Photo Credit: Lionsgate
Jaafar Jackson says the second “Michael” film will address the child abuse allegations that the star faced by challenging the “agenda” behind them.
The sequel to Lionsgate’s wildly successful Michael film is moonwalking ever closer to production, and actor Jaafar Jackson—Michael’s real-life nephew, who played him in the movie—confirms that it will address the child abuse allegations that plagued the star’s later career. He told GQ Middle East that he hopes the sequel will shed more light on Michael’s perspective.
“It’s someone else’s story,” said Jaafar Jackson. “It’s someone else’s idea of what it is, and it’s mainly driven by an agenda. And that’s really the issue we’ve been having as a family—not having Michael’s voice being heard. I think that’s very, very important, especially in the late years.”
Critics were quick to note the fact that the first film ends at around the 1987 release of Bad, supposedly as a convenient excuse to avoid having to address the sexual abuse allegations, which began around 1993. But it has since been revealed that the film was originally going to end in the ’90s until attorneys unveiled a clause in the settlement between the Jackson estate and the initial accuser stipulating that the person not be portrayed in television or film. Thus, the ending of the movie was reworked to avoid covering that period of Jackson’s life.
However, that doesn’t mean the second film will shy away from other allegations against Michael.
“The first film focuses on Michael from his roots,” Jackson continued. “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. Because at the end of the day, that’s who he was in the ’90s until he passed. He never changed that purity, that sense of always wanting to find the good in other people.”
“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 never stopped believing in and wanting to look for the good in people,” said Jackson. “I hope that this is felt in the second movie.”
Jaafar also attempted to quell any rumors that Janet Jackson, whose music career is almost as highly regarded as her brother’s, felt any bad blood toward the film and its portrayal of Michael. Her absence in the film has led critics to suggest that she actively did not want to participate.
“I don’t want to speak too early, but Janet has ideas of maybe doing her own film,” Jaafar explained, noting that she may not have wanted an actress to be selected to play her when she had not yet selected who she wanted to portray her in her own film.
A Janet Jackson film in the works has not yet been officially confirmed, but a “Jackson Family Cinematic Universe” certainly has the potential to be highly profitable.
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