While the 2026 release slate continues to battle for Hollywood’s brightest spotlight, few titles have roared into the conversation louder than Michael, the long-awaited biopic centered on the life of Michael Jackson. And while the film’s first look, trailer, and Jaafar Jackson’s uncanny transformation have ignited waves of fascination through fandom, an equally fierce storm of criticism has followed close behind. Yet while excitement continues to roar, critics have dragged the film into a growing storm of “whitewashed” scrutiny, arguing that some of the most explosive chapters of Jackson’s legacy were quietly left behind.

Here are the seven major controversies the Michael Jackson biopic skipped, omissions that only poured more fuel onto the whitewashed criticism surrounding the film.

One of the most heavily debated chapters of Michael Jackson’s life began in 1993, when 13-year-old Jordan Chandler accused the singer of abuse, triggering a criminal investigation and a civil lawsuit. In early 1994, the civil case ended in a reported settlement of roughly $23 million, while no criminal conviction followed in the matter. Jackson consistently denied wrongdoing, and later investigations closed without charges in that case.

Reports surrounding Michael claimed the biopic had originally been planned to depict the Chandler allegations, with early versions reportedly extending into the fallout of the scandal. However, later reports stated legal complications linked to the 1994 settlement forced the production to remove references to Chandler, leading to major reshoots and re-editing. Critics argued that cutting one of the most defining controversies from Jackson’s later life only strengthened accusations of a whitewashed portrayal, just like the other 2005 criminal trial.

The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua, has faced criticism for “moonwalking” past one of Michael Jackson’s most significant legal storms, the 2005 criminal trial. In The People of the State of California v. Michael Joseph Jackson, the singer faced charges involving 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo, including child molestation, administering alcohol to a minor, conspiracy, and related counts tied to alleged events at Neverland Ranch. The 14-week courtroom spectacle ended on June 13, 2005, when the jury acquitted Jackson on all counts.

Critics argue that omitting the case from Michael removes one of the defining public chapters of his later years, especially after the controversy erupted in the aftermath of Living with Michael Jackson. However, Lionsgate considered splitting its Jackson biopic into two films to cover his massive musical legacy properly. Michael 2 might address the later years of his life, including the 2005 trial.

Another major controversy the biopic appears to walk away from is Macaulay Culkin’s highly public friendship with Michael Jackson, a bond that drew intense scrutiny for years because of their age gap and unusual closeness. Culkin later became a key defense witness in Jackson’s 2005 criminal trial, where he testified under oath that Jackson never abused him or behaved inappropriately. He also acknowledged sharing Jackson’s bed on multiple occasions, while insisting nothing improper ever happened.

Beyond the courtroom, Macaulay Culkin remained one of Jackson’s fiercest loyalists and later became godfather to Jackson’s children, Prince Jackson and Paris Jackson. Culkin continued defending Jackson years later, making their unusual and heavily scrutinised bond nearly impossible to ignore in any full retelling. Yet the biopic quietly shuts the curtain on a bond that once sat at the centre of global scrutiny, just like it did to the Neverland controversy.

While Michael appears focused on the earlier glittering highs of Michael Jackson’s life, it leaves out the emotional collapse that came when Jackson reportedly wanted to leave Neverland forever after his 2005 acquittal. He said the ranch had been “despoiled” by the 2003 police raid involving dozens of officers and no longer felt like the sanctuary he once built. Jackson never lived there again, later moving between Bahrain, Ireland, and Los Angeles.

The shadow of Neverland roared back into headlines from 2019 to 2025 through Leaving Neverland and its follow-up fallout, where Wade Robson and James Safechuck made abuse allegations against Jackson. The documentary triggered global backlash, legal battles, and a fresh divide over his legacy, making the film’s silence on both his departure and the later Neverland controversy another major omission critics continue to question.

Michael even brushes past one of the most uncomfortable voices of dissent, his own daughter Paris Jackson. Jackson’s daughter, who claimed having zero involvement in Michael, said she reviewed an early draft, raised concerns over what she saw as dishonest portrayals, and stepped away when those concerns were ignored. She also warned that the film “panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom that still lives in the fantasy,” making criticism from inside the family hit far harder than outside backlash.

The tension only intensified as Paris Jackson reportedly entered a legal battle with estate executors John Branca and John McClain, alleging roughly $464 million in cash had been left uninvested while the executors collected more than $10 million in fees in 2021. Disputes over transparency, payouts, and control of the multibillion-dollar estate have kept fresh cracks in the legacy narrative wide open. Meanwhile, in the growing list of chapters left untouched, the biopic also appears to bypass the long-running storm surrounding Jackson’s skin lightening controversy.

While many headlines celebrated Michael Jackson’s unmatched stardom, the biopic has also skipped his dramatic physical transformation, which also ignited one of the most relentless controversies of his life, with critics accusing him of wanting to appear white. Jackson publicly addressed the storm in his 1993 interview with Oprah Winfrey, saying, “I have a skin disorder... It’s something I cannot help,” while insisting vitiligo had caused the loss of pigment across his body. Later records, including his autopsy, confirmed the diagnosis, and reports also noted he suffered from lupus.

To manage the condition, Jackson reportedly used prescription depigmentation treatment such as monobenzone cream, alongside makeup and strong sunscreen to even out his skin tone. Yet changing facial features and shifting complexion kept racial, cultural, and identity debates raging for decades, turning it into one of the most publicly dissected chapters of his life.

Set to release on April 24, the most recent controversy to overtake the upcoming biopic centres on who helped shape the story in the first place. Michael was financially backed and co-produced by the Jackson estate, with co-executor John Branca serving as a producer while also appearing as a character in the film. For critics, that level of estate involvement instantly raised doubts over how independent or fearless the final portrayal could ever be.

Reviewers from outlets including The Wrap and BBC Culture described the film as “saccharine,” “reverential,” and more tribute than true biopic, arguing it smooths over difficult truths in favour of polished legacy management. Others branded it a shallow portrait stripped of complexity, with early review scores reflecting the divide and dropping to just 32%.

While Michael races toward release amid sharply split headlines, several of the omitted controversies reportedly fell outside the film’s timeline, while others vanished under legal hurdles and late-stage rewrites. Yet for many viewers, the louder question is no longer what the biopic shows, but what it chose to keep offstage.

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What are your thoughts on the seven major controversies the Michael Jackson biopic reportedly skipped? Let us know in the comments.