‘Michael’ Sequel Will Address Child Abuse Allegations, Jaafar Jackson Says

The follow-up to Michael will address the most controversial aspect of the King of Pop’s life. 

The second installment of the blockbuster Michael Jackson biopic isn’t yet in production. But star Jaafar Jackson says it won’t necessarily shy away from the child sex abuse allegations against his uncle. But it will approach those issues from a sympathetic angle. 

‘Michael’ sequel will give ‘insight from his point of view’ regarding abuse allegations

The younger Jackson – who is the son of Michael’s brother Jermaine Jackson – says that the Michael sequel is still in development and that he has no role in writing the screenplay. But he believes the movie will explore his uncle’s complicated later years from a unique vantage point. 

“I think the second film will give even more insight from his point of view, because at the end of the day, [the allegations] are always from someone else’s,” he told GQ Middle East. “It’s someone else’s story. 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.”

Jackson said that he had access to his late relative’s journals, which has given him insight into his mindset before his death in 2009.

“A lot of those notes were through a child’s eyes, in a way. Very adventurous, innocently driven,” he said. But at the same time, the Grammy-winner was focused on business deals, including acquiring various music catalogues and rights, in addition to “seeking a more spiritual journey” to help him cope with the pressures of fame. 

Michael Jackson ‘never stopped treating people with kindness,’ Jaafar Jackson says 

The actor added that he hoped the second Michael movie would show the positive side of the “Thriller” singer, even as he faced intense scrutiny in his later years.  

“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.” 

“[Michael] never changed that purity, that sense of always wanting to find the good in other people,” he continued. “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.”

“There’s been so many stories told about Michael from so many different people,” he said. “This is to tell Michael’s story finally from the point of view of himself.” 

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