The King of Pop is still dominating the world, even 17 years after his passing.
Fans of the late Michael Jackson rushed to movie theaters around the globe to watch the Antoine Fuqua-directed biopic about the entertainment icon.
With acting newcomer Jaafar Jackson, 29, portraying his famous uncle, “Michael” has crossed $1 billion in sales since its April premiere, becoming the highest-grossing music biopic of all time.
The film dethroned the 2018 biopic “Bohemian Rhapsody,” about Freddie Mercury, the lead singer of the British rock band Queen.
“Michael” surpassed the previous record-holder, 2023’s “Oppenheimer,” which totaled $975 million at the global box office.
“Highest-grossing biopic of ALL TIME. Wow!!” Jaafar wrote the caption for a 13-slide Instagram photo carousel shared on June 28. “Thank you all so much.”
The son of Jermaine Jackson went on to say that he was grateful to have fulfilled a lifelong goal and to make his uncle’s fans proud.
“This record, this accomplishment. It was a dream goal of mine for this film, and you all made it real,” Jaafar added. “And I promise you, Michael is up there absolutely grinning about this. This one’s for him.”
One of Jaafar’s cousins also took the opportunity to clap back at a blue-check-mark troll on X over “Michael” shattering records.
Taj Jackson, the 52-year-old son of Tito Jackson and original member of the 3T singing group, called out a well-known social media personality for his faulty forecast about the film’s success.
“I said Michael won’t do over $1,000,000,000 [at] the box office,” read a post on X on June 12. “It’s literally zero point in tweeting me if it didn’t hit that number… I don’t give a s—t if it hits $999 million… if it didn’t cross 1 billion, do not tweet me.”
Another tweet stated, “When it does over a billion, please blow up my mentions… I will eat crow… I will admit I was wrong, but until then, just vibe lmaooooo… I don’t care if it [passes] ‘Queen.’”
Exactly one month later, on July 12, Taj quote-tweeted Chase’s promise to “eat crow” if he was wrong, adding, “Start tweeting or eating, you are mighty silent for being so loud in the past.”
Other X users piggybacked off Taj’s direct clapback and piled on with their own mocking reactions to the content creator’s flawed box office prediction.
“Love it when people are LOUD and WRONG. Haters can kiss the glove,” one supporter of the “Billie Jean” hitmaker demanded.
A second MJ enthusiast posted, “He probably forgot that MJ is the greatest of all time, and we’re the greatest fandom. He should never have underestimated the power of MJ and his fans.”
“We be tagging all day, Taj! His ass on mute,” admitted another poster. Another person clowned Chase for being wildly incorrect by sarcastically exclaiming, “I hope he’s hungry!!”
Plus, someone on the app claimed, “I saw somebody else say they’d eat a shoe if it hits [$1 billion]. I’m guessing that will be a black loafer with a glitter sock topping!”
“Give it up, loser. You swore up and down it wouldn’t reach a billion. Now look at you, looking stupid,” read one reply to Chase who maintained that his prediction was not meant to be taken seriously.
As the intense online dragging was taking place, Chase asserted that his trolling of the King of Pop’s fanbase was helping his own pocket despite being viewed as a villain on the platform.
“The way how these Michael Jackson fans [have] been in my mentions all day with nothing else to do, I should get a check over $400 this week from engagements lol,” Chase insisted on July 12.
Around 20 minutes later, the highly active X commenter further embraced his troll persona by tweeting, “I called it… so happy for him,” in response to a post celebrating Jaafar becoming the first lead actor ever to hit $1 billion worldwide in their acting debut.
There was plenty of early doubt on whether “Michael” would be a hit at the box office before its release, but once the movie pulled in a record-breaking $217 million in its opening weekend, most of the skeptics changed their tune.
Professional movie critics panned “Michael.” The film scored an abysmal 38% rating on Rotten Tomatoes, but moviegoers across the planet still spent their money to see Jafar channel the “Thriller” album creator.
“Michael” has currently generated $372 million domestically and $630 million overseas for a combined total of over $1 billion. Plus, the crowd-pleasing film has a 97% audience rating on Rotten Tomatoes.
In addition to Jaafar starring as MJ, the cast of “Michael” also includes Colman Domingo as Joseph Jackson, Nia Long as Katherine Jackson, Kendrick Sampson as Quincy Jones, Larenz Tate as Berry Gordy, and Deon Cole as Don King.
