The world knew Michael Jackson the performer. Jaafar Jackson knew him as family.
Jaafar is Michael’s nephew — his father is Jermaine Jackson, Michael’s brother. When director Antoine Fuqua cast him as the lead in the biopic Michael, he wasn’t just casting an actor.
HE WAS CASTING SOMEONE WHO HAD ACTUALLY SAT IN THE SAME ROOM AS THE MAN.
In his first television interview, Jaafar opened up about what those years looked like from the inside.
Jaafar Gets Emotional Talking About Michael
Michael would come over to where Jaafar was growing up, and they’d spend whole days together as a family. Game days. Trips to Neverland. Hide-and-go-seek. Candy. Rides. Movies. Not the King of Pop. Not the tabloid figure.
Just an uncle who showed up and wanted to have a good time with the people he loved.
“It was all fun,” Jaafar said.
That’s the version of Michael Jackson most people never got to see. No cameras, no performance, no spectacle. Just family.
Carrying those memories into a film role made the whole thing heavier, not lighter. Jaafar wasn’t just studying a celebrity. He was trying to do justice to someone he actually knew — someone his grandmother Katherine called irreplaceable.
When Katherine saw the casting announcement, SHE SAID JAAFAR EMBODIES HER SON. That meant everything to him.
What Jaafar Learned About His Uncle
But this situation also raised the stakes. Every mannerism he practiced, every vocal note he worked to match, every dance move he spent months perfecting — all of it had a real person behind it that he had to perfectly embody. A person he remembered laughing and playing games with.
“There’s definitely a responsibility that you feel going into something this big,” he said.
He had just 20 days to learn the Billie Jean performance or lose the role entirely. He didn’t lose it. He nailed it, and every other performance that followed.
The people who loved Michael most gave Jaafar their blessing. He made sure he earned it.