Fans have stepped in to defend Michael Jackson (Picture: BBC)

The BBC has been hit with complaints after viewers branded the Michael Jackson documentary ‘biased’.

The BBC2 documentary, titled The Real Michael Jackson, saw American journalist J Randy Taraborrelli speak about his relationship with the Thriller hitmaker after knowing him throughout his career.

According to the BBC website, the documentary, which aired on 30 March, received 168 complaints as fans felt it was ‘biased’ towards the late singer.

The website states that it only responds to complaints of a ‘wide audience concern which have either generated significant numbers of complaints or raised significant issues’.


Since 2019, the debate about Michael has intensified, and opinions about how he should be remembered are more fractured than at any time since his death a decade ago.



In the one-off, feature-length film, Jacques, who spent much of his life analysing Michael, investigated the singer’s beginnings, charting his rise and fall throughout his career.

The documentary aired on 30 March (Picture: BBC)

Many viewers spoke out about the documentary at the time (Picture: BBC)

He also explored whether the late singer manipulated his fame and the entertainment machine to conceal the truth and what the audience’s part was in it all.

Some of the viewers that tuned in to the episode at the time were riled by the documentary and its alleged attempts to ‘defame’ Michael.

The Beat It singer died on June 25, 2009, with last year being the 10th anniversary since the king of pop’s death.

His death came prior to his scheduled This Is It concerts – which included 10 shows at the O2 Arena in London starting on June 9, 2009.

On the night before his death, the singer had been rehearsing past midnight.

The Real Michael Jackson is available to watch on BBC iPlayer.

Got a story?

If you’ve got a celebrity story, video or pictures get in touch with the Metro.co.uk entertainment team by emailing us celebtips@metro.co.uk, calling 020 3615 2145 or by visiting our Submit Stuff page – we’d love to hear from you.

MORE: Britain’s Got Talent viewers think they have rumbled James Stott’s magic trick act with Simon Cowell

MORE: Phillip Schofield ‘moves out of family home into London flat for new life’ after coming out