As his $15 million Michael Jackson movie gets ready to hit theaters, director Antoine Fuqua has finally spoken out about the child sexual abuse claims that have followed the King of Pop for decades.
Fuqua said he is “not convinced that Jackson did what he is accused of doing,” despite multiple accusers and Jackson’s own words about sharing his bed with boys.
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The director, whose film ‘Michael‘ releases on April 24, did not claim to know the full truth, but he made it clear he has serious doubts about parts of the story. “When I hear things about us—Black people in particular, especially in a certain position—there’s always pause,” Fuqua told The New Yorker.
Fuqua spoke about what he sees as a double standard and brought up Elvis Presley’s relationship with a teenage Priscilla as an example. He was especially doubtful about some of the accusers’ parents.
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Fuqua pointed to Evan Chandler, the dentist and wannabe screenwriter who recorded himself saying he would see Jackson “humiliated beyond belief.” Chandler’s 13-year-old son, Jordan, was the first to accuse the singer back in 1993. Jackson settled the civil case for $23 million without admitting guilt.
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The director went further. “Sometimes people do some nasty things for some money,” he said. He made sure to note he was speaking in general, not about any one person.
‘Michael’ Biopic Heavily Edited Due to Legal Restrictions
These comments come as the movie itself leaves out the abuse claims. Early versions began with the 1993 police raid on Neverland Ranch and included a difficult scene where Jackson gets strip-searched and treated “like an animal, a monster,” Fuqua recalled. “I shot him, stripped naked, treated like an animal, a monster.”
A rule tied to the Chandler settlement stopped the Jackson estate from showing those events, forcing the team to shoot 22 days of new footage last June. The finished movie now stops at the height of Jackson’s fame in the 1980s. Family problems, especially with his father Joe, provide the main drama.
Fuqua has long said ‘Michael‘ would show “the good, the bad, and the ugly,” but the legal issues made them narrow the focus. Still, by speaking out and sharing his own doubts, the director has brought back a debate that the movie itself now avoids. With Jackson’s nephew Jaafar playing the lead and full support from the estate, ‘Michael‘ is shaping up to be more than just a music celebration. It has turned into a flashpoint largely because its director will not simply accept the accusations as a settled fact.
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