Netflix reportedly had second thoughts about Michael Jackson: The Verdict

A week before the premiere of Michael Jackson: The Verdict, Netflix was getting cold feet. This is per Variety, which reports Netflix feared reprisals for its three-part docuseries about Michael Jackson’s 2005 criminal case that acquitted Jackson of all charges. According to Variety‘s sources, the streamer feared “a lawsuit from the estate rather than the fans,” with the world’s biggest streamer worrying over the Jackson estate’s “financial muscle.” That’s probably for good reason. The Jackson estate has a history of being quite litigious regarding works criticizing the late King of Pop. In 2024, HBO pulled its lauded and nauseating examination of Jackson, Leaving Neverland, a harrowing account of Jackson’s alleged abuse from his now-grown accusers. The 2019 documentary was pulled from the service in 2024 due to a 30-year-old non-disparagement agreement between the Jackson estate and HBO. Before that, the estate sued ABC over its 2018 documentary The Last Days Of Michael Jackson. According to Variety‘s source, “anxiety” over what the estate might do led to “the decision there’d be no marketing and no publicity.” The documentary wasn’t announced until two weeks before its debut and wasn’t screened for critics.