If you wanted to see just how polarizing a figure Michael Jackson is, look no further than two recent, high-profile projects covering the life and death of the famed musician. One is a recent hit movie, the other a popular but savaged documentary, setting a Rotten Tomatoes record for Netflix.
The first project, of course, is Michael, the biopic about the singer, where Jackson is played by his real-life nephew, Jafar Jackson. The movie received poor reviews from critics, with a 39% Rotten Tomatoes score, but an extremely high, possibly year-best, 97% audience score. That’s helped the film go on to make $890 million so far this year, making it the second-highest-earning film of 2026 so far, just behind the Super Mario Galaxy Movie.
Now, Netflix’s documentary series, Michael Jackson: The Verdict, has produced the opposite result. Unlike the film, the three-part documentary focuses on the molestation accusations and trial of Jackson, debating whether or not he was guilty with a number of interviews with experts and people involved.
The result is a solid 78% Rotten Tomatoes score from critics, but a 7% from audiences. Yes, that’s a 7%, single digits. Jackson fans accuse the documentary of being sensational and light on the facts, and as such, have tanked its score. As it stands, this appears to be the lowest-rated audience-scored documentary in Netflix history, below projects like Harry and Meghan (18%), Fit for TV: The Reality of the Biggest Loser (45%) and Tiger King (57%).
The only project lower is the quite bad docudrama Queen Cleopatra, which was part of a culture war protesting the fact that she was played by a black actress, leading to a 3% audience score. But it just wasn’t very good, and it had an 18% critic score as well. This, however, was actors playing roles, so I would not consider it in the same class as Michael Jackson: The Verdict, or these others.
Well, despite this supposed audience hate, people are watching the Michael Jackson documentary. The show has been #1 on Netflix since its debut on June 3, now over a week ago, and it’s holding off other big series like The Witness, which, in contrast, has a 100% critic score (a dramatic adaptation of a horrific UK crime).
How long Michael Jackson can stay there remains to be seen. A new Harlan Coben adaptation, I Will Find You, is out a week from now on June 18, and those have done extremely well on Netflix in the past. Then, it’s the return of the anime adaptation, Avatar: The Last Airbender, on June 25. For now though, Michael remains on top, even if his fans are tearing up the film online.
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This article was originally published on Forbes.com
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