Michael Jackson Biopic: Leaving Neverland director urges people to ‘cancel’ movie

"No one is talking about 'cancelling' this movie,which will glorify a man who raped children" Photo / Wireimage

Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed fears a new biopic about Michael Jackson will “glorify” the late star.

Reed’s documentary featured candid accounts of child abuse from two of Jackson’s alleged victims - Wade Robson and James Safechuck - and the moviemaker has now condemned plans to memorialise the Thriller star in a film called Michael which will feature Jackson’s nephew Jaafar in the lead role.

Outlining his distaste for the project in a column for the Guardian newspaper, Reed wrote: “No one is talking about ‘cancelling’ this movie, which will glorify a man who raped children.”

Reed added: “What the total absence of outrage accompanying the announcement of this movie tells us is that Jackson’s seduction is still a living force, operating from beyond the grave.

“It seems that the press, his fans and the vast older demographic who grew up loving Jackson are willing to set aside his unhealthy relationship with children and just go along with the music.”

He went on to give a stern message to the movie bosses who are bringing Michael to the big screen, adding: “How will you represent the moment when Jackson, a grown man in his 30s, takes a child by the hand and leads him into that bedroom?

Michael Jackson's 26-year-old nephew, Jaafar, will play the King of Pop in the biopic. Photo / AP

“How will you depict what happens next? By sidestepping the question of Jackson’s predilection for sleeping with young boys, you are broadcasting a message to millions of survivors of child sexual abuse.

“That message is: if a paedophile is rich and popular enough, society will forgive him.”

Michael will be directed by Training Day moviemaker Antoine Fuqua and it’s being made with the co-operation of John Branca and John McClain, who are the co-executors of Jackson’s estate.

Jackson always denied sex abuse allegations against him and in June 2005 was acquitted of child molestation after a trial in California.

His family also defended him against the claims made in Leaving Neverland and slammed the film as being “all about the money”.

Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50.