- 4 months ago
From Motown breakthroughs to family turmoil, there’s plenty in “Michael” that lines up with real history — and plenty that takes a cinematic shortcut. Join us as we break down the biopic’s biggest factual wins and stumbles, including the rise of the Jackson 5, Michael’s complicated relationship with Joseph, the “Beat It” video, and other details fans will want to compare with the real story.
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00:00Just have all these songs in my head.
00:03Don't wanna be a boy, you wanna be a man.
00:06Just gotta get them out.
00:07Welcome to WatchMojo, and today we're counting down our picks for the historical facts that
00:12director Antoine Fuqua's 2026 Michael Jackson biopic Michael got right and wrong.
00:17Make sure you've seen Michael before watching this video because a major spoiler warning
00:21is now in effect.
00:22When you would be practicing, you were very heavily disciplined by your father.
00:29What was that like?
00:31Number 10.
00:33MTV refused to play the Billie Jean video.
00:35Right.
00:44In the network's early years, MTV's rotation was dominated by white rock acts, and Billie
00:50Jean was not treated as an obvious fit for the channel.
00:53That changed when the song became too big to ignore.
00:56CBS Records chief Walter Yetnikoff pushed MTV to air the video, reportedly threatening
01:01to pull the label's other artists from the network if Jackson continued to be shut out.
01:05Once Billie Jean entered rotation, the dam broke.
01:16However, the scene in which Yetnikoff, played in the biopic by Mike Myers, chews out MTV executive
01:22Bob Pittman is disputed by Les Garland, then MTV Network's senior executive vice president
01:27of programming.
01:28Garland told Billboard there was, quote, never a threat from Walter Yetnikoff, saying that
01:33he, quote, got more upset because we didn't play Willie Nelson or Barbra Streisand.
01:45Number 9.
01:47Michael adopted Bubbles in 1981.
01:49Wrong.
01:50Now, there is a celebrity sitting in our audience.
02:05Bubbles is such a famous part of Michael's mythology that it's easy to forget the timeline.
02:10But 1981 is too early.
02:12Bubbles was born in 1983, which obviously means Michael couldn't have adopted him in 1981, before
02:18Thriller was even released.
02:20Reports differ on the exact details, but the better-supported general timeline places Bubbles
02:25entering Jackson's life in the mid-1980s.
02:27Don't you come walking back in my mother?
02:31I don't care, believe me.
02:33Placing Bubbles this early makes Jackson's eccentric image seem more established than it
02:38really was during the off-the-wall and early Thriller years.
02:41The movie is clearly interested in Michael's loneliness, but this is one case where the
02:46symbol may have been pulled forward for thematic convenience.
02:49Dr. Marty Dennis was Jackson's veterinarian.
02:52He had just a very pure concern for every animal on that property.
02:57But Bubbles had a special place in Jackson's heart.
03:00He was a one-time actor.
03:05And for Michael Jackson, a one-time best friend.
03:11Number eight, Suzanne DePass discovered the Jackson 5.
03:14Wrong.
03:15He called me one day and he said, listen, I want you to come down to my apartment.
03:20There's something I think you need to see.
03:22And I went, Bobby Taylor, I am not coming to your apartment, period.
03:27He said, no, no, it's nothing like that.
03:28So I went down to, I think I was on the 22nd floor and he was like on the 10th
03:35floor.
03:35Barry Gordy's creative assistant, played in Michael by Laura Harrier, was absolutely
03:40important to the Jackson 5's Motown story.
03:42But calling her the person who discovered them oversimplifies the record.
03:46The stronger historical claim belongs to Bobby Taylor of Bobby Taylor and the Vancovers.
03:51Taylor saw the Jackson 5 at Chicago's Regal Theater, helped bring them into Motown's orbit,
03:56and played a key role in arranging their initial audition.
03:59And he kind of clapped his hands and he said, okay, you guys, this is Suzanne DePass and she
04:03works for Mr. Gordy and she can get us the audition with Motown.
04:09Because I was, I was mobbed up.
04:12Right.
04:12And so they got up and they sang, I think three or four songs, acapella.
04:18And it was unbelievable.
04:21It was really magical.
04:23DePass then became an important internal advocate at Motown.
04:26Helping move the group through the system and into Barry Gordy's attention.
04:29She even designed the family band's wardrobe.
04:32But the version of events depicted in the film, in which Joe Jackson creeps her out backstage,
04:37isn't the real deal.
04:38I got mad props for bringing them to the company.
04:43And in fact, the next group that I wanted to bring, they didn't even have to see them.
04:50He just said, sign them.
04:52Huh.
04:52Was it the next one?
04:53Yeah, the Commodores with Lionel Richie.
04:56Number seven.
04:57Michael's surprise announced the Jacksons' breakup.
05:00Right.
05:00When you walked into Dodger Stadium tonight, you couldn't help but be impressed with the stage.
05:04It's a monstrosity, six or seven stories high in dead center field.
05:08Fans without seats on the grass will need a good pair of binoculars for their in-person,
05:13up-close look at the Jacksons.
05:14This one sounds too theatrical to be true, but it really happened, more or less.
05:19The 1984 victory tour was complicated by money disputes, pressure from promoters,
05:24Michael's discomfort with the project, and the obvious fact that he had outgrown the group after
05:29Thriller.
05:29At the December 9th, 1984 concert at Dodger Stadium in Los Angeles, Michael announced that
05:35it would be the last time the brothers would perform together, catching at least some of the
05:39family off-guard.
05:40The show was over in just an hour and 40 minutes.
05:43I thought it was too short.
05:45You thought it was too short?
05:46Yes, but it was very good.
05:47It was the best concert I ever saw.
05:49I thought it was like a historical event.
05:51It was like, it was worth everything.
05:54It was so great, and he was incredible, and he's just the greatest.
05:58He was like the Beatles, you know?
06:00That moment effectively ended plans for more touring legs, and marked a decisive break between
06:05Michael Jackson, global solo superstar, and Michael Jackson, member of the Jacksons.
06:10With that said, though, there's no evidence to suggest that Michael dramatically severed
06:14ties with his father after the performance.
06:16Lasers, lights, smoke, pyrotechnics, and Michael.
06:19Michael was at his gyroscopic best.
06:25All eyes were on him.
06:26This was billed as a Jacksons tour, but it was superstar Michael everyone came to see,
06:31and he didn't disappoint.
06:33Number 6.
06:34The Jackson 5 sang Never Can Say Goodbye for Motown.
06:37Wrong.
06:38I never can say goodbye.
06:43No, no, no, no.
06:46Michael uses Never Can Say Goodbye as the Jackson 5's big Motown breakthrough number,
06:51but the truth is, that song was still years away.
06:54Written by Clifton Davis, the track was recorded by the Jackson 5 in 1970 and released as a single
07:00in 1971, eventually reaching number 2 on the Billboard Hot 100.
07:15In other words, it couldn't have been part of the group's pre-Motown audition or early showcase
07:20material. Historically, the Jackson 5's appeal to Motown was rooted in their explosive live energy,
07:26tight harmonies, and ability to channel the sole showmanship of acts like James Brown.
07:31Come on, baby.
07:33I got the, yeah.
07:42Number 5.
07:43Barry Gordy was Michael's mentor.
07:45Right?
07:45Barry Gordy, I want you to know, in my heart and mind, you are a genius and a king.
07:53And without you, Barry Gordy, I don't think music would be the same today.
07:58During the Jackson 5's Motown years, the head of the label was crucial.
08:02The film shows Gordy guiding Michael through the early Motown machine,
08:05and that tracks with the broader reality of how Motown worked.
08:09Gordy's label didn't simply release records.
08:12It trained, packaged, groomed, and refined performers for mass appeal.
08:16For a child star like Michael, that environment was formative.
08:20Very Gordy, you promised us four consecutive number one records,
08:27and you delivered them all.
08:29I'll never forget it.
08:30It was a first in music history.
08:34Motown taught him and his family professionalism, crossover strategy,
08:38stage discipline, and the mechanics of pop stardom.
08:41The movie is right to present Gordy as a warmer counterweight to Joseph,
08:45still a businessman absolutely,
08:47but also someone who helped Michael understand how raw talent becomes a record,
08:51a brand, and eventually a phenomenon.
08:53Your faith makes it possible for us to be here today.
08:58We love you from the bottom of our hearts, sincerely.
09:04And I just want you to know that without you, my mother and my father,
09:11I don't think we would be here.
09:13And of course, God.
09:18This is the kind of biopic detail that feels perfect on screen
09:22because it gives a messy professional break a titillating cinematic treatment.
09:26Michael hired John Branca, took control of his business life,
09:29and his father got pushed out by Fax.
09:31The problem is that the power shift is true,
09:34but the exact fired by Fax version appears to be dramatized.
09:38Branca did become a major figure in Michael's career,
09:40and the movie is right that Michael's adult independence required significantly loosening Joseph's grip.
09:46By the off-the-wall and thriller eras,
09:48Michael was no longer just the child star managed by his father.
09:51He was becoming a solo artist with his own lawyer,
09:54producer, label relationships, and creative ambitions.
09:57Cause Disney's telling,
10:01Deadly love at night,
10:02And no one's gonna save you from the beast of a strike,
10:06You know Miss Dellen.
10:08Number three.
10:09The number of Jackson children.
10:11Wrong.
10:12Here's Jackie Jackson.
10:14I'm the oldest Jackson.
10:16And Tito Jackson.
10:17The swingingest Jackson.
10:19And Marlon Jackson.
10:21The dancingest Jackson.
10:22And Michael Jackson.
10:24The skinniest Jackson.
10:25And Randy Jackson.
10:27The cutest Jackson.
10:29Joseph and Catherine Jackson had ten children together.
10:32Reby, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, LaToya, Marlon, Brandon, Michael, Randy, and Janet.
10:38Brandon, Marlon's twin brother, died shortly after birth,
10:41which is why the Jackson household is usually discussed in terms of the nine surviving children.
10:46But Janet Jackson isn't depicted in the film,
10:49despite being Michael's youngest sibling,
10:51and one of the most famous members of the family in her own right.
10:53I love the world again.
10:55I love the world again.
10:57I love the world again.
11:00I love the world again.
11:02Vanity Fair notes that her career as an actress and pop star
11:05was already underway during the period the film covers.
11:08To be fair, Janet was born in 1966,
11:11so she would have been quite young during much of the Jackson 5's early rise.
11:15Still, omitting her might leave some viewers scratching their heads.
11:28Joe, do you have any at all bad feelings about the way Michael was raised?
11:33I know you're denying the stories about violence,
11:36but as you look at it, were there any mistakes you made?
11:38I didn't make no mistakes, Larry, because Michael was raised properly.
11:44He didn't run the streets like most of those other kids that was in his neighborhood.
11:52The movie's portrayal of Joseph Jackson as harsh, intimidating, and abusive isn't simply Hollywood dramatization.
11:58Michael Jackson spoke publicly and extensively about his father's treatment,
12:02and other Jackson family members also described Joseph's severe discipline.
12:06I don't think he realized to this day how scared, scared, I mean scared, so scared that I would regurgitate.
12:20You would vomit?
12:22Mm-hmm.
12:23Joseph himself often defended his methods as necessary,
12:27arguing that he kept his children away from danger and pushed them towards greatness.
12:30But that defense does not erase what Michael said the experience did to him.
12:35The film is strongest when it shows the awful contradiction at the center of the Jackson family story.
12:40Joseph helped build one of the most successful entertainment dynasties in history,
12:44but he did it through fear, control, and emotional pressure.
12:48There's a lot of people in America, Larry.
12:51A lot of people in America speak to kids, you know.
12:54If they say they don't, they're lying.
12:56They're lying.
12:57And Michael was never beat by me.
13:00You never beat it at all.
13:01Number one.
13:02Michael cast actual gang members for the Beat It video.
13:05Right.
13:06They told him, don't you ever come around here.
13:09Don't wanna see your face, you better disappear.
13:12The fire's in their eyes.
13:14Their words are really clear.
13:16So Beat It.
13:17Unbelievable as it may sound, Michael is on solid ground here.
13:21The Beat It short film really did bring actual Los Angeles gang members onto the set,
13:26alongside actors and professional dancers.
13:28The idea reportedly came from Michael Jackson himself,
13:31who wanted the video's anti-violence message to feel rooted in something more authentic than studio tough guy posturing.
13:44Director Bob Giraldi and choreographer Michael Peters then shaped that raw premise into one of the defining music videos of
13:51the 1980s.
13:52Accounts of the shoot commonly note that members of rival gangs, often identified as Bloods and Crips,
13:58were recruited through local production contacts and used mainly for atmosphere,
14:02while trained dancers handled the more precise choreography.
14:14Do you think Michael handled the facts fairly, or did it bend the story too much?
14:18Be sure to let us know in the comments.
14:20Not pneumonia.
14:23Don много ar draws.
14:23You think Michael says –
14:24LOVE is a good source of food, as you own for the patients. Love is a great source
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