4 things the 'Michael' Jackson movie got right and wrong about the king of pop

3. Sex abuse allegations absent from film

“Michael” chronicles the singer's rise to fame by highlighting his childhood singing career as a member of the Jackson 5 and his later solo career. While the biopic covers various stages of his life, the film ends in 1988, meaning it does not address the high-profile child sexual abuse allegations and charges against Jackson. 

An earlier version of the film reportedly did address the allegations, Bloomberg reported.

Director Antoine Fuqua and producer Graham King were paid $15 million and $10 million, respectively, after scenes mentioning the allegations were cut and reshot, reports People magazine. A spokesperson for King told the outlet that the payments were because the director and producer had to postpone other projects to work on “Michael.”

"Graham King worked on the Michael film for seven years," the spokesperson said. "Because the film needed to go back into production and a new budget developed, King and Antoine Fuqua had to postpone other projects and commitments. This was part of the newly formed budget and an advance against the film."

One critic of the decision was Dan Reed, director of the 2019 documentary “Leaving Neverland,” which highlighted the accounts of two men who said Michael Jackson sexually abused them as children.

"How can you tell an authentic story about Michael Jackson without ever mentioning the fact that he was seriously accused of being a child molester?" Reed said in an interview published April 22 by The Hollywood Reporter.