Additional Coverage:
Michael Jackson’s nephew, TJ Jackson, has publicly criticized the Wall Street Journal for an article about the late pop icon.
TJ, 47, strongly defended his uncle following widespread criticism of the recent Michael Jackson biopic, which notably omits the child abuse allegations against the singer. The film, starring Jaafar Jackson as Michael, reportedly excludes these allegations due to a legal restriction stemming from a 1994 settlement agreement with accuser Jordan Chandler. According to reports, attorneys for the Jackson estate-who co-produced the movie-discovered a clause in that agreement barring any depiction or mention of Chandler or his family in films or other media.
Originally, the biopic’s script included significant scenes addressing the 1993 allegations, including a police raid on Neverland Ranch, and some of these had already been filmed. However, once the legal issue was identified, those scenes were removed.
The filmmakers then reshot the ending at an estimated cost between $15 million and $50 million. The final cut now concludes in 1988, after the Bad tour, years before the first public allegations emerged.
Despite these legal constraints, many media outlets criticized the film for failing to address the abuse claims. In response, TJ Jackson took to social media platform X to repost the Wall Street Journal article titled “Michael Jackson’s biopic blinds us from the truth,” featuring an image of Michael surrounded by children.
The article’s author, Maureen Orth, described Jackson as “a stone-cold pedophile,” a characterization TJ strongly rejected. He wrote, “So disappointing to write garbage like this.
A once legitimate publication is reducing itself to being a trashy tabloid. My uncle was a better man and did more for the world than all of you who worked on (and allowed this garbage) at WSJ put together.”
TJ continued, “I don’t understand why you think shelling fake news is the answer. Your hate can’t be that expansive, right?
Your greed can’t be that enticing, can it? Nevertheless, your demise only accelerates when you spew this trash.
You aren’t educating, you’re simply revealing.”
He concluded by calling the Wall Street Journal a “sinking ship,” urging fellow journalists at the publication to “get out now to keep your journalistic ethics and morality.”
Supporters of Michael Jackson quickly came to TJ’s defense, recalling Maureen Orth’s controversial 2003 article falsely accusing Michael of hiring a voodoo priest to curse Steven Spielberg and David Geffen-a claim she later revisited. Other commenters emphasized that Michael Jackson was found not guilty on all charges in a 2005 California court trial, with one suggesting the family should take legal action against the Wall Street Journal for what they see as defamatory coverage.
On June 13, 2005, a jury acquitted Michael Jackson on all 144 counts related to child molestation, conspiracy, and providing alcohol to a minor, clearing him of the allegations once and for all.