Dan Reed Calls Michael Jackson “Worse than Jeffrey Epstein” as Biopic Opens

Dan Reed, director of the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, used a blunt comparison to focus attention on the child sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson right as the new biopic Michael hit theaters. In an interview with The Hollywood Reporter, Reed said Jackson was “worse than Jeffrey Epstein.” The remark lands squarely in the middle of conversation about the film’s reception.

Michael, distributed by Lionsgate, opened April 24th with Jaafar Jackson, the singer’s nephew, in the lead role. Antoine Fuqua directed. The project arrives with significant commercial momentum. The Hollywood Reporter noted that Michael is tracking to be one of the year’s biggest box-office draws, a fact that sits uneasily next to the accusations Reed’s documentary brought into wider public view.

Reed did not mince words. He suggested that audiences are willing to overlook serious charges in favor of nostalgia. “So a lot of people, I think, will kind of swallow any misgivings they may have and just sort of say, ‘Oh well, it’s a great jukebox movie,’” Reed said. The comparison to Epstein, a convicted sex trafficker, is meant to cut through that kind of reticence. It is a message designed to puncture the smooth rollout of a major studio release.

The biopic’s promotional campaign has avoided the subject of the allegations. Reed’s statement pulls it back to the center, drawing a line between a film built around Jackson’s music and the long-running accusations that followed him in life and after his death. As Michael opens to large audiences, the director’s words force a question that the movie itself does not ask.