Fact-Checking the Michael Jackson Biopic

The team behind the new biopic Michael were trying to accomplish quite a few things when they began this endeavor several years back. Director Antoine Fuqua, screenwriter John Logan, and producers Graham King, John Branca, and John McClain wanted to generate truckloads of money for Lionsgate, please the Michael Jackson estate by leaning hard on nostalgia for the singer’s glory years, brush away any hint of the horrifying child abuse allegations that plagued him later in life, and possibly set up an extended Jackson Family cinematic universe. (How long before we get Control: The Janet Jacket Story?)

One matter they seem unconcerned by is fidelity to the historical record. But to be fair, that is not the job of a biopic. As we’ve pointed out in fact-check articles for movies about Queen, Elton John, Mötley Crüe, Amy Winehouse, Bob Dylan, and the Sex Pistols, if you want to learn about musical history, read a book or watch a documentary. 

The Bruce Springsteen movie Deliver Me From Nowhere is a rare exception, but they were able to get most everything right since it takes place in just about 12 months between 1981 and 1982. Michael begins in 1966 and warps up to 1988. That’s way too much time to squeeze into a mere 140 minutes. It means major events have to be skipped completely, others have to be glossed over in seconds, and the timeline has to get very squishy.

And in keeping with the grand tradition of biopics, other things were simply made up or distorted by absurd degrees. (If one of the producers is also a character in the movie, as was the case in Michael and the Brian Wilson movie Love and Mercy, expect them to be portrayed as flawless deities.) Here’s a non-exhaustive guide to the factual errors in Michael.

Rebbie Jackson Exists
When the movie begins in 1966, eldest Jackson sibling Rebbie is 16 years old, still attending high school, and still living at home. But there’s no sign of her at the dinner table, in the living room while the band rehearses, or anywhere else in the tiny Jackson household. Maybe she was always visiting friends when these scenes took place, but it seems like her existence has been erased from this version of history.

Randy Jackson Does Too
Randy Jackson, the youngest of the six Jackson brothers and second-youngest sibling, was five years old when the movie begins. He started appearing live with the Jackson 5 in 1971, essentially became the sixth member, took on a bigger role in in 1975 when the group left Motown and Jermaine quit, and even co-wrote 1979’s “Shake Your Body (Down to the Ground).” At least that’s what happened in real life. In the movie, he was never born. 

Wherefore Art Thou, Janet?
When the movie flashes forward to 1968, Michael should have a baby sister named Janet. She’s the last of the nine Jackson children, she moved to California with her family in 1970, started appearing live with them in 1974, made her TV debut the following year, began acting on Good Times in 1977, and dropped her debut album in 1982. But in the universe of Michael, middle sister La Toya is the only daughter, with not a single reference to Janet. “I wish everybody was in the movie,” La Toya told Variety. “She was asked and she kindly declined so you have to respect her wishes.” (Randy Jackson manages Janet these days, and they likely are in agreement on not appearing in the movie.)

The Jackson 5 Didn’t Open For Gladys Knight and the Pips in July 1968
As the movie shows, the Jackson 5 performed at Chicago’s Regal Theater on July 12, 1968. In the world of the movie, they followed Gladys Knight and the Pips. In reality, they followed Bobby Taylor & The Vancouvers. Actress Liv Symone does a splendid Gladys Knight impression on “I Heard It through the Grapevine,” and the Jacksons would cross paths with Knight quite often in the future, just not that particular evening

Suzanne de Passe Wasn’t at the Regal Theater Either
As Colman Domingo’s Joe Jackson watches the Jackson 5 at the Regal Theater, just waiting for a tiny slip-up so he can justify a beating later, Motown’s Suzanne de Passe (Laura Harrier) emerges from the wings and hands over her business card. In real life, it was headliner Bobby Taylor who alerted Motown and set up the audition. To be clear, de Passe played an enormous role in the rise of the group. She just wasn’t at the Regal that night. (The Jackson 5 also briefly recorded for Steeltown Records before signing with Motown. The movie doesn’t show this, but it doesn’t specifically contradict it either. It’s more of an omission than an inaccuracy. If we focused on omissions in Michael, this article would be as long as War and Peace.)

Off the Wall Wasn’t Michael’s Solo Debut
When the movie flashes forward to 1977, Michael (now played by Jaafar Jackson instead of young Juliano Valdi) is eager to record solo music. He’s so afraid to ask his father that he urges two record executives to put the request in. Joe agrees just as long as the sessions take place at night, so they don’t interfere with Michael’s work with his brothers. “He can do whatever he wants in his spare time,” says Joseph, “so long as he continues to work with his brothers. I own his ass from nine to five. After that, it’s up to him if he wants to cut an album at midnight.” There’s no mention of Michael’s 1972 solo debut Got To Be There, the follow-up Ben just a few months later, 1973’s Music & Me, or 1975’s Forever Michael. Off the Wall was actually his fifth solo record, even if it was the first for Epic following the long run on Motown. 

The Jacksons Weren’t a Quartet After Jermaine Left
Once Off the Wall hits and Michael becomes a genuine superstar, Joe Jackson urges the brothers to hit the road to capitalize on it. One of them asks how they’ll tour without Jermaine. “Your brother made his choice when we left Motown and he stayed,” says Joseph. “The point is we need to capitalize on Michael’s album.” This makes it seem like they hadn’t toured since Jermaine left in 1975, and didn’t even feel it was possible. But Randy filled the hole that Jermaine left, and they performed plenty of concerts between 1976 and 1978 as a five-piece. The 1979 Destiny tour was nothing new, and it started before Off The Wall even came out. The movie presents it as their first tour in many years, and it shows them as playing as a four-piece since Randy isn’t in the film.

Bubbles Didn’t Enter The Picture That Early
In one of the moist unintentionally hilarious moments in the movie, Michael shocks his family by adopting a CGI baby chimpanzee named Bubbles sometime around 1979.  But Bubbles was born in 1983. (We also doubt he played Twister with Michael, but we’ll let that one go.)

The Giraffe Came Later Too
As crazy as it sounds, Michael Jackson did have a baby giraffe living at his family compound in Encino, California, before he moved to Neverland. It caused a bit of a stir since he didn’t have a permit to house an exotic animal, and he was forced to move it to a private animal shelter. But that didn’t happen until 1986. The movie shows it at the house a good six years earlier.

Michael Fired Joseph Earlier Than Shown
Movie Michael finds a selfless savior when he hires John Branca (Miles Teller) as his lawyer. (By wild coincidence, Branca also produces the movie.) His first order of duty is to fire Joseph as Michael’s manager via fax. The document we see is dated 1981. But Michael fired his father two years earlier, shortly after turning 21. 

The Thriller Title Track Wasn’t Michael’s Idea
Michael spends a lot of time on the creation of Thriller, and Jackson tacks song titles to the wall one by one as the album comes together. He keeps insisting it’s missing one final song. The inspiration for “Thriller” strikes when he’s at home watching old horror movies. But Michael Jackson didn’t write “Thriller.” It’s solely credited to Rod Temperton. 

“I got to know Michael,” Temperton told M in 2012, noting that he originally called it “Starlight.” “He loves movies, so I came up with the idea that I should write something really theatrical…This was clearly such a production number that it had to be the title track – but there were no lyrics and ‘Starlight’ just wasn’t good enough. It had to be mysterious to match Michael’s evolving persona. I’d go back to my hotel every night and start writing titles. One night I came up with ‘Midnight Man.’ Quincy said I was going in the right direction, but it still wasn’t right. The next morning it came to me – but it was a really crap word to sing: ‘Thriller.’ It sounded terrible! However, we got Michael to spit it into the microphone a few times and it worked.”

The MTV Timeline is Completely Off
Once the movie gets to the Thriller period, we never exactly know where we are in the timeline. But sometime after the “Thriller” video is shot in October 1983, Michael visits CBS Records president Walter Yetnikoff (hilariously played by Mike Myers) at his New York office. Jackson urges him to convince MTV to play his videos. “MTV almost never plays Black artists,” Yetnikoff says. “I don’t know why. Maybe they don’t want to scare the shit out of the white kids in the suburbs.” 

It is true that MTV largely played white artists in the beginning, and were allergic to anything R&B or soul, but the extent of this has become grossly exaggerated over the years. And even in their earliest days, it was common to see Eddie Grant, the Specials, Donna Summer, Musical Youth, and other Black artists in rotation. 

In the movie, Yetnikoff phones up MTV CEO Bob Pittman and starts screaming at him. “If you don’t play ‘Billie Jean’ in the next 10 minutes, I’m going to pull every CBS artist from your lineup,” he says. “Bruce Springsteen, Cheap Trick, Charlie Daniels, Billy Joel. Cyndi Lauper, Bob Dylan. You can put them all in a plastic bag, cover the plastic bag in Crisco, and then shove them up your ass.” 

This is a story that Yetnikoff loved to tell, and some version of that possibly went down. But it didn’t happen then. MTV began airing “Billie Jean” on March 10, 1983, They added in “Beat It” on March 31. By the time they shot “Thriller” in October, Michael was the face of MTV. They didn’t have to be threatened with losing their Charlie Daniels videos to play his stuff. They were counting the seconds until they could premiere “Thriller,” and run it roughly 50,000 times. 

The Victory Tour Featured All Six Jackson Siblings
The final act of Michael is devoted to Joseph’s desperate attempts to convince Michael to tour with his brothers after the success of Thriller. As the movie shows, Don King was a promoter and brought in Pepsi as a sponsor. Jermaine also came back for the tour. But in reality, all six siblings were on the tour. We only see five in the movie because Randy isn’t part of the narrative. But the movie does end with a strong hint that a sequel is coming. That’ll be tricky if they get into the Nineties, with the first sexual abuse allegation coming in 1993. If that happens, expect a much longer list of factual corrections than this one.