Michael Jackson’s family is gloating over the film’s “hot score” on Rotten Tomatoes after it was panned online by critics.
TJ Jackson, son of The Jackson 5 member (and Michael’s brother) Tito Jackson, has remained a vocal advocate for the biopic about his uncle. Specifically, as more negative reviews came in from critics about the film, Jackson took to X on Thursday and celebrated the positive Rotten Tomatoes update from audience members.
“Don’t ever listen to ‘professional’ critics when it comes to my family,” TJ wrote as the movie became “verified hot” at 94% on the review-aggregation site. “Ever.”
He added in another tweet: “Congrats to the entire ‘Michael’ team. You all did an amazing job. From the production team to the actors to the staffers they all did their thing. Take a bow y’all. This is well deserved.”
TJ’s brother, Taj Jackson, also spoke out on support of the new biopic, writing in his own X post, “The ‘Michael’ movie is clearly bringing people together and leaving them feeling joy and happiness.”
He added: “That sounds exactly like my uncle Michael…Michael Jackson never gave the world what it thinks it wants, he gave the world what it truly needs. ‘Shine Your Light Michael.’”
While the “A-” CinemaScore shared by Taj and the official X account for the “Michael” movie has been called into question online, as that data isn’t traditionally released until after opening night, the research company liked the movie’s post — signaling that it is legit.
Nonetheless, this is just the latest from the Jackson family, who have spoken out repeatedly in defense of the new movie. In fact, on Wednesday, Taj said that the media didn’t “get to control the narrative anymore” regarding the late King of Pop.
He continued: “The public gets to watch this movie…they will decide for themselves. And you can’t handle that.”
The biopic tells the story of the King of Pop, a man who stands among the most popular musicians of all time, giving it a built-in fanbase of people who want to see Michael’s story told on the screen. At the same time, the film, written by John Logan, evades critical conversations of the child abuse allegations made against the singer later in his life.
TheWrap’s reviewer William Bibbiani called the film a frustrating biopic that is going to want to make you scream. He described it as closer to good PR than a real movie about a real man.
“In the panoply of biographical motion pictures, ‘Michael’ occupies a space between ‘The Babe Ruth Story,’ which claimed Babe Ruth cured diseases by hitting homers, and ‘Back to Black,’ which argued that Amy Winehouse’s family and record label were blameless for her ongoing, life-ending substance abuse,” Bibbiani wrote. “Whether it’s by design or legal necessity, ‘Michael’ picks as few battles as possible and backs off almost every time. It’s a film about how great Michael Jackson was and how great you are if you’re still a fan. It can’t be taken seriously, no matter how earnest it looks and sounds, because it’s not really a story. Maybe it used to be before the reshoots. Maybe not. Either way, now it’s just feature-length publicity.”
