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

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. 

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." 

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. 

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

https://ew.com/colman-domingo-defends-michael-against-claim-it-whitewashe
d-singers-life-11956474