The new, big-screen treatment of the pop icon’s life cuts off in 1988, five years before he was first accused of sexual abuse.

Colman Domingo defends Michael Jackson biopic from claim it ‘whitewashed’ sexual abuse allegations

The new, big-screen treatment of the pop icon's life cuts off in 1988, five years before he was first accused of sexual abuse.

By Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman

Ryan Coleman is a news writer for with previous work in MUBI Notebook, Slant, and the LA Review of Books.

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April 22, 2026 7:59 p.m. ET

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Colman Domingo as Joe Jackson, and Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson in 'Michael'. Credit:

Courtesy of Lionsgate; Glen Wilson/Lionsgate

- Colman Domingo is defending the Michael Jackson biopic *Michael *against allegations it "whitewashed" the singer's legacy.

- "We center it on the makings of Michael. It's an intimate portrait of who Michael is," Domingo stated in a Wednesday interview on *Today*.

- The film tells the pop star's story until 1988, five years before the first sexual abuse allegations was leveled against him.

*Michael*, the new biopic of the legendary pop musician Michael Jackson, is already being touted as (potentially) one of the highest grossing films of 2026, despite not premiering until Friday. At the same time, the film has already sparked major controversy on a number of fronts, most notably the decision to elide the sexual abuse allegations that dominated the latter years of the singer's life.

In the run-up to *Michael*'s big premiere, stars Colman Domingo and Nia Long, who play Jackson's parents Joe and Katherine, got ahead of that criticism in a Wednesday morning interview on *Today*.

Co-anchor Craig Melvin noted that the film ends in 1988, five years before the first allegation was leveled against Jackson.

"What would you say to folks who see this" and believed the film "whitewashed that part" of Jackson's legacy, he asked.

Domingo began, restating that "the film takes place from the '60s to 1988, so it does not go into the first allegations in, what, 2005? Basically, we center it on the makings of Michael. It's an intimate portrait of who Michael is."

It was Evan Chandler who first alleged that Jackson sexually abused his 13-year-old son Jordan in 1993. Chandler filed a $30 million lawsuit that prompted an investigation, which was closed a year later following a settlement. A grand jury later declined to indict Jackson.

The investigation into Jackson was reopened in 2003 after the documentary *Living With Michael Jackson *included testimony from Gavin Arvizo, a 13-year-old who claimed he'd been having sleepovers with Jackson at his Los Olivos, Calif., Neverland Ranch complex. Jackson was charged with seven counts of child sexual abuse, which culminated in a 2005 trial. Jackson was ultimately acquitted on all counts.

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Long suggested to Melvin that the film bypassed this part of Jackson's legacy because of the choice to tell the pop star's story "through his eyes."

Domingo underlined that point, remarking, "Through his eyes, truly. That's what it is. That's what this film is, and there's the possibility of there being a part two that may deal with other things that may happen afterwards. This is about the making of Michael, how he was raised, and how he was trying to find his voice as an artist."

Jaafar Jackson, the star of 'Michael,' is the artist's nephew.

Glen Wilson/Lionsgate

It is not yet clear whether there will be a follow-up to *Michael*. Director Antoine Fuqua has not stated his intention either way, though he did cast doubt on some of the accuser's stories, noting that "sometimes people do some nasty things for some money."

Dan Reed, the director of the 2019 docuseries *Leaving Neverland*, which detailed two additional allegations of sexual abuse against Jackson, both made after his 2009 death, slammed *Michael** *in 2024.

"It's an out-and-out attempt to completely rewrite the allegations and dismiss them out of hand, and contains complete lies," he remarked at the time, after reading a draft of the script.

A report published earlier this month in *Variety*, meanwhile, claimed that *Michael *doesn't address the sexual abuse allegations due to a clause in the Chandler settlement that barred any depiction or mention of Jordan Chandler in any movie.

According to the report, Fuqua planned to depict this period in Jackson's life. Production had actually shot a scene of investigators searching Neverland for evidence, but after the Michael Jackson Estate discovered the clause in the Chandler settlement, the film was reworked to exclude the allegations altogether.

* *has reached out to representatives for the Michael Jackson Estate and Lionsgate, the studio behind *Michael*, for comment.

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