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A senior official at the U.S. Department of Justice has directed federal prosecutors to dismiss charges against New York Mayor Eric Adams, a Democrat known for his close ties to President Donald Trump.

In a two-page memo obtained by The Associated Press, acting Deputy Attorney General Emil Bove, a former prosecutor in the Manhattan office that brought the case, stated that the decision to drop the charges was made without evaluating the strength of the prosecution and was not intended to undermine the attorneys who filed the case.However, Bove noted that the timing of the charges and “more recent actions” by former U.S. Attorney Damian Williams had compromised the integrity of the proceedings. He cited concerns over increased prejudicial pretrial publicity, which he warned could influence potential witnesses and the jury pool.

Mayor of New York City Eric Adams arrives prior to the inauguration of President-elect Donald Trump at the United States Capitol on January 20, 2025, in Washington, DC.

Why It Matters

The move follows months of speculation that Trump’s Justice Department might intervene to end the criminal case against Adams. The criminal case against Adams centers on allegations that he accepted illegal campaign contributions and extravagant travel perks exceeding $100,000. These included luxury hotel stays, costly flight upgrades, and even a visit to a Turkish bathhouse while he was serving as Brooklyn Borough President.

He has denied doing anything illegal and said the criticism of his overseas trips and deeply discounted first-class travel was unfair.

What To Know

Adams traveled to Florida to meet with Trump on January 17. Following the meeting, he stated that they did not discuss his criminal case or the possibility of a pardon but suggested that Trump’s policies would be more beneficial for New York than those of former President Joe Biden.

Following Trump’s inauguration, Adams’ legal team approached senior Justice Department officials, requesting that they step in and drop the case.

Trump had previously suggested the possibility of a pardon, telling reporters in December that Adams had been “treated pretty unfairly.” He also claimed—without evidence—that Adams was being targeted for his criticism of former President Joe Biden’s immigration policies.

The federal prosecutor who filed the charges, former U.S. Attorney Damian Williams, resigned following Trump’s election victory. However, as recently as Jan. 6, prosecutors signaled that their investigation was still ongoing, stating in court filings that they continued to “uncover additional criminal conduct by Adams.”

In December, Adams’ chief adviser and closest confidant, Ingrid Lewis-Martin, was indicted by the Manhattan district attorney on charges that she and her son accepted $100,000 in bribes linked to real estate construction projects.

What People Are Saying

Adams said the day after the meeting with Trump: “I’m looking forward to the next four years of having a president that loves the city like I love this city.”

Trump said in October at a Manhattan event attended by Adams: “I know what it’s like to be persecuted by the DOJ, for speaking out against open borders. We were persecuted, Eric. I was persecuted, and so are you, Eric.”

What Happens Next

The Justice Department’s order mandates that the case be dismissed without prejudice, leaving open the possibility of it being refiled in the future.

The memo marks a significant break from longstanding Justice Department norms—both in its directive to drop a case that prosecutors had already determined to be legally sound and in its reasoning that a high-profile defendant’s official duties could take precedence over facing accountability for alleged crimes.

Rapper Kendrick Lamar has continued to see success following his Super Bowl LIX halftime show performance.

On Sunday, as the Kansas City Chiefs went up against the Philadelphia Eagles, Lamar took the stage at the Caesars Superdome in New Orleans alongside guests SZA, Mustard, Serena Williams and Samuel L. Jackson. His set list included many songs from the album GNX, which dropped in November, such as “Squabble Up,” “Luther,” “TV Off” and “Peekaboo.” He also sang older hits, including “HUMBLE.” and “DNA.”

During the 13-minute mashup, fans were treated to “Not Like Us,” Lamar’s Drake diss track and Grammy-winning hit.

Following the event, Lamar topped charts on Apple Music and Spotify.

Kendrick Lamar performing during the Super Bowl LIX halftime show at Caesars Superdome in New Orleans on February 9. Gregory Shamus/Getty Images

Pop Crave, a pop culture account on X, formerly Twitter, wrote, “Kendrick Lamar currently has the #1 album (‘GNX’) and #1 song (‘Not Like Us’) on US Apple Music following the #SuperBowl.”

In a separate message posted hours later, it added, “Kendrick Lamar occupies the top 3 on US Spotify: #1: luther — 2.056M #2: tv off — 1.868M #3: Not Like Us — 1.785M.”

The X account for chartdata.org, a website that tracks updates in music charts, wrote, “Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Not Like Us’ has returned to #1 on US Apple Music following #SuperBowl halftime.” It added in another message, “Kendrick Lamar’s ‘Mr. Morale & The Big Steppers’ re-enters this week’s Billboard 200.”

The NFL’s Instagram account uploaded a slew of clips as the halftime show aired, including one of Lamar rapping “Squabble Up.” At the time of publication, the video had racked up more than 2 million views and more than 142,000 likes. In the video’s comments section, the account for Apple Music posted a raising hands emoji.

Lamar’s X account also received a boost following the halftime show. According to the analytics website Social Blade, the rapper gained 17,504 followers on the platform on Sunday. On Monday morning, another 18,091 people had clicked the “Follow” button.

By contrast, Lamar gained 1,587 followers on Saturday, lost 24 followers on Friday and gained 150 followers on Thursday.

Sunday wasn’t the first time Lamar performed at the Super Bowl. In 2022, the Compton, California, native shared the halftime stage with Dr. Dre, Snoop Dogg, Mary J. Blige, Eminem and more.

Lamar and SZA—whose real name is Solána Imani Rowe—are scheduled to kick off the Grand National Tour in April, visiting 19 stadiums across North America.

Prior to the Super Bowl, SZA had refrained from giving away too many details about the halftime show, telling the Daily News on February 2, “That’s King Kendrick’s performance and that it is all for him to divulge.”

“What I can say is he’s worked really hard on it,” she continued. “And I’m so honored to be a part of it, and I’m so honored to even know him and exist in the same time as someone as brilliant as him.”

Government employees and civil servants have been encouraged by Democratic senators to act as whistleblowers against the Trump administration.

A Democratic Caucus letter sent by Senators Chuck Schumer and Gary Peters asks public servants to report “wrongdoing, abuse of power, and threats to public safety,” according to The Washington Post, which obtained a copy of the letter.The Democratic Caucus has also created an online whistleblowing form for employees to report government “Retaliation, Wasteful Spending, Fraud, Criminal Activity, and/or Other.”Newsweek has reached out to Peters and Schumer via email for comment.

Senate Minority Leader Chuck Schumer holds hands with Representative Maxine Waters in a gathering of congressional Democrats outside the Treasury Department on February 4.

Why It Matters

The Democrats, who were left without majority control of the House and Senate after November’s elections, have been criticized by some progressives for not doing enough to stop President Donald Trump and his billionaire ally Elon Musk from gutting federal agencies.

Given their lack of power in the legislative and executive branches, the Democrats and several nonprofits have brought dozens of lawsuits against the Trump administration. These suits concern the president’s moves to end birthright citizenship, allow Musk’s Department of Government Efficiency (DOGE) access to Treasury data, fire FBI employees and more.

Now, government employees are being asked to point out illegal activity that they witness. The Schumer and Peters letter comes as GOP Senator Chuck Grassley has asked government workers to become whistleblowers on “wrongdoing within federal agencies or misuse of public dollars.”

What To Know

Schumer and Peters have told federal employees, they are covered by the Whistleblower Protection Act, which is intended to ensure that federal employees are not subject to retaliation if they provide evidence of possible wrongdoing within the government.

The two senators said they will also be investigating the president’s administration through inquiries, oversight requests and hearings, the Post reported.

Democrats have expressed concern about Trump’s recent move to cut 2,200 workers from the United States Agency for International Development. Schumer said on X (formerly Twitter): “Trump and DOGE’s actions at USAID are illegal and dangerous for the country.”

The president has said he wants to cut the federal workforce by 10 percent as part of his efforts to minimize the federal budget.Don Moynihan, a professor at the Gerald R. Ford School of Public Policy at the University of Michigan, told NPR that the budget for the 2.4 million federal employees is about $350 billion out of an overall $6.5 trillion budget.

“Their salaries are “a tiny sliver of total government spending—just around 5 percent to 6 percent,” Josh Bivens, chief economist at the Economic Policy Institute, told NPR.

Demonstrators protest the Trump administration’s dismantling of the U.S. Agency for International Development outside the U.S. Capitol on February 5. Aaron Schwartz/Sipa via AP Images

A Reddit page for federal employees, r/govfire, has been flooded with concerns raised by these workers, with fears about a government shutdown, whistleblowing on illegal behavior and the future of their jobs.

Some federal employees spoke to The New York Times about their experiences since the start of the Trump administration. One said she had 24 hours to fill a prescription before being cut off from her health insurance. Another said she is experiencing stages of grief over the sudden loss of her job, which is working on HIV/AIDS treatment in sub-Saharan Africa.

What People Are Saying

The Senate Democratic Caucus letter, obtained by The Washington Post, reads: “As Senate Republicans refuse to fulfill their constitutional duty to provide a check on the Executive Branch, Senate Democrats remain steadfast in our commitment to uncovering the truth. We are prepared to issue demand letters, preserve public records, conduct public hearings, and pursue legal action where necessary.”

Senator Chuck Schumer wrote on X: “To our brave public servants: Your courage in stepping forward as whistleblowers to expose corruption and misconduct is essential to preserving the integrity of our democratic institutions.”

A government employee said on Reddit’s r/govfire: “If I refuse to comply with some blatantly illegal/unethical order in the coming months or years and am fired, is my pension at risk? Or is that supposedly safe even in cases of ‘conduct issues’? (I know this administration doesn’t care about laws, so who knows what they’ll do, but is there any precedent for punitively reducing someone’s pension?)”

What Happens Next

Vice President JD Vance has said he does not believe the judicial branch should have power over executive branch decisions, a view that raises the potential prospect of a constitutional crisis over reporting what is seen as illegal activity by the president.

Proud dad Antonio Banderas has given his stamp of approval to his engaged daughter, Stella.”The only thing that I want if my daughter got into a relationship and now into a marriage is that she’s loved,” Banderas told People on Saturday, February 1. “Everything else is I don’t care. And she is loved and I love the man that she decided to get married with. So I am very, very happy for both of them.”

Antonio Banderas attends The 24th Annual Latin Grammy Awards on November 16, 2023 in Seville, Spain. Neilson Barnard/Getty Images for Latin Recording Academy

The Bosch star, 64, will appear in a commercial for the TV show at the Super Bowl, Sunday, February 9.Stella, 28, is the daughter of Banderas and his ex-wife Melanie Griffith, who was also married to Don Johnson. She was born in Spain and has acted in the films Crazy in Alabama and Mercedes-Benz: In Her Shoes. “It’s just great,” Banderas said of Stella’s upcoming nuptials to entrepreneur Alex Gruszynski, 28. “I feel great for her.”

The young couple got engaged in August 2024, announcing the news on Stella’s Instagram via a carousel of photos that kicked off with the traditional snap of her ring (Gruszynski, founder and CEO of the startup NOVA, was seen lying in the background on a picnic blanket) and included throwback photos of the couple. The pair have known each other since early childhood. She captioned the post, “I get to hang out with my favorite person on earth forever!!!!!!!!”

Griffith, 67, has previously given her nod of approval for the match. In an Instagram post, she told her fans, “Their love story began in pre-school! True love, deep love! Congratulations to the beloveds!!! ♥️” It accompanied a black-and-white portrait of the couple.

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s U.S. empire has been under mounting pressure in recent years after a series of high profile articles in American magazines.

The Duke and Duchess of Sussex have long hated the British media and framed their declining popularity in the U.K. as a product of tabloids poisoning the well of public opinion.However, more recently U.S. magazines have been the outlets throwing the Sussexes into crisis mode, starting in 2022.The Cut: ‘Meghan of Montecito’Meghan and Harry were still highly popular in America in 2022 but the first sign the bubble might burst came that August when New York Magazine’s The Cut dispatched Allison P. Davis to Montecito to interview the duchess.

The result was a far cry from the brash hit pieces in U.K. newspapers like The Sun and the Daily Mail but there was a strong sense Davis had chosen not to drink the Kool-Aid.”She has been media trained and then royal-media trained and sometimes converses like she has a tiny Bachelor producer in her brain directing what she says,” Davis wrote. “At one point in our conversation, instead of answering a question, she will suggest how I might transcribe the noises she’s making: ‘She’s making these guttural sounds, and I can’t quite articulate what it is she’s feeling in that moment because she has no word for it; she’s just moaning.’

“At this stage, post-royal, there’s no need for her to hold back. She’s flinging open the proverbial doors to her life; as any millennial woman whose feminism was forged in the girlboss era would understand, she has taken a hardship and turned it into content.”

Meghan Markle and Prince Harry are seen in a composite image. ETIENNE LAURENT/AFP via Getty Images and Scott Dudelson/Getty Images

Another passage read: “Meghan, silenced no more, looks around, making sure nobody (who would be?) is listening in. Then the top-secret drop: ‘I’m getting back … on Instagram,’ she says, her eyes alight and devilish.

“This could have been a troll: Delivering a nothing with such gravitas feels as if Meghan, who has been so trolled by the media, is serving it back, just a little. But, as I quickly realize, it is actually news.”

The mismatch between interviewer and interviewee is an interesting one because it speaks to a symptom of Meghan and Harry’s wider malaise.

At times, they have pushed themselves out of the spaces that normally fawn over the royals but without necessarily working out how to appeal to other audiences.

The revelation she was returning to Instagram was indeed a big story for precisely the tabloids Meghan and Harry have been trying to avoid but she perhaps should have known The Cut would expect something of greater substance from a woman who once said she reads The Economist.

Variety: ‘It’s Well Past Time for Harry and Meghan 2.0′

Months later, Meghan and Harry released their first Netflix project, a biopic charting their messy exit from the palace.

It soared to the top of the Netflix rankings globally but again there was a canary in the mine shaft moment when Variety gave it a scathing review.

Andrew Wallenstein, president and chief media analyst of its Intelligence Platform, wrote: “There can only be so many revelations left to share with the public now that the couple have exiled themselves away from their fractious coexistence with the monarchy.

“Given that they’ve beaten this horse to death, perhaps this one-trick pony is due for the glue factory.”Of course, Harry and Meghan would have you believe they are about so much more than their own story.”The brand they believe they are building through their media company, Archewell Productions, is meant to be about all the social causes and charities they support.

“Their game plan has always been, Come for the sob story, stay for the high-minded uplift. But that’s a shaky strategy for keeping an audience around that probably doesn’t care about anything either of them has to say that isn’t royal gossip.”

Dolly Parton announced a personal donation of $1m (£761,660) towards Hurricane Helene relief efforts, declaring it was time for her to “step up again.”The Category 4 storm caused widespread destruction and claimed more than 200 lives including one-month-old twin babies in Thomson, Georgia.Speaking outside a Walmart in her home state of Tennessee on Friday, the 78-year-old explained that the money would come from her own bank account and her local commercial ventures, including Dollywood amusement park – would match the donation to the Mountain Ways Foundation.Walmart had announced an increase in its recovery efforts funding to $10m (£7.6m).

Donald Trump labeled Meghan Markle “terrible,” but vowed not to deport Prince Harry over his past drug use—in an unexpected blow to campaigners who say he should not have been admitted to U.S.

Asked whether he would throw Harry out of the country, the president told the New York Post: “I don’t want to do that. I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”

Why It Matters

The president spoke out shortly before the opening ceremony of Prince Harry’s Invictus Games tournament for wounded veterans, which this year takes place in Canada.

And that makes the timing of his comments particularly pertinent after recent speculation in British newspapers that Harry was scared to leave the U.S. for fear he would not be allowed to return.

Harry is fiercely protective of Meghan and often reacts badly to criticism of her, but in this case it is his detractors who have the greater reason for disappointment.

What to Know

Right-wing think tank the Heritage Foundation sued Joe Biden’s former administration seeking access to Prince Harry’s visa records, arguing he should have been denied entry into America due to experiences with drugs. He described taking cocaine, cannabis, magic mushrooms and ayahuasca in his book Spare.

They had talked up the idea of Trump deporting Harry in comments ahead of the November election.

However, Harry and Meghan did not campaign against Trump in the 2024 election, despite having taken several veiled swipes at him in 2020.

That may well have helped make Harry a low priority for Trump at a time when he has other fish to fry.

The Telegraph speculated in January that Prince Harry may have settled a lawsuit against Rupert Murdoch’s media empire in part to avoid him having to leave America to give evidence at the High Court in London.

The newspaper may well have been wrong about that, and Harry has certainly indicated previously that he is not a fan of the reporter who wrote the piece, but Trump’s comments were needless to say timely, given that Harry had left America to host the games in Canada at the point they were published.

What People Are Saying

Donald Trump told the Post: “I’ll leave him alone. He’s got enough problems with his wife. She’s terrible.”

Mike Howell, executive director of the think tank’s Oversight Project, told Newsweek in September: “President Trump has already suggested that Prince Harry will be deported next year and the case for that just got a lot more compelling.”

Prince Harry gave a speech at the opening ceremony of Invictus a day after Trump’s remark: “In this moment of difficulty and division in many parts of the world, we gather here in Vancouver in a spirit of unity.”

What Happens Next

Legal experts always said Harry would not under normal circumstances be deported without a criminal conviction for drugs offenses, but Trump’s return to the White House was a wild card that meant anything seemed possible.

The president’s latest comments remove a major threat to Harry and Meghan’s U.S. lives, but there is still a headache in the background for them.

Heritage’s lawsuit against the Department of Homeland Security appears to be heading toward a partial release of some of the prince’s immigration papers, albeit with redactions.

On the one hand, the result could exonerate Harry over the allegation he may have lied on his application. On the other, there may be awkward aspects to his records that emerge.

For example, it is still not publicly known when Harry applied for his visa, but some Sussex critics have long accused the duke and duchess of secretly planning their royal exit since at least summer 2019, months before they said, in early 2020, they wanted to spend more time in North America. The couple have also never said what type of visa Harry has.

The coming weeks may, therefore, still hold some potential bear traps for the prince, depending on what the paperwork says.

Donald Trump hit out at Taylor Swift after the Kansas City Chiefs lost to the Philadelphia Eagles in the Super Bowl on Sunday.

Trump, who was the first sitting United States president to attend the Super Bowl, took to Truth Social to share several posts aimed at the singer, who is dating Chiefs tight end Travis Kelce.

“The only one that had a tougher night than the Kansas City Chiefs was Taylor Swift,” Trump, 78, wrote on the social-media platform. “She got BOOED out of the Stadium. MAGA is very unforgiving!”

The president shared side-by-side videos, too—one of which was of him and his daughter, Ivanka Trump, clapping alongside loud cheers from inside the Caesars Superdrome in New Orleans. The other clip was of Swift being booed by the same audience.

The president also reshared a post from Libs of TikTok, which read: “Trump gets massive cheers at the Super Bowl while Taylor Swift gets booed.—The world is healing!”

Libs of TikTok is a social-media account run by Chaya Raichik. It boasts millions of followers including celebrities such as Joe Rogan, Elon Musk, Caitlyn Jenner, Roseanne Barr, Kid Rock, Rob Schneider, Jack Osbourne and more.

Back in September, Trump said, “I HATE TAYLOR SWIFT!” on Truth Social after the 14-time Grammy-winner endorsed Kamala Harris for president.

The Eagles took home the Vince Lombardi Trophy after winning 40-22 against the Chiefs.

Eagles’ quarterback Jalen Hurts, who was named the 2025 Super Bowl MVP, said he was still processing his team’s victory in a press conference after the game.

“It’s been a long journey; it’s been a journey of ups and downs and highs and lows and I’ve always stayed true to it,” the 26-year-old said, before giving his team praise. “You don’t do great things without the guys around you—so the effort, the work always leaning on that, trusting in that and trusting the process and staying the course and sticking to the script.”

Chiefs’ quarterback Patrick Mahomes, 29, shared a message with fans via X, formerly Twitter, that quickly went viral after the Super Bowl.

“Appreciate all the love and support from #ChiefsKingdom I let y’all down today,” Mahomes said in a post that had over 3 million views at the time of publication. “I’ll always continue to work and try and learn and be better for it. Want to give thanks to God for every opportunity he has given me. We will be back.”

Last week, Trump praised Mahomes and his wife, Brittany Mahomes, on Truth Social over the birth of their third child, daughter Golden Raye.

“Congratulations to the Chiefs GREAT Quarterback, Patrick Mahomes, and his very beautiful and BRILLIANT wife, Brittany, on the birth of their new baby daughter, Golden Raye,” Trump said on Thursday ahead of the Super Bowl. “This is what I call a baby with great genes, both mother and father. It’s happy times in the wonderful Mahomes family. See you all on Sunday!

Angelina Jolie and Brad Pitt‘s contentious divorce has come to an end, with the Hollywood stars agreeing to a settlement.

The deal comes more than eight years after Jolie and Pitt separated, with the former’s lawyer James Simon stating: “Frankly, Angelina is exhausted, but she is relieved this one part is over.”

Simon, confirming news of the settlement to The Associated Press, said in a statement: “More than eight years ago, Angelina filed for divorce from Mr Pitt. She and the children left all of the properties they had shared with Mr Pitt, and since that time she has focused on finding peace and healing for their family.

“This is just one part of a long ongoing process that started eight years ago.”

However, while the former married couple have reached a deal, court documents are yet to be filed – and a judge will need to sign off on the settlement.

No details of the agreement were immediately revealed, and the couple’s use of a private judge – an increasingly common move among splitting celebrities in recent years – has kept the proceedings largely under wraps.

But some details have been revealed through a separate lawsuit filed by Pitt, in which he alleged Jolie reneged on an agreement that the actor-director would sell him her half of a French winery the two owned together.

The Independent has contacted Pitt’s lawyer for comment.

Jolie and Pitt have been entangled in a legal battle over Jolie’s shares of their jointly purchased winery since 2022, when the Girl, Interrupted Oscar winner allegedly sold her part of the French Château Miraval to a Russian oligarch.

After Pitt sued his ex-wife for the alleged selling of her shares, Jolie countersued the Fight Club star. In the countersuit, Jolie disclosed new details of alleged abusive behaviour during a 2016 private jet ride that ultimately led to their divorce.

While AP reports it is not clear how the divorce agreement will affect that lawsuit, MailOnline claims this particular battle will continue.

Jolie, 49, and Pitt, 61, were among Hollywood’s most prominent couples for 12 years. The two Oscar winners have six children together.

Jolie filed for divorce in 2016, after a private jet flight from Europe during which she said Pitt was abusive toward her and their children. A judge in 2019 declared them divorced and single, but the splitting of assets and child custody needed to be separately settled.A private judge – one the pair had hired to handle the case – reached a decision soon after, and it included equal custody of their children. But Jolie filed to have him removed from the case over an unreported conflict of interest.

When an appeals court agreed, the judge was removed, and the couple had to start over.

Report claims that the film’s creators are now facing costly reshoots ahead of its planned release in October

A film based on the life of Michael Jackson has reportedly run into trouble over the plot, which is said to depict allegations the singer’s estate have been banned from dramatising.It was announced in January last year that Michael, directed by Training Day’s Antoine Fuqua and starring the late king of pop’s nephew Jaafar Jackson in the lead role, would be released in October 2025.

However, a new report claims the film, one of the year’s most anticipated, will be delayed due to its portrayal of the case of then-13-year-old Jordan Chandler.

In 1993, Chandler made headlines around the world when he testified in court documents that Jackson had engaged in “sexual offensive contacts”. Jackson settled with the Chandlers out of court for a reported total sum of $23m – he was never charged over the allegations.

Puck co-founder and journalist Matthew Belloni reports that the film’s third act, in particular, “hinges specifically on the impact of the Chandler circus” – and suggests the ending will have to be re-scripter and re-shot.

Belloni said: “In the script I read – which I’m told was close to final, but obviously these things are often revised – a tense sequence involves Branca (Teller), Johnnie Cochran (Derek Luke), and other Jackson lawyers discussing whether to pay off Chandler and his family.”

“At one point, the lawyers play the infamous recording, submitted in court, of Jordan’s father threatening to leverage his son’s accusations to ‘destroy’ his ex-wife and Jackson’s career.

open image in galleryAntoine Fuqua is the director behind a forthcoming Michael Jackson biopic (2018 Invision)

The problem, he reported, is that the Jackson team allegedly signed an agreement that prohibits them from ever dramatising the Chandler family or their story, which would render much of the storyline and “several key scenes” unusable”.

Belloni claims that the revelation was only made after shooting had wrapped on the project, which has a rumoured budget of around $150m. The issue is reportedly threatening to scupper the project entirely if Universal decides to bail instead of signing off on necessary but costly reshoots, Puck claims.

However, he added that his sources are “confident” and “hopeful” that the issues will be resolved ahead of the October release date.

The Independent has contacted representatives for the Michael Jackson Estate, Universal, Fuqua and King for comment.

The movie is based on a script by John Logan, behind films including Ridley Scott’s Gladiator, Martin Scorsese’s The Aviator, and the James Bond films Skyfall and Spectre.

Fuqua said in an interview last year that the film would “tell the facts as we know it, about the artist, about the man, about the human being. You know, the good, bad, and the ugly.”Graham King (Bohemian Rhapsody) is co-producing with John Branca and John McClain, executors of the Michael Jackson Estate.In a previous interview, Fuqua said that 27-year-old Jaafar, who is the son of the “Thriller” star’s brother and Jackson 5 bandmate Jermaine Jackson, was the stand-out choice to play his uncle.“It’s uncanny how much he’s like Michael,” he said. “Sounds like him, dances like him, sings. It’s really uncanny. [King], who is a fantastic producer, found him, and introduced him to me, and I was blown away.”

Other cast members for Michael include Colman Domingo as Jackson’s father, Joe Jackson, Nia Long as his mother Katherine Jackson, and Miles Teller as Branca.

In March, Dan Reed, the director behind the Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland, called out the creators behind Michael for allegedly ignoring the abuse accusations against him.

He claimed to have seen a draft script for Furqua’s forthcoming film and called it a “complete whitewash”.

The Jackson Estate vehemently denies the claims that the singer sexually abused young boys and the allegations were never proven in court; Jackson was acquitted of child molestation in 2005.

It sued HBO over Leaving Neverland in 2019 following its release , arguing that the network violated a non-disparagement clause. The case is still going through the courts; the estate unsuccessfully subpoenaed Reed for his footage.

In August, the estate’s $600m sale of a portion of Jackson’s songs to Sony Music was approved by a Los Angeles appeals court, in spite of his mother Katherine’s objections.