Michael Jackson biopic will never acknowledge his alleged abuse, says Leaving Neverland director | Hollywood News
Antoine Fuqua’s musical biopic Michael, starring Jafar Jackson as his uncle and legendary popstar Michael Jackson, may have earned over $219 million at the worldwide box office over its opening weekend. But its sanitized interpretation hasn’t gone down well with Dan Reed, who directed the 2019 documentary, Leaving Neverland, which depicted the detailed allegations of sexual assault against Jackson. “It suggests that Jackson’s engagement with children was entirely benign and motivated by nothing but philanthropy. Jeffrey Epstein was a great philanthropist, and Harvey Weinstein was a great filmmaker, but there’s unfortunately another dimension to their stories,” said Reed, equating Jackson to the the late disgraced financier and the film producer convicted of sexual assault after the MeToo movement respectively. Michael shows several scenes in which Jackson is seen engaging with children, and even donating huge sums to those in need. But Reed claimed that this selective depiction made him feel “icky”. “They’re saying that the reason Jackson liked children is because he’s an angel and just wanted to be nice to children, not that he …



