Jaafar Jackson: 'Michael' Sequel to Address '90s Allegations
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- Jaafar Jackson told GQ Middle East the planned 'Michael' sequel will address the child abuse allegations Michael Jackson faced in the 1990s, which the first film did not cover.
- The first 'Michael' biopic surpassed $1 billion in global ticket sales this summer but ended with the 1987 release of 'Bad,' before the singer's first allegation in 1993.
- Jaafar Jackson said he has limited input on the screenplay, calling it 'someone else's story' driven by 'an agenda,' and stressed that the late-career years are when 'Michael's voice' was never heard.
- Jaafar Jackson described his uncle's character as unchanged by fame or scandal — saying Michael 'never stopped treating people with kindness' and 'never changed that purity' even though 'he was broken.'
- The Deadline headline frames the same interview as the sequel offering the allegations 'from his point of view,' underscoring the family's broader push to recast Michael's narrative across coverage.
Why it matters: The Jackson family is using a sequel to a $1 billion-grossing biopic to publicly reframe the 1990s allegations as a story whose 'agenda' excluded Michael — a notable pivot because Jaafar himself acknowledges he doesn't control the screenplay, meaning the family is leveraging star power and press access rather than creative control to shape the narrative.
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