‘Michael’ Director Antoine Fuqua ‘Skeptical’ of Michael Jackson Child Sex Abuse Allegations

Antoine Fuqua, director of the upcoming musical biopic about the life and times of Michael Jackson, says he has grown “skeptical” of the child sex abuse allegations against the “King of Pop.”

Fuqua revealed his thoughts about the allegations against Michael, which were detailed in the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, in an interview with The New Yorker, as he reflected upon the extensive reshoots to change the film’s structure.

“Fuqua is not convinced that Jackson did what he is accused of doing, despite the number of accusers (five) and the fact that Jackson publicly talked about sharing his bed with boys,” The New Yorker noted.

“When I hear things about us — Black people in particular, especially in a certain position — there’s always pause,” Fuqua said, adding he was “was skeptical of some of the accusers’ parents, particularly Chandler’s father, who was recorded threatening to insure that Jackson was ‘humiliated beyond belief.’”

According to Variety, the original movie “started in 1993 with police raiding Michael Jackson‘s Neverland Ranch after he’s accused of sexually abusing 13-year-old Jordan Chandler.”

The film then flashed back to recount the superstar’s life story and build back up to the allegation and the Chandler family’s lawsuit, which Jackson ultimately settled for $23 million before the investigation was closed when the Chandler family stopped cooperating with prosecutors.

Nothing involving Jordan Chandler or his family’s allegations remain in the final movie. These scenes had to be removed after attorneys for the Jackson estate realized there was a clause in the settlement that blocked the depiction or mention of Chandler in any movie. Gone was the original opening depicting the police raid on Neverland Ranch.

Fuqua told The New Yorker that he shot the film “being stripped naked, treated like an animal, a monster.”

Jackson was acquitted of all 10 charges of alleged sex abuse from 13-year-old Jordan Chandler while the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland detailed extensive sex abuse allegations from two of Jackson’s former friends, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who spent extensive time with the pop singer when they were children.