our review of Michael<\/strong><\/a>: \u201cMichael only functions as an insultingly blatant hagiography. It removes everything from his early life story that could be deemed contentious, including allegations of violent abuse by his father Joe (Colman Domingo), his early encounters with sex, or his growing body dysmorphia linked to the toll celebrity and trauma took on him.\u201d <\/p>\nWe added: \u201cNo need for any of that in this drama-free, formulaic and estate-controlled excuse to sell more albums. Instead, this biopic is sanitized to the point of being translucent and only caters to undiscerning fans who just want to hear the hits and witness recreations of iconic MJ moments.\u201d <\/p>\n
Predictably, the critical backlash has not landed well with family members and the stars of the film, who have spoken out against the negative reviews of Michael. <\/p>\n
Michael Jackson\u2019s nephew Taj Jackson, who is the son of Tito Jackson, has criticised the coverage of the biopic, writing on X: \u201cSorry media, u don\u2019t get to control the narrative anymore of who Michael Jackson truly was. The public gets to watch this movie, they will decide for themselves. And you can\u2019t handle that.\u201d <\/p>\n
In a follow-up post, he added: \u201cCan\u2019t wait till some critics have to eat crow. And yes I will be that petty.\u201d <\/p>\n
It\u2019s easy to regain control the narrative when you introduce a new generation to an overtly sanitized and safe version of a complicated life, but moving on…<\/p>\n
According to previous reports, an earlier version of the film did address the 1993 abuse allegations levelled against Michael Jackson, which emerged when 13-year-old Jordan Chandler\u2019s family spoke out. However, lawyers for Jackson\u2019s estate identified a prior settlement that \u201cprecluded any depiction or mention of them in a film\u201d. <\/p>\n
This resulted in Michael \u2019s planned 2025 release date to be delayed by a year, with the Jackson estate reportedly funding up to $15 million to have scenes cut and parts of the film reshot, according to Variety. <\/p>\n
TJ Jackson, the younger brother of Taj Jackson, also took to X to share his plans to rewatch the film. \u201cWhy? Because I\u2019m proud. I wouldn\u2019t miss this opportunity to be masked in the electrifying energy that will be in that theatre for nothing,\u201d he wrote. \u201cMy uncle deserves this, my cousin earned this and his loyal supporters are owed this. The world will be reminded or learn who MJ truly was and I can\u2019t wait!\u201d <\/p>\n
As for Colman Domingo, who plays Jackson\u2019s father Joe in the film, he was asked on US talkshow Today what he would say to people who belive that Michael is whitewashed. <\/p>\n
He replied: \u201cThe film takes place from the ’60s to 1988, so it does not go into the first allegations in, what, 2005? Basically, we centre it on the makings of Michael. It’s an intimate portrait of who Michael is.” <\/p>\n
The actor added that the film tells MJ\u2019s story \u201cthrough his eyes\u201d and that there is \u201cthe possibility of there being a part two that may deal with other things that may happen afterwards.\u201d <\/p>\n
Indeed, the final version of the film does end prior to the release of the album of \u2018Bad\u2019 in 1987 – with a title card that reads: “His story continues\u201d. Still, that doesn\u2019t account for leaving out anything else of interest.<\/p>\n
Not all the Jackson family members are on board though… <\/p>\n
Last year, Domingo claimed that Michael Jackson\u2019s two eldest children, Paris and Prince, were \u201cvery much in support of our film\u201d. <\/p>\n
This led Paris to clap back at the claim, writing on social media at the time: \u201cDon\u2019t be telling people I was \u2018helpful\u2019 on the set of a movie I had zero per cent involvement in lol that is so weird. I read one of the first drafts of the script and gave my notes about what was dishonest \/ didn\u2019t sit right with me, and when they didn\u2019t address it, I moved on with my life. Not my monkeys, not my circus. God bless and God speed.\u201d <\/p>\n
In follow-up posts, the 28-year-old model and actress said she \u201cbutted out\u201d when she was told the production would not address her notes. <\/p>\n
\u201cA big reason why I haven\u2019t said anything up until this point is because I know a lot of you guys are gonna be happy with it,\u201d she wrote. \u201cA big section of the film panders to a very specific section of my dad\u2019s fandom that still lives in the fantasy, and they\u2019re gonna be happy with it.\u201d <\/p>\n
She added: \u201cThe narrative is being controlled and there\u2019s a lot of inaccuracy and there\u2019s a lot of just full-blown lies. At the end of the day, that doesn\u2019t really fly with me. Go enjoy it. Do whatever. Leave me out of it.\u201d <\/p>\n
Another Jackson family member has reportedly spoken out against the film: Janet Jackson. The singer is said to have been \u201cvery critical\u201d of the finished product, according to TMZ<\/a>. <\/p>\nRegardless of controversy and critical mauling, Michael will doubtlessly be a box office hit. Lionsgate studio is aiming for $70 million in US opening weekend, and the international distributor Universal is expecting the box office outside the US to be up to $80 million. If those predictions come to pass, a $150 million start at the global box office would be a record start for a music biopic. <\/p>\n
Still, we recommend you spend your money elsewhere and follow Paris Jackson\u2019s example: stay away.<\/p>\n<\/p><\/div>\n
\u2018 The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n \u2018 Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.euronews.com \u2019 <\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"After seven years in the making, the first official biopic of the late Michael Jackson is out in European theatres now and hits US cinemas tomorrow. ADVERTISEMENT ADVERTISEMENT Michael, the Antoine Fuqua-directed and estate-approved film which chronicles the King of Pop\u2019s rise to stardom, has been critically panned and widely accused of whitewashing MJ\u2019s troubled […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":2385751,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"om_disable_all_campaigns":false,"_jetpack_memberships_contains_paid_content":false,"jnews-multi-image_gallery":[],"jnews_single_post":[],"jnews_primary_category":[],"jnews_social_meta":[],"footnotes":""},"categories":[25173],"tags":[24003,398019,345676,30797,21799,304696],"class_list":["post-2385750","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-artists","tag-celebrity-news","tag-celebrity-scandal","tag-cinema","tag-controversy","tag-film","tag-michael-jackson"],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/04\/A-family-affair-Michael-Jackson-family-and-biopic-stars-defend.jpg","jetpack_sharing_enabled":true,"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385750","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=2385750"}],"version-history":[{"count":1,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385750\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":2385752,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2385750\/revisions\/2385752"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/2385751"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=2385750"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=2385750"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/celebrity.land\/en\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=2385750"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}
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