Bill Maher calls out ‘Michael’ biopic for dismissing child abuse allegations
Bill Maher isn’t happy with the Michael Jackson estate, after the new Michael biopic failed to depict the child abuse allegations that the star faced throughout his life.
During his monologue on April 24th on Real Time With Bill Maher, Maher lashed out at the film, which has received poor critical reception, joking cynically that the movie has showings at “seven, nine and 11, just like the victims.”
Closing out the episode of the show, he continued on his tirade, adding, “New rule: If you complain about Columbus Day because it ignores the fact he killed Indians, and you complain about Presidents’ Day because it ignores the fact that Washington owned slaves, then you can’t happily go see a movie where Michael Jackson doesn’t sleep with kids.”
He elaborated, “Which is the movie that’s out now, where we just hear about the fun things Michael did.”
Likening it to other well-known cultural atrocities, he continued, “It’s playing a double bill with ‘Jeffrey Epstein: Superhost Extraordinaire’ and ‘John Wayne Gacy: Thanks for the Laughter.’”
He later sounded off against Antoine Fuqua’s new biopic when he was discussing the oddly sexual terms for new food products: “What’s with very young small sweet peas and mini tater tots and baby carrots and extra virgin olive oil,” Maher quipped. “Gee, if I wanted to feel this pervy, I’ll go see the Michael Jackson movie.”
It was common knowledge before the film came out that the allegations wouldn’t be depicted on the big screen; Michael delayed its release date twice last year, after it was forced to completely reshoot part of the movie and remove allegations of child abuse against Jackson.
After a settlement was reached with Evan Chandler, an LA dentist and screenwriter who accused Jackson of sexually abusing his 13-year-old son in 1993, the production only discovered at a late stage that a clause in the agreement prevented them from depicting the child or even mentioning his name.
Subsequently, they had to spend tens of millions to reshoot the end of the movie; Jackson’s estate reportedly covered the cost.
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