As Michael Jackson's legacy returns to the limelight, can we truly separate the art from the artist?

This article first appeared in Radio Times magazine.

It is 40 years since Michael Jackson was at his celestial height and a lot of murky water has passed under the bridge of his legacy since, but it appears he’s back.

Next month sees the arrival of the biopic Michael. Made by the producer of Bohemian Rhapsody and supported by the Jackson family with his nephew Jaafar in the title role, it has the rights to all the music and will undoubtedly make millions.

Meanwhile, next week you can see the start of a new three-part BBC documentary, Michael Jackson: An American Tragedy, charting the star’s rise, fall and resurrection, another entertainment Icarus who fatally soared too high.

First, the film. Fans will get to relive the early years of his evolution from Jackson 5 child prodigy to solo megastar. The biggest peril? Striking out from his family, especially father Joe, to become the biggest artist in music history.

If only the story could finish there... oh, it does. The biopic stops conveniently short of the later, less glittering chapters: child abuse allegations in 1993 settled out of court, a brief marriage to Elvis’s daughter, the Martin Bashir doc that led to an abuse trial, and acquittal, finally wandering the world penniless before his death in 2009, an event that saw his doctor jailed. That’s enough for a sequel.

In 2019, Wade Robson and James Safechuck spoke in the documentary Leaving Neverland about their years of alleged abuse at Jackson’s hands. Facing backlash from fans, they still pursue their day in court.

Their lawyers say they seek justice; the lawyers for the star’s estate say they seek money – because there’s a lot of it. Jackson died $500 million in debt – this, despite owning the Beatles catalogue, as well as creating Thriller, is astonishing in itself – but the coffers were soon refilled.

Blurry rehearsal footage covering preparation for Jackson’s 50 planned “This is It” London gigs in 2009 and 2010 was stitched together and became the biggest “concert movie” ever, just four months after its frontman had perished. MJ: The Musical plus continuing royalties make for an estate that’s now worth over $2 billion.

What should we take from all of this? That, unlike, say Gary Glitter, there is just enough of a whiff of doubt about Jackson’s crimes for us to hold our noses and take to the dancefloor at the first beats of Billie Jean? Or that his gift of music is too good for us to deprive ourselves with any ethical concerns? But then we remember that that gift was what prosecutors say gave him opportunity and means to transgress.

While moral mazers and die-hard fans continue to scratch their chins about loving the art while deriding the artist, the only certainty that pervades every scene of the BBC doc is just how weird Jackson’s life was at every stage: his fans’ enchantment nothing short of cultish, and the contradiction between this and his clear self-loathing; and self-worship; and self-sabotage.

The best bits are watching the craftsman at work – footage of Jackson developing the moonwalk on his own at home is still thrilling. The most significant contributor is a Rabbi who remembers telling the star, “You’re addicted to fame, and you’ve substituted it for this cheap forgery called attention.”

Michael will draw hordes of fans, desperate to relive the early years of Jackson’s flight to the sun, while Robson and Safechuck have been given a trial date for November 2026. For them, as for the rest of us, the jury remains out.

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Michael Jackson: An American Tragedy airs at 9pm on Wednesday 8 April on BBC Two and iPlayer. Michael is in cinemas from 22 April

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