Why Damson Idris’ New Film About Miles Davis and His Affair With A White Woman Has Fans Rolling Their Eyes

When jazz legend Miles Davis died in 1991, his reported final message was, “Tell Cicely I’m sorry.” Now, Hollywood’s upcoming biopic “Miles & Juliette,” starring Damson Idris, has Black audiences questioning why the film centers his brief romance with a white French singer while seemingly sidelining his decades-long, complicated relationship with Cicely Tyson and his two other Black wives.

For many, it’s another example of Hollywood overlooking the Black women who helped shape our cultural icons in favor of white romantic interests. So you already know we’ve got to break it down. You see, over the weekend, a first-look photo of the film, including Idris as Davis and his costar Anamaria Vartolomei as famous French singer/actress Juliette Gréco, was released via Deadline. The aforementioned movie is set to chronicle a 22-year-old Davis during his transformative trip to Paris in 1949. While there, he meets and falls in love with Gréco, who was then emerging as the face of the postwar Left Bank.

However, by the time the photo began circulating on social media, many fans were put off and downright irritated at the fact that the film would choose to highlight his relationship with a white woman versus the three marriages to Black women that he had over his lifetime. To be specific, Davis was married to dancer/choreographer Frances Taylor in 1959. In 1968, he said, “I do,” to Betty Davis. By the time 1969 rolled around, he and Tyson tied the knot following their years-long, contentious relationship.

Related: The Complicated Story of Jazz Legend Miles Davis

“So Miles Davis estate decided to make a movie not about his legacy as a musician but about how he dated a white woman in France,” said one person on X/Twitter.

“Yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck yuck Miles Davis and the complex man that he was, we choose to only make a movie about his white love interest? The erasure of Blackness is real,” wrote another.

One other user said: “Miles Davis had three Black wives, btw. But this is what Hollyweird chooses to focus on.”

Added another: “They chose a Nigerian actor to play a Black American icon, and out of all the black wives he had, they chose to make a movie about the random relationship with a white woman. The intentional erasure is insane. Don’t watch this.”

But, if we’re keeping it 100—as we previously told you and as most jazz fans know now from both Tyson’s memoir and past interviews from Davis himself—he was abusive towards all three of his past Black wives. And while it’s definitely questionable as to why Davis’ affair with Gréco would be centered, for some fans, they would rather not see the abuse of Black women on the big screen.

“He beat every Black woman he was with. I don’t wanna see that… not that I wanna see this, but Miles Davis, while talented, was not a good person, especially to his Black spouses. So, yeah, let’s not make that into a film,” said one user in part on X/Twitter.

Noted another, “YUCK! Miles Davis was married to three different black women: Frances Taylor Davis, Betty Davis, and Cicely Tyson. He was abusive to them, constantly cheated, and also had a severe substance abuse problem. Now y’all are gonna give us this nonsense love story. Keep it!”

For what it’s worth, Davis’ 1949 trip to France marked his first-ever foray outside of the United States and was one that the singer widely credited with helping his music evolve. He also frequently returned to the country over his lifetime and commended the city for how well it treated Black folks and how they respected jazz as a serious art form. What’s more, Davis has also spoken in the past about how much his relationship with Gréco inspired him, telling The Guardian in 2009: “Juliette was probably the first woman that I loved as an equal human being.”