The new biopic “Michael” is likely to set the box office on fire despite omitting his years of legal troubles and child molestation accusations.
Jaafar Jackson reflects on playing his uncle in ‘Michael’ premiere
Jaafar Jackson reflected on playing his uncle Michael Jackson in the biopic “Michael” and talked about how he prepared for the role.
Almost 17 years after his death, the Michael Jackson brand is more carefully curated than ever.
The new “Michael” biopic (in theaters now) celebrates his greatest hits and performances, but the big-budget nostalgia trip stops short of addressing the multiple accusations of child sexual abuse that plagued him for the last third of his life.
The movie ends in 1988. Five years earlier, dentist Evan Chandler accused the pop star of sexually abusing his 13-year-old son, Jordan. Jackson denied any wrongdoing, but settled the lawsuit for $23 million in early 1994.
According to Variety, the film will address Chandler’s allegations directly and will include scenes in which investigators search Jackson’s Neverland Ranch for evidence. However, lawyers for Jackson’s estate are said to have discovered a clause in the legal settlement with Chandler that prohibits any mention or depiction of Jackson in any film.
“Michael,” starring the pop music icon’s nephew Jaafar Jackson, seeks to soften the singer’s tainted public perception. The film features many scenes with Jackson and his children. Visiting sick children in the hospital, signing autographs for children in toy stores, and excitedly talking to children about their favorite games and books.
The film aims to show that even as an adult, Jackson himself was still a child. To cope with the physical and emotional abuse from his domineering father, Joe Jackson (played by Colman Domingo), he escapes into the world of Peter Pan and Charlie Chaplin films.
The film portrays his interactions with the children as kind-hearted and innocent, at least according to the court’s ruling. In 2003, Jackson was arrested on suspicion of sexually abusing 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo. The case went to trial in 2005, and the Grammy Award winner was acquitted on all charges by a jury, citing insufficient evidence.
However, multiple accusers are still awaiting their day in court.
Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who met Jackson as children, alleged years of abuse at the hands of Jackson in the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland. The couple is seeking $400 million in damages, according to court documents obtained by Us Weekly last fall, and The Hollywood Reporter reported that the case is expected to go before a lower court jury next year.
On April 24, Safechuck released a video distributed through his lawyer, telling victims of abuse that they are not alone.
“The movie ‘Michael’ is out and is being heavily promoted,” Safechuck said in the clip. “There are billboards and commercials and people praising Michael, and that can be a trigger for survivors who have Michael in their lives, whether it’s a priest close to God, a sports coach just helping their kids, or a stepparent supporting their family.”
Former friends of the Jackson family, Edward, Dominic and Aldo Cascio, and his sister Marie Nicole Porte also filed suit in California federal court on February 27, alleging that Jackson’s employees aided and abetted and concealed his alleged abuse. They claim that representatives of his estate forced them under false pretenses to sign an agreement that allegedly prevents them from “talking about the abuse they endured over the years.”
Jackson, who died in 2009 at the age of 50, was “a serial child predator who drugged, raped, and sexually assaulted each plaintiff over a period of more than 10 years, beginning when some of them were 7 or 8 years old,” the suit says.
The Cassios detailed their charges in an April 24 interview with The New York Times. “We were brainwashed and groomed,” Edwards told the outlet, claiming he was “taught” to protect Jackson from accusations of abuse.
In a March 2 statement to USA TODAY, Jackson estate attorney Marty Singer said, “This lawsuit is a desperate money grab by additional members of the Cascio family who have jumped on the bandwagon along with their brother Frank, who has already been sued in a civil racketeering arbitration.”
“For more than 25 years, the family has vigorously defended Michael Jackson and exonerated him of any wrongdoing. This new court filing is a transparent forum shopping tactic in their scheme to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars from Michael’s estate and businesses.”
USA TODAY reached out to attorneys for Robson, Safechuck and Casios for comment ahead of the film’s release.
Jackson’s accusers say for years they have found it difficult to speak out about their allegations. Before the premiere of Leaving Neverland at Sundance, Robson and Safechuck recalled receiving death threats from Jackson’s supporters and a flood of messages professing his innocence.
Robson told USA TODAY at the time that the hostility “got less hurtful as time went on.” “To be honest, I don’t feel very good about it. But I try to remember that we are all at different stages of our evolution. We can accept whatever is acceptable to us based on the circumstances in which we find ourselves in life.”
“So the people who are choosing to take that mean, erratic approach towards me and James, that’s exactly what they’re in right now. I hope there’s some peace in their lives and a little less anger.”
If you or someone you know has experienced sexual violence, RAINN’s National Sexual Assault Hotline offers free and confidential 24/7 support in English and Spanish via chat and 800-656-4673.
Contributors: KiMi Robinson and Edward Segarra
