If a Michael Jackson song plays, it is time to get off the dancefloor. Michael Jackson should have been cancelled long ago, writes Charlotte Cripps. The new biopic is only sanitising his reputation – and if no one else will boycott his music, I will.
The Biopic and Its Controversy
The new Michael Jackson biopic Michael stars the King of Pop's own nephew, Jaafar Jackson, who bears an uncanny resemblance to his uncle. It is the biggest opening for a musical biopic in both the US and the UK, surpassing Bohemian Rhapsody, according to The Hollywood Reporter. The film follows Jackson's rise to fame with his family group, The Jackson Five, through to his mega solo career. Critics have called the film “a whitewash”, “unadulterated rubbish”, “sanitised” and, according to The Independent, “a ghoulish, soulless cash grab”. The biopic, backed by the Jackson estate and using Jackson’s original vocals, stops at 1988 – before the accusations of his sexual abuse against children surfaced.
Director Antoine Fuqua and writer John Logan had apparently tried to find a way to fit the allegations in, but they ended up doing the worst thing by avoiding them altogether. Ignoring a massive, obvious, and uncomfortable problem that everyone is aware of is exactly what culture is doing more broadly.
Personal Experience
Last week, when my daughter attended a seventh birthday party, the event's entertainers, dressed in creepy lab coats for the slime-and-rockets party, played The Jackson Five’s hit “ABC”. As the kids went wild, dancing in a circle and picking up the chorus, it brought home to me just how intact Jackson’s image has remained – and how he has escaped judgment.
Allegations and Legal Cases
In 2005, following a long trial, Jackson was acquitted of all child molestation charges. However, numerous allegations have emerged since he died in 2009. Particularly disgusting are the revelations in the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, which focused on Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who claimed Jackson had abused them as children. Then in February, new child sexual molestation charges came to light when four siblings from the Cascio family sued Michael Jackson’s estate for child sex trafficking and abuse for over a decade of their childhood, accusing Jackson of plying them with wine (“Jesus Juice”) and hard liquor (“Disney Juice”), and making them perform “extreme sex acts”, according to the lawsuit. Jackson’s lawyers and estate deny the new claims, calling it a “desperate money grab”.
I know the “ABC” song came out in 1970, when Jackson was only 11, and way before any of these allegations came out, but surely after all the revelations we have heard now, you would think the idea of children bopping along to any of his hits would be grotesque. Every time I look out of my window and see a London bus passing with the Michael movie poster splashed across it, I feel sick to my stomach. Yet people’s fascination with Jackson, and with his music, continues unabated. Even before it came out, Michael broke records. It was the most-watched music biopic trailer ever, garnering 116.2 million views in its first 24 hours in November.
Taking a Stand
It is finally time to make a stand. The Michael Jackson biopic is whitewashing the sordid side of his life that, we know from Jackson himself, included sleepovers with young kids – and if no one else will boycott him, I will. That means turning off the radio when his songs come on, and walking off the dancefloor at weddings.
Jackson’s songs have never really been put out of circulation. BBC Radio 2 still play his songs once or twice a week, even though they swore they would stop playing them after the child abuse claims in the Leaving Neverland documentary – but have since turned back on that promise. Nobody wants to play songs at weddings or kids’ parties by paedophile pop stars like Gary Glitter, Lostprophets lead singer Ian Watkins, or even Rolf Harris, who had the UK number-one single “Two Little Boys” in 1969. Who can bear to watch Jimmy Savile on Top of the Pops while knowing what was going on behind the scenes? So why Jackson?
Family Reactions
Jackson’s daughter Paris has the right idea. Like her aunt, Janet, she has distanced herself from the biopic. Last year, Paris called the film “fantasy land - it’s not real”, “sugar-coated” with “a lot of full-blown lies”. “At the end of the day,” she said, “That doesn’t really fly with me. I don’t really like dishonesty.” And what exactly is the point of watching it? Is it not as boring as standing in front of his wax work at Madame Tussauds – which clearly should not be on display anymore.
Conclusion
There are valuable lessons to be learned from Jackson’s life, such as that vulnerable children should not be left alone with a weird superstar for sleepovers where they shared his bed. If the thought of that gives you the ick, then listening to his music should, too.
