Jermaine Jackson and the 'Michael' Biopic: Family Legacy, Feuds, and Jaafar's Breakthrough Role
When the Michael Jackson biopic Michael opens in theaters on April 24, 2026, it carries more than just the weight of one of the greatest pop careers in history. It carries the full complexity of the Jackson family — a dynasty defined as much by internal friction as by shared brilliance. At the center of that complexity right now is Jermaine Jackson, whose son Jaafar Jackson, 29, stars as the King of Pop himself, while questions swirl around missing family members, denied feuds, and what it means to tell Michael's story with the family's blessing.
The film, directed by Antoine Fuqua and produced with the involvement of Michael Jackson's estate — with Prince Jackson serving as executive producer — arrived at its Los Angeles premiere on April 20, 2026 already trailing controversy. Janet Jackson's conspicuous absence from the project had fueled speculation of a rift within the family. La Toya Jackson stepped forward to address those rumors directly, and what she said tells us a great deal about where the Jackson family stands four days before the film's wide release.
Who Is Jermaine Jackson? A Legacy Within a Legacy
To understand why Jermaine Jackson's role in this biopic moment matters, it helps to understand his place in the family's history. Jermaine Jackson, born December 11, 1954, was the original star of the Jackson 5 before his younger brother Michael eclipsed him. He was the group's lead vocalist in their early years, signed to Motown Records alongside his brothers, and widely considered the family's most likely breakout star — until Michael proved otherwise.
Unlike some of his siblings, Jermaine maintained a close public relationship with Michael through the years, even as the family's internal dynamics grew complicated. He was a vocal defender of Michael during the 2005 criminal trial and remained a visible presence in discussions about Michael's legacy after his death in 2009. His decision to allow — and presumably support — his son Jaafar's participation in the biopic is therefore significant. It signals Jermaine's continued investment in shaping how Michael is remembered.
Jermaine also experienced profound personal loss in 2024 when his brother Tito Jackson passed away, making this biopic's release a moment tinged with both celebration and grief for the surviving siblings.
Jaafar Jackson: The Nephew Who Became Michael
The casting of Jaafar Jackson as Michael Jackson was always going to be either a stroke of genius or a lightning rod for criticism — possibly both. At 29, Jaafar is the son of Jermaine Jackson and had a relatively low public profile before being cast. The resemblance to his uncle is striking, which no doubt informed the decision, but physical similarity only goes so far when you're asked to portray one of the most scrutinized performers in human history.
La Toya Jackson, who attended the Los Angeles premiere, offered an unambiguous verdict. She told reporters that Jaafar "embodied my brother" — high praise from a sibling who knew Michael intimately across decades. The film covers Michael's life from his Jackson 5 years through his solo career, meaning Jaafar had to portray Michael at multiple stages of his life, navigating the physical and emotional transformation of a boy from Gary, Indiana into a global icon.
What makes Jaafar's casting genuinely interesting from a storytelling perspective is the layered nature of his relationship to the subject. He is Michael's nephew. He grew up knowing Michael as family. He also grew up in the shadow of a legend he never got to escape. Whether that intimacy translates to insight or creates blind spots in his performance is something audiences will now be able to judge for themselves.
La Toya Jackson Addresses the Feud Rumors at the LA Premiere
The elephant at the Los Angeles premiere was Janet Jackson's absence. La Toya Jackson addressed the feud rumors head-on, denying that any rift exists between Janet and Jermaine Jackson. According to La Toya, Janet was asked to be featured in the biopic and "kindly declined" — framing Janet's absence as a personal choice rather than a symptom of family dysfunction.
This matters because in March 2026, Page Six had reported that Janet Jackson voiced criticisms after a private family screening of the film. The implication was that Janet's concerns about the film's content — or its approach to certain events — were serious enough that she distanced herself from the project entirely. La Toya's characterization of a polite decline is a more diplomatic read on the same set of facts.
Whether you believe the "no feud" framing depends on what you make of the Jackson family's long history of presenting a united front publicly while navigating serious divisions privately. What's undeniable is that Janet Jackson — one of the most famous women in entertainment history, Michael's closest sister in age, and a cultural icon in her own right — is not in this film. In a biopic about someone as culturally significant as Michael Jackson, that absence speaks.
Who Is In the Film — and Who Isn't
The biopic's family participation map is revealing. Prince Jackson, Michael's son, executive produced the film — a clear signal of the estate's active involvement and endorsement. Bigi Jackson, another of Michael's children, appeared at an earlier Berlin premiere, suggesting at least two of Michael's three children have engaged publicly with the project.
Paris Jackson, however, has been vocal about her distance from it. She stated publicly that she had "0% involvement" and criticized a section of the film for pandering to "a very specific section of my dad's fandom." Paris's comments suggest the film makes choices in depicting Michael's life that she found objectionable — though she hasn't specified which ones publicly. Given the breadth of controversy that has surrounded Michael Jackson's legacy, particularly following the 2019 Leaving Neverland documentary, there are multiple narrative directions that could prompt that reaction.
On the sibling side: Taj Jackson, son of the late Tito Jackson, praised the film on X, giving it a thumbs-up from the next generation of the family. La Toya attended the premiere. Jermaine's participation is embedded in the film itself through his son's starring role.
The notable absences — Janet and Paris — form a kind of counter-narrative to the official celebration. A biopic with this much family tension around it is, in some ways, a more honest reflection of Michael Jackson's actual life than a unanimously celebrated hagiography would be.
Antoine Fuqua and the Creative Vision Behind 'Michael'
Director Antoine Fuqua brings a track record of muscular, character-driven filmmaking to the project. Known for films like Training Day and The Equalizer, Fuqua is not a director who shies away from moral complexity or unflinching portraiture. That made him an interesting — and somewhat surprising — choice for a biopic involving a living estate with strong opinions about how its subject should be portrayed.
The tension inherent in any estate-approved biopic is that the people controlling the narrative have a financial and reputational interest in a particular version of the story. Michael Jackson's estate has been aggressive in protecting his image and revenue streams since his death. Fuqua is a filmmaker with genuine artistic credibility, but making a film with estate involvement necessarily involves navigating those interests.
Paris Jackson's "0% involvement" comment and her criticism of the film pandering to a specific fan segment suggests that at least some creative decisions were shaped by factors other than pure storytelling. Whether Fuqua managed to thread that needle — protecting the estate's interests while making a film with genuine artistic integrity — is the central question critics and audiences will be answering as the film opens.
What This Means: The Jackson Family, Legacy, and the Biopic Industrial Complex
The 'Michael' biopic arrives in a cultural moment defined by nostalgia-driven IP. Hollywood has found that audiences will turn out for biographical films about musical icons — Bohemian Rhapsody, Elvis, Rocketman, Whitney Houston: I Wanna Dance with Somebody — and Michael Jackson is perhaps the single most commercially potent subject for that treatment. The global audience that grew up with his music is aging into exactly the demographic that drives theatrical ticket sales.
But the Michael Jackson biopic faces a challenge none of those other films had to navigate at this scale: the unresolved controversy over abuse allegations. The filmmakers and estate have had to make choices about how to address — or not address — the claims made in Leaving Neverland. Paris Jackson's criticism that a section "panders to a very specific section of my dad's fandom" reads as a reference to that fan community that has aggressively defended Michael against those allegations. If the film takes their side without genuinely grappling with the complexity of the evidence, that's a creative and ethical choice with consequences.
For Jermaine Jackson specifically, this biopic represents something profound: his son carrying his brother's legacy forward. The dynamics of the original Jackson 5 — Jermaine's early prominence, Michael's eventual supremacy, the complicated brotherhood that followed — are part of the story the film tells. Watching Jaafar embody Michael is, for Jermaine, a reunion with history through a new generation.
The Jackson family's public disagreements about the film also reflect something true about how families work. Large, famous families rarely agree on how their legacy should be packaged and sold. The fact that Taj Jackson praises the film on social media while Paris Jackson criticizes it, and that La Toya attends the premiere while Janet declines to participate, is less a sign of dysfunction and more a sign that the Jacksons are a real family rather than a marketing committee. Authenticity, even uncomfortable authenticity, is worth something.
Frequently Asked Questions About Jermaine Jackson and the 'Michael' Biopic
Why does Jermaine Jackson's son play Michael Jackson in the biopic?
Jaafar Jackson, 29, was cast as Michael Jackson due to a combination of his physical resemblance to his uncle and his personal connection to the subject. His casting also carries symbolic weight: having a member of the Jackson family portray Michael lends the production a kind of insider authenticity. Jermaine Jackson's apparent support for the project extended to allowing his son to take on one of the most demanding roles in recent Hollywood history.
Is there really a feud between Janet Jackson and Jermaine Jackson?
La Toya Jackson denied any feud at the April 20 Los Angeles premiere, telling reporters that Janet was asked to be featured in the film and "kindly declined." However, Page Six reported in March 2026 that Janet had criticisms following a private family screening. Whether the "no feud" framing reflects reality or is a diplomatic face-saving measure is difficult to assess from the outside, but the family's official position is that Janet's non-participation was her choice, not the result of conflict.
Why isn't Janet Jackson in the 'Michael' biopic?
According to La Toya Jackson, Janet was asked to be featured and declined. The specifics of why she declined have not been publicly confirmed by Janet herself. Reports of criticisms she raised after a private screening suggest she had reservations about the film's content or approach, but she has not made a public statement explaining her decision.
How accurate is the 'Michael' biopic expected to be?
The film covers Michael Jackson's life from his Jackson 5 years through his solo career. Because it was made with the involvement of Michael's estate — with Prince Jackson as executive producer — the narrative is expected to reflect the estate's preferred framing of his life and legacy. Paris Jackson's criticism that a section "panders to a very specific section of my dad's fandom" suggests the film takes positions on contested aspects of Michael's story. Biopics produced with estate or family involvement are rarely neutral documents; they are, to varying degrees, authorized portraits.
What happened to Tito Jackson?
Tito Jackson, one of the original Jackson 5 members, passed away in 2024. His death added an additional layer of loss to the family's already complicated relationship with Michael's legacy. Taj Jackson, Tito's son, praised the biopic on X, suggesting that branch of the family has embraced the project as a meaningful tribute to both Michael and the broader Jackson musical tradition.
Conclusion: A Family, a Film, and an Unfinished Reckoning
The release of Michael on April 24, 2026 is a cultural event calibrated to be both a celebration and a provocation. Directed by Antoine Fuqua, starring Jaafar Jackson in a role that positions him as his father Jermaine's son and his uncle Michael's interpreter, and produced with the estate's blessing — but not without family dissent — the film arrives at a moment when the Jackson legacy remains genuinely contested.
Jermaine Jackson's centrality to this story is real and layered. His son carries the film. His sibling dynamics — the Jermaine-Janet relationship that La Toya publicly defended — are part of the premiere's news cycle. His late brother Tito's family has offered endorsement. The full picture of what the Jackson family thinks about this film, and about Michael's legacy more broadly, is fractured and complex — which makes it, in a way, the most honest reflection possible of a family that has never been simple.
What audiences take away from Michael will depend on what they're looking for. Fans of the music and the spectacle will likely find what they came for. Those hoping for a reckoning with the more difficult parts of his story may find Paris Jackson's skepticism more resonant than La Toya's enthusiasm. And for Jermaine Jackson, watching his son embody the brother who defined a generation — and in some ways defined the limits of what Jermaine himself could achieve — the experience must be something no Hollywood premiere can fully contain.
