or, at least, that’s what she thinks. After a series of events that end with Marissa refusing Dre’s invitation to a Ni’jah concert in order to go on a trip with her boyfriend, the two sisters have a falling out, and Marissa comes to the conclusion that it’s time for her to move out.

Devastated by her sister’s sudden decision, Dre finds some semblance of comfort in the surprise release of Ni’jah’s newest concept album, “Festival.”

However, on the same night that the music video for the titular song drops, Marissa takes her life, convinced that her boyfriend Khalid (Damson Idris) has cheated on her.

This is a reference to a real-life rumor that spread through the internet about a girl that committed suicide after listening to Beyoncé’s 2016 album, “Lemonade.”

According to the rumor, a certain Marissa Jackson was so overwhelmed by the fact that one of the most gorgeous and powerful women in the world was cheated on by her husband that she simply couldn’t handle it anymore.

Marissa Jackson’s suicide was never real, but, in the show, it has some pretty serious effects on Dre’s worldview.

Angry at Khalid for his alleged betrayal and incensed by the many cruel comments online about Marissa’s death, Dre sets off on a road trip-cum-killing spree to meet her greatest idol.

Who is Hailey, aka Halsey, Paris Jackson’s Character in ‘Swarm’?

It is on one of the first stops of her road trip that Dre runs into Paris Jackson’s character, a stripper named Hailey — or should we say Halsey? Titled “Honey,” Episode 2 of Swarm has Dre relocating from Houston, Texas, to Fayeteville, Tennessee, about a year after Marissa’s death.

In order to make some money and to find a man that made a series of mean tweets about Marissa’s suicide, she takes a job at a local strip club.

Bullied by her co-workers for her awkward dances, Dre finds a friend in a fellow stripper that uses the stage name of Halsey. Or maybe we should say that Hailey finds a friend in Dre.

Extremely pushy, Halsey invites herself over to Dre’s hotel room to escape her abusive boyfriend, Sir (Casey Mills), and things go downhill from there.

Afraid of being stuck with Hailey for the rest of her days, Dre makes the decision to get rid of Sir. When Hailey stumbles upon her digging a shallow grave for Sir’s body and proposes that they become the Black Thelma and Louise, Dre decides that it’s time to get rid of Hailey as well. I guess that’s what you get for pretending to be someone’s best friend so you can get into their hotel room…

However, before Hailey dies, she and Dre have a very revealing conversation. Remember a few lines ago, when I mentioned that Hailey wanted Dre and her to become the Black Thelma and Louise? Yeah, the problem is that, if you look at Hailey, you would soon come to the conclusion that she would make a very white-looking Black Louise (or Thelma, I don’t know which one she would pick). But, as it turns out, she doesn’t think of herself as white. While sitting at a diner with Dre, Hailey claims to understand what it’s like to be an outcast because she is also Black. Dre is completely shocked by the statement, but Hailey is quick to clarify: “My dad’s half.” A few seconds later, she adds: “That’s why my stage name is Halsey.”

‘Swarm’s Halsey Is a Dig at the Real Halsey

Hailey’s stage name is a reference to real singer-songwriter Halsey, known for her songs ‘Without Me” and “Closer,” a feature with The Chainsmokers. Born of a white mother and a Black father, Halsey has been frequently questioned about her ethnic identity.

In a 2017 interview with Playboy, the singer stated that, despite looking white, she feels “like a Black woman.” At the same time, however, she’s stated: “I’m white-passing. I’ve accepted that about myself and have never tried to control anything about Black culture that’s not mine.”

In 2020, Halsey came under fire for not being vocal enough about the Black Lives Matter protests that took over the United States despite claiming to be at least partly Black.

The singer took to Twitter, where she wrote: “I’m white passing. It’s not my place to say ‘we.’ It’s my place to help. I am in pain for my family, but nobody is gonna kill me based on my skin color. I’ve always been proud of who I am but it’d be an absolute disservice to say ‘we’ when I’m not susceptible to the same violence.”

Paris Jackson, on the other hand, has always claimed her Black identity as the daughter of Black pop icon Michael Jackson. In an interview with Rolling Stone, the actress stated that she considers herself Black despite her white-passing appearance.

According to Jackson, her father “would look me in the eyes and he’d point his finger at me and he’d be like, ‘You’re Black. Be proud of your roots.’ And I’d be like, ‘OK, he’s my dad, why would he lie to me?’ So I just believe what he told me. ‘Cause, to my knowledge, he’s never lied to me.”

Many took Paris Jackson’s role in Swarm to be a dig at Halsey, however, there is more to the joke than meets the eye. What the show seems to be aiming at is a larger discussion about race and who gets to be Black in our current society, in which Blackness is so reviled and, at the same time, so commoditized. At the end of the day, both Halsey and Paris Jackson are daughters of Black men, but they’re also both very much white-passing. Should we laugh at them calling themselves Black? Are they entitled to claim this identity, considering that, as Halsey puts it, nobody is going to kill them based on the color of their skin? These aren’t easy questions, and Swarm doesn’t try to answer them, though it does point out the ridiculousness of someone that looks like Paris Jackson claiming to be Black. And considering her responses to fans’ reactions on Twitter, Paris is pretty okay with that.

The post Who Does Paris Jackson Play in ‘Swarm’? was originally published by ELISA GUIMARÃES on Screenrant.

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