“It doesn’t work in the timeline of the film!” the director said.

Spike Lee shuts down critics who slammed Michael Jackson biopic for not addressing sexual abuse allegations

"It doesn't work in the timeline of the film!" the director said.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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May 3, 2026 1:15 p.m. ET

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Spike Lee in Los Angeles on March 15, 2026; Jaafar Jackson in 'Michael'. Credit:

Steve Granitz/FilmMagic;lionsgate

- Spike Lee said he's seen the new Michael Jackson biopic, *Michael,* twice: "Love it."

- The director shut down critics who've panned the movie for excluding the sexual abuse allegations against the pop star.

- "You're critiquing the film on something that you want in," he said, "but it doesn't work in the timeline of the film!"

Spike Lee doesn't care what critics say about *Michael*.

The *Malcolm X* director praised the new Michael Jackson biopic, saying he's "seen it twice" already.

"Love it," he replied when asked for his reaction to the movie in a recent interview with CNN.

The *Do the Right Thing *filmmaker, who directed the music video for Jackson's 1996 song "They Don't Care About Us" and helmed two documentaries about the singer after his death, said the biggest complaint about the biopic doesn't hold up in his eyes.

Reacting to critics who have panned *Michael* for omitting the multiple allegations of child sexual abuse made against Jackson, he responded, "But the movie ends in '88! And the stuff you're talking about, accusations, happened [later]. So you're critiquing the film on something that you want in, but it doesn't work in the timeline of the film!"

Spike Lee in New York City on Aug. 11, 2025.

Dimitrios Kambouris/Getty

*Michael* does not address the abuse allegations lobbed against Jackson because it concludes five years before his first accuser came forward in 1993.

Colman Domingo, who portrays Jackson's father, Joe Jackson, in the movie, defended it against similar criticisms last month. "There's the possibility of there being a part 2 that may deal with other things that may happen afterwards," he said in a recent interview. "This is about the making of Michael, how he was raised, and how he was trying to find his voice as an artist."

Why doesn’t 'Michael' address Michael Jackson’s controversies?

'Leaving Neverland' director blasts Michael Jackson biopic for portraying singer as 'asexual plastic action doll'

However, *Variety* recently reported that the biopic doesn't address the sexual abuse allegations against Jackson because the singer reached a settlement with accuser Jordan Chandler that forbade any depiction or mention of the accuser in any film project.

The report claimed that *Michael* director Antoine Fuqua planned to depict the fallout after the accusations and that his team shot a scene of investigators searching Jackson's home for evidence of his alleged crimes, but after the singer's estate discovered the clause in Chandler's settlement, the film was retooled to edit out the allegations altogether.

In the CNN interview, Lee reflected on Jackson's legacy. "I miss Mike [and] I miss Prince," he said. "I mean, these are my brothers. I mean, you know, worked with both of them. Both beautiful, beautiful people."

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Lee also praised "They Don't Care About Us" for its foresight. "[The song] really speaks about what has happened today in the world," he said. "Michael, Prince, great artists like that, when you're a great artist, you see stuff before it's even happened, I feel. It's a gift, a God-given gift. And you're in tune with the universe."

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