Big families have their traditions. A certain pie that only shows up at Thanksgiving. The uncle who falls asleep in his chair by eight. The cousins who argue over the same card game every single year.
The Jacksons were no different. When the holidays came around, the house filled up fast, and the whole crowd landed on one game night ritual that never changed.
The person telling the story is Jaafar Jackson. He’s Michael Jackson’s nephew, and he plays his famous uncle in the new movie “Michael.” Growing up, he was right in the middle of all of it. In a recent sit-down with Variety, he looked back on what those family gatherings were really like.
They were big. Really big.
“About 30 to 40 family members were at the house, so we had lots of game nights and family cookouts, with music playing,” Jaafar said.
Think about that for a second. Thirty or forty people under one roof, music going, food everywhere, and a game to settle. In a family this size there was only ever going to be one way to split the teams, and they did it the oldest way there is. Boys on one side. Girls on the other.
And here’s the part the caption kept back. It was almost always the same game, and one side had a winning streak so long it stopped being funny.
The game was Pictionary. That’s the drawing game, where one person sketches a clue and the rest of the team has to shout out the answer before the timer runs out. Simple, loud, and perfect for a packed living room.
The boys owned it.
“It was always Pictionary. Boys versus girls, no doubt. It was pretty competitive, because the boys always like to brag. I think our streak was like 15 years. I think it was unfair. There are a lot more boys in the family,” Jaafar said.
Fifteen years. That’s not a lucky night or two. That’s a kid growing all the way up and the boys still never handing over the trophy. And Jaafar is honest enough to admit the deck was stacked, because there simply were more boys to go around.
You can almost hear it. The scribbling, the guessing, the bragging that came after. For all the fame and the famous name, this was just a family being a family on a holiday night.
Jaafar sat down with Variety to talk about stepping into his uncle’s shoes for the movie, and somewhere in that same conversation he opened up about the house he grew up in and the people who filled it. It’s worth hearing him tell it himself.
Here’s Jaafar Jackson talking about his famous family and what it was like to grow up a Jackson.
Jaafar Jackson’s full Variety interview on growing up in the Jackson family
The game-night memory is a small thing. But small things are what families actually remember. Not the awards or the records. The night everybody crowded around a notepad, picked sides, and played the same silly game they’d been playing for years.
The boys would probably tell you they’re still undefeated.