How Michael Jackson’s tarnished image is being cannily rehabilitated

A new biopic has contributed to an atmosphere that casts the late singer as a profoundly damaged figure who is more victim than victimiser Don’t already get The Long Wave in your inbox? Sign up here The release of Michael has triggered what can only be described as mass hysteria in some quarters. I looked on in bewilderment as the reception to the film seemed to entirely erase child abuse allegations against the artist, as well as launder almost every aspect of his life beyond that. This week, I look into what seems like a new generation’s discovery of Jackson, and his rehabilitation through a strange online obsession. First, a disclaimer: I have not seen the movie, nor do I intend to. Reviews so far have been in almost universal agreement that the film is bad; a filmed playlist in search of a story, cliched, bland, and bowdlerised, an estate’s attempt to scrub clean the life story of a star who has been multiply accused ... of child sexual abuse.” But it’s not just the reviews that have put me off. Ever since watching Leaving Neverland, a two-part documentary from 2019 in which two men detail heart-wrenching allegations about their sexual abuse as children by Jackson, I