Mixed reviews have greeted the new Michael Jackson biopic, with critics accusing the film’s producers of deliberately avoiding the controversies that surrounded the late singer’s life.

A global superstar and a cultural icon known as the “King of Pop,” Jackson’s career spanned over four decades, and he became one of the most successful and influential musicians of all time. With hit albums like “Thriller,” “Bad,” and “Dangerous,” Jackson’s music has been enjoyed by millions of people around the world and continues to be popular today. However, Jackson’s career was not without its ups and downs.

In the last two decades of his life, Jackson was accused several times of child sex abuse, claims the singer and his estate have denied.

“Michael”, the new biopic about the singer, ignored those accusations, sparking controversy online about the film whitewashing the controversies of his life.

The film, in fact, ends in 1988 before the abuse allegations. “Michael”, played by the late singer’s nephew Jaafar Jackson, looks at the late icon’s life from his childhood in Gary, Indiana, through the 1980s when he became a star and began working solo, away from his family. Joe Jackson is portrayed by Colman Domingo and Nia Long played Katherine Jackson. 

On Wednesday, when Long and Domingo appeared on the Today show, host Craig Melvin asked them why the movie ends in 1988 without including the child molestation allegations Jackson faced years before his death.

“The film takes place from the ’60s to 1988, so it does not go into the first allegations in, what, 2005,” Domingo said. “So basically we center it on the makings of Michael, so it’s an intimate portrait of who Michael is.” “Through his eyes,” Long added.

“So that’s what it is. That’s what this film is,” Domingo noted. “And there’s a possibility of a part two that may deal with some other things that happened afterwards. This is about the making of Michael, how he was raised and then how he was trying to find his voice as an artist and be a solo artist. And then, the movie. . . That’s what I have to say about that.”

“Michael” was originally made to open with the 1993 police raid on the pop star’s infamous California compound, Neverland Ranch, amid investigations into allegations of child abuse against the singer by 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. “I shot [Michael] being stripped naked, treated like an animal, a monster,’ ” Michael director Antoine Fuqua shared in an interview with The New Yorker published Monday, April 20.

He shared how the film had to be reshot in 2025 after lawyers were made aware of a clause in a settlement agreement between the singer and Chandler.

After being accused of sexually abusing the 13-year-old in 1993; Jackson reportedly settled with the teen’s family out of court for $25 million. Apparently,  the settlement came with an agreement that the Chandlers could never be mentioned or dramatized in a movie, according to a January 2025 report from Puck.

Thus, producers of the biopic had to rewrite and reshoot major portions of the movie upon advice from lawyers.

“Hence, all mentions of Jackson’s child abuse allegations were scrubbed in an extensive reshoot, estimated to have cost $40 million to $50 million,” Forbes writes.

Puck also claimed in its 2025 report that the Chandler scandal was a key “backbone” of the movie.

Variety reported earlier this month that Lionsgate believes “roughly 30% of the material” that was not included in the film’s final cut could be reused for a sequel.

“Michael” is in theaters April 24. Jackson’s estate contributed financially to the project, with his son, Prince Jackson, serving as an executive producer. Bigi and Paris, the late singer’s other children, are not involved. Paris has criticized the film for having “a lot of inaccuracies” and “a lot of full blown lies,” according to Variety.

Janet Jackson, who reportedly declined to be portrayed in the film, did not attend the premiere, but her siblings, including LaToya, Jackie, Marlon, Randy and Jermaine, were present.