Michael Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson has confirmed the planned sequel to Michael will tackle the child sexual abuse allegations made against the late singer – after the controversial subject was left out of the first film.
Jaafar, 30, portrays his uncle in the blockbuster biopic, which charts Jackson’s journey from childhood star to one of the biggest musicians on the planet but concludes in 1987, before the first allegations against him emerged.
With a follow-up already in development at Lionsgate, Jaafar has now indicated the second film will venture into considerably more difficult territory.
However, his comments also give the clearest indication yet of the perspective from which the allegations are likely to be presented.
Speaking to GQ Middle East, Jaafar said he wants audiences to hear his uncle’s ‘point of view,’ arguing that previous accounts have overwhelmingly come from other people.
‘I think the second film will give even more insight from his point of view, because at the end of the day, [the allegations] are always from someone else’s,’ he said.
‘It’s someone else’s story. It’s someone else’s idea of what it is, and it’s mainly driven by an agenda.’
Jaafar, the son of Michael’s older brother Jermaine Jackson, added that his family has long been frustrated by what they see as the absence of the singer’s own perspective from conversations surrounding the accusations.
‘And that’s really the issue we’ve been having as a family – not having Michael’s voice being heard,’ he continued.
‘I think that’s very, very important, especially in the late years.’
Jackson, who died in 2009 aged 50, faced allegations of child sexual abuse during his lifetime, which he consistently denied.
In 1993, he was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year-old boy. A civil lawsuit was subsequently settled in 1994 without an admission of wrongdoing, while a criminal investigation did not result in charges.
A decade later, Jackson was charged with offences including child molestation following separate allegations. After a highly publicised trial in 2005, he was acquitted on all counts.
Further allegations were made after his death, most prominently by Wade Robson and James Safechuck, whose accounts featured in the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland. Jackson’s estate has strongly rejected their allegations.
The decision over how Michael, the film, would approach this part of the singer’s life has been a major question hanging over the project since it was announced.
The first film sidesteps the issue by ending years before the accusations began.
Directed by Antoine Fuqua, Michael instead focuses on the singer’s early life, his rise alongside his brothers in The Jackson 5 and his eventual emergence as a solo superstar, culminating with the release of his Bad album era.
Fuqua previously revealed that material concerning the allegations had originally formed part of the project before the decision was made to split Jackson’s story.
Jaafar said establishing who his uncle was before the controversies that dominated his later years was important to understanding the story the filmmakers are attempting to tell.
‘This first film focuses on Michael from his roots,’ he explained.
‘So you get that idea of who he was before he had all the success and became the icon that people are familiar with, you understand who he was as a human being first.’
For Jaafar, that portrait is also deeply personal.
Michael is being made with the involvement of the Jackson estate, and Jaafar has spoken repeatedly about his affection for his uncle, whom he remembers from childhood.
He told GQ that despite everything Michael experienced during his life, he believed his fundamental character remained unchanged.
‘He never changed that purity, that sense of always wanting to find the good in other people,’ Jaafar said.
‘And no matter all the stuff he went through, how he was treated, what things were said about him, he never stopped treating people with kindness.’
He continued: ‘He never stopped believing in and wanting to look for the good in people… even though he was broken, his heart still stayed the same.’
Jaafar added that he hopes ‘this is felt in the second movie’.
His remarks suggest the sequel will not simply acknowledge the allegations but attempt to examine their effect on Jackson from the perspective of the singer and his family.
That approach is likely to attract considerable scrutiny, particularly given the Jackson estate’s involvement with the films and its longstanding rejection of allegations against him.
The first instalment has already faced questions about how objective a biopic made with the cooperation of Jackson’s estate can be, particularly when tackling one of the most controversial celebrity legacies in modern history.
Michael stars Jaafar opposite Colman Domingo and Nia Long as Jackson’s parents Joe and Katherine, while Miles Teller plays the singer’s lawyer and adviser John Branca.
