I n the last few weeks, there has been a lot of discussion around the new Michael Jackson biopic. It is a film that has seen huge success at the box office, while receiving mixed (mostly negative) reviews.

It has been skewered as a shallow film , more like a well-performed playlist of Michael Jackson songs than a deep dive into his complicated story. The movie also ends in 1988, a seemingly deliberate choice to avoid having to reckon with the darker aspects of his life that followed.

I am not here to prosecute Michael Jackson or Michael the film (I won’t be seeing it), but it has driven me to once again say: we need a moratorium on musical biopics.

This is not a new thought from me.…