Jaafar Jackson: Michael Sequel to Give Insight Into Child Abuse Allegations

Now that the second “Michael” movie is closer to starting production, star Jaafar Jackson says it will indeed address the criticisms and child abuse allegations Michael Jackson faced in the ’90s. 

Michael Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson says that while he doesn’t have much say in how the screenplay is written, he tells GQ Middle East that he hopes the sequel will give more insight into Michael’s perspective. 

“It’s someone else’s story,” Jaafar Jackson said. “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.” 

The biopic rocked the box office this summer, surpassing $1 billion in global ticket sales. But the film only chronicles the first half of the icon’s career. It ends with the 1987 release of “Bad,” before the singer received his first allegation in 1993. Jaafar Jackson says the two-part feature provides an opportunity for a deeper understanding of Michael and his circumstances. 

“This first film focuses on Michael from his roots,” Jackson said. “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… even though he was broken, his heart still stayed the same… I hope that this is felt in the second movie.”