Spike Lee has defended the Michael Jackson biopic Michael amid criticism over the omission of sexual abuse allegations, saying the issue "doesn't work in the timeline of the film."
In a conversation with CNN, the Oscar-winning director praised the movie and pushed back on criticism that the film ignored the child sexual abuse allegations against the singer.
"I've seen [Michael] twice. Love it," Lee told CNN's Laura Coates. "First of all, if you're a movie critic, and you're complaining about all this other stuff, but the movie ends in '88. And the stuff you're talking about, accusations, happened [later]. So you're critiquing the film on something that you want in, but it doesn't work in the timeline of the film."
Michael, which was approved and financed by the late pop singer's estate, follows Jackson from his early years in the Jackson 5 to the peak of his global fame in 1988, when he was touring the album Bad.
However, the decision to conclude the story at that timeline has prompted backlash, as the film does not engage with the child sexual abuse allegations made against him before he died in 2009.
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