On April 20, 2026, the Jackson family turned out in Los Angeles for the premiere of “Michael,” the big-screen story of the King of Pop. Among the family members on the carpet that night was Prince Jackson.
Prince is Michael’s oldest child. He’s 29, and this film is personal for him in more ways than one. He’s an executive producer on the film, and the man playing his dad is his cousin Jaafar Jackson, Jermaine’s son.
Prince walked the red carpet in a black suit. Around one arm he wore a small red band.
It was easy to miss next to all the stars. Prince explained it himself in an ABC News interview that aired three days later.
Prince also filmed his prep for the big night, and his video lets you tag along as he gets ready for the Hollywood premiere.
Prince Jackson getting ready for his dad’s movie premiere
Start with the suit. It came from someone who knew Michael’s style better than almost anyone.
Michael Bush was Michael’s longtime costume designer, the man behind so many of the outfits Michael wore. So when Michael’s son needed something to wear to his father’s premiere, it made sense to go back to him.
“Michael Bush was the costume designer for my father; he designed the suit that I was wearing,” Prince told ABC News.
Then came the armband. Many readers will guess it was cut from one of Michael’s stage jackets. It wasn’t.
“And actually, the armband was made out of the fabric that my dad would always wear,” Prince said. He named it: “the red corduroy shirt.”
It was an everyday shirt. Nothing about it was built for a stadium. It was simply what Michael liked to put on, the kind of thing a dad wears around the house.
And Prince explained why that mattered so much to him.
“And that was my childhood, like if I hugged my father, that was what he was wearing.”
Think about the clothes you remember on your own parents. Maybe it’s an old cardigan or a work jacket that never seemed to go in the wash. Prince carried a piece of that onto the red carpet, right on his sleeve.
This clip from that night shows the arrivals on the LA carpet, with Prince among the family members and stars.
Jaafar, LaToya, Prince and the cast arriving at the Los Angeles premiere
Prince didn’t come to the premiere only for himself. He brought along families served by his nonprofit, the Heal Los Angeles Foundation, so they could walk the red carpet and meet the cast. He told ABC News his father’s example of giving back inspired it.
As he put it, “we want to inspire young people to be their best and to give them the tools that they need to succeed.”
Prince posted a second video from the night, and this one is about those families and their turn on the same carpet as the stars.
Heal LA’s families walking the red carpet at the premiere
The movie tells the big public story of Michael’s life, and Michael Bush gave Prince a suit fit for the night. The armband was the part that came from home. Prince wore his dad’s everyday shirt on his sleeve, the same one he used to feel every time he hugged him.