Spike Lee Says Sex Abuse Accusers Don't Fit 'Michael' Biopic Timeline

The Michael biopic set box office records, earning over $400 million when it was released last month. Directed by Antoine Fuqua (Training Day) and produced by Graham King (Bohemian Rhapsody), with those numbers, it’s on track to be the first billion-dollar biopic. But that hasn’t stopped critics of the late superstar from questioning why his accusers weren’t included in the movie.

Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50, but in his lifetime and beyond, he was dogged by sexual assault allegations. The movie ends in 1988, before any accusers came forward.

Spike Lee says that critics are missing the point. He says the choice to limit the film’s timeline doesn’t support the addition of the accusers.

“First of all, if you’re a movie critic, and you’re complaining about the stuff— all this other stuff— but the movie ends at ‘88,” Lee said on Laura Coates’ CNN show. “The stuff you’re talking about, accusations, happen [later]. So you’re critiquing the film on something that you want in, but it doesn’t work in the timeline of the film. But people showed up. Worldwide, people showed their love.”

It was not the filmmaker’s choice to end Michael in 1988. It was a function of a deal Jackson made with his first accuser, Jordie Chandler, in a 1994 settlement. That is why the movie was moved from its original release date and rewritten to exclude Jordie, as someone dropped the ball and didn’t realize the clause existed.

Chandler’s family and Jackson became friendly in the ’90s after Jackson’s car was repaired at Chandler’s stepfather’s company. Chandler, then 12, and his family traveled with the superstar, but the relationship was severed after his father, Evan Chandler, said that Jordie confessed to him that Jackson molested him.

After a reported $20 million settlement that assumed no wrongdoing on Jackson’s part, Jordie Chandler has avoided the spotlight. His father died by suicide in 2009, weeks after Jackson died. Jordie has refused to testify in any of Jackson’s sexual abuse cases and declined involvement in the Leaving Neverland documentary.

Lee has seen Michael twice and says he loved it. It reminds him of the greats he’s worked with. Lee shot the “They Don’t Care About Us” video in Brazil with Jackson and helmed two Jackson documentaries, Bad 25 and Michael Jackson’s Journey from Motown to Off the Wall, in 2016.

“I miss Mike. I miss Prince,” Lee said. When he won his Oscar for Best Adapted Screenplay in 2019 for BlackKKKlansman, he wore a Prince symbol pendant. “I mean, these are my brothers. I worked with both of them. Both beautiful, beautiful people.”

See social media’s reaction to Lee’s explanation below.