Machine Gun Kelly apparently had the chance to audition for a vampire role in Ryan Coogler’s runaway 2025 hit movie Sinners, but he turned it down for one solid reason.
On the Aug. 1 episode of The Pat McAfee Show, the “Cliché” singer explained that he declined to audition for the movie, which became a commercial success, when he learned that a racial slur would be used.
MGK was not down to say the n-word. Straight up.
“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 eats the family. In the audition, he has to say the ‘n-word’ and I wouldn’t do it.”
MGK is likely talking about Bert, the KKK member turned vampire portrayed by Peter Dreimanis. The character and his wife, Joan (Lola Kirke), were made vampires by Remmick (Jack O’Connell).
One audition turned down isn’t going to keep MGK from pursuing acting. “I have a lot of aspirations to be in movies, it just hasn’t panned out that way,” he said. “I’m on universal timing,” MGK explained, before adding, “It’ll align. The angels will put something in the works.”
“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, under his real name Colson Baker, has starred in several films throughout the years outside of his music projects. He had a part in the Netflix movies Project Power (2020) and Bird Box (2018), as well as the Mötley Crüe biopic The Dirt as Tommy Lee.
If MGK’s reason for not auditioning for Sinners is true, then good on him because I don’t think an MGKKK would’ve sat right with me.
I am an editor for Grazia British, focusing on business and entrepreneurship. I love uncovering emerging trends and crafting stories that inspire and inform readers about innovative ventures and industry insights.
