Jaafar Jackson Visited Michael Jackson One Last Time Before He Died – dw

In a Beverly Hills home in April 2009, nobody knew what would become history. A family had gathered for dinner. Joe and Katherine Jackson were celebrating their wedding anniversary. Their children were there. Their grandchildren were there. And at one point, two brothers, Germaine and Michael, stood together and began singing a capella.

Just the two of them, voices intertwined, filling the room with a sound that had defined a generation. Sitting across from them was a 12-year-old boy. His name was Jafar Jackson. He was Germaine’s son. He was Michael’s nephew and he had no idea that he was watching his uncle sing for the last time. When the evening ended, Michael Jackson looked at his nephew and said five words that would haunt Jafar for the rest of his life.

See you in July. Michael Jackson died on June 25th, 2009. 2 months after that dinner. 2 months after those five words. July never came. Before we continue, we want to highlight a comment from our last video. After seeing this story, do you think Jafar’s performance truly captured Michael Jackson? Share your thoughts in the comments.

And one comment could be featured in our next video. Now, let’s get back to the story. Stay with us because this isn’t just a story about a boy who lost his uncle. It’s a story about what happened to that boy 17 years later. It’s a story about grief transformed into art. It’s a story about a young man who walked into a recording studio, stepped into his uncle’s shoes, and gave the performance of a lifetime.

And it’s a story about the last visit Jafar Jackson ever had with Michael Jackson, and the tribute that would make the whole world believe the King of Pop had come back to life. Jafar Jeremiah Jackson was born on July 25th, 1996 in Los Angeles, California. He is the son of Germaine Jackson, one of the founding members of the Jackson 5, and Alejandra Genevie Oazyaza, a fashion designer of Colombian descent.

His uncles include Jackie, Tito, Maron, Randy, and Michael. His aunts include Janet, Latoya, and Reby. The Jackson family wasn’t just famous, they were legends. They had shaped the sound of popular music for generations, and Jafar was born right into the middle of it. But here’s what surprises most people. As a child, Jafar didn’t dream of becoming a singer or dancer.

He didn’t want to follow in his family’s footsteps. His initial ambition was to become a professional golfer. He loved the game. He dreamed of greens and fairways and trophies. He competed in tournaments at age 9. The spotlight wasn’t something he was chasing. It was something he was running from. That changed when he was 12 years old.

His father, Germaine, had him listen to the Jackson 5’s 1973 cover of Touch. Something clicked. “Growing up, I didn’t know that I could sing,” Jafar said in a 2020 interview. “Golf was my only passion, and it was all I ever wanted to do until my father discovered the musical side of me.” At age 12, Jaffar performed touch in the living room.

From there, he became increasingly interested in singing, dancing, and songwriting. But there was something else happening at the same time. Something darker. Something that would change the course of Jafar’s life forever. His uncle Michael. The man who had always been a presence at family gatherings. The man who hosted game nights and hideand-seek at Neverland.

The man who was larger than life and yet somehow just Uncle Michael to the kids was about to die. Jafar Jackson had grown up around Michael. He had spent time at Neverland Ranch, the 2,700 acre property in Santa Barbara County that Michael had turned into a private amusement park and zoo. He remembered running through the grounds with too much candy in his pockets.

He remembered hiding behind doors while Michael laughed somewhere down the hall. He remembered family game nights at the Havenhurst Estate in Enino, California, where Michael would come over and they’d all get together and play board games. We’d have wonderful times at Neverland,” Jafar recalled during pre-production interviews.

Playing hideand go seek, getting as much candy, going on rides, watching movies. It was all fun. For the world, Michael Jackson was the king of pop. He was the sequined glove, the moonwalk, the soldout stadiums, the headlines. But for Jafar, he was something else entirely. He was the uncle who made time for him. The uncle who laughed at his jokes.

the uncle who despite being the most famous man on the planet somehow managed to make a little boy feel seen. “I remember just growing up and we would have family time.” Jafar told USA Today, “Michael would come over to where I was growing up at Havenhurst and we’d have some days where we’d all get together, play family game day.

Those memories became the foundation of everything Jafar would later do.” When he stepped into Michael’s shoes for the biopic Michael, he wasn’t trying to capture the icon. He was trying to capture the uncle only he knew. I wanted to capture the true essence and that feeling. He said there’s definitely a responsibility.

The last time Jafar ever saw Michael Jackson was at that family dinner in Beverly Hills. It was April 2009. Joe and Catherine Jackson had gathered their family to celebrate their wedding anniversary. Michael was preparing for his This Is It concert residency in London. He was planning to have the whole family come out to see the shows that summer. He was excited.

He was hopeful. He was looking forward to something. Jafar remembered sitting across from his uncle and his father. Germaine and Michael began singing a capella together. It was impromptu. It was intimate. It was the kind of moment that only happens when family gathers. And music is the language they speak.

I remember just sitting across from him and my dad, Jafar recalled. They were singing a capella together. I was just observing. It was special. Before Jafar left that evening, Michael looked at him and said those five words, “See you in July.” Michael meant it. He was planning to bring the family to London.

He was planning to see his nephew again in just a few months. He had no idea that his life was almost over. Michael Jackson died on June 25th, 2009 at the age of 50. Jafar was 12 years old. He was weeks away from turning 13. He had lost his uncle. He had lost the man who had been a constant presence in his life.

and he had lost the chance to see him again in July. Jafar didn’t become an actor immediately. He didn’t pursue an entertainment career right away. He took time to grieve. He took time to grow up, but music kept pulling him back. He began performing. He began writing songs. He began discovering that he had a voice, a voice that sounded in some unexplainable way like his uncles.

In 2010, he appeared on the Oprah Winfrey show with his grandmother, Catherine Jackson, and other members of the family. Oprah was interviewing them about Michael’s death and his complicated legacy. The then teenage Jafar didn’t have a one-on-one conversation with Oprah, but he was introduced to her along with the other Jackson family kids.

Most of the questions were directed at Michael’s children, Prince Paris, and Blanket. But when Oprah asked whether all the Jackson kids were in show business, Jafar mentioned that he sings. It was a small moment, a brief acknowledgement, but it was the first sign of what was to come. In 2014, Jafar was set to appear in a six-part reality series called Living with the Jacksons.

The show was filmed, but only minimal footage was released. He also briefly appeared on the Jackson’s Next Generation. Over the following years, he pursued modeling. He gave his first live performances, including one at Hollywood’s Dolby Theater. In 2019, he released his first single, Got Me Singing, along with a music video filmed in the Vitigel Favlla in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil.

He was building a career. He was finding his voice. He was becoming an artist in his own right. But he hadn’t yet found the thing that would define his life. In 2022, everything changed. Producer Graham King, the man behind Bohemian Raps City, was developing the official Michael Jackson biopic. He had acquired the rights to tell Michael’s story.

He needed someone to play the king of pop. He conducted a worldwide casting search. He was looking for someone who could embody the spirit, the energy, and the magic of Michael Jackson. The search was extensive. The pressure was immense. Finding the right person was reportedly the single biggest fear hanging over the entire production.

If the audience looked at the leading man and thought, “That’s not Michael,” nothing else mattered. Jafar sent King a voice note imitating his uncle’s higher vocal pitch and distinctive cadence. It wasn’t a formal audition. It wasn’t a polished demo. It was just a young man channeling his uncle and showing the world what he could do.

King called him back immediately. But here’s where the story stops being a fairy tale. Jafar was not simply handed the role for having the right surname. King and casting director Kimberly Harden told him plainly that they were going to run a worldwide casting search anyway, combing the planet for anyone who could play Michael Jackson. Jafar would have to earn it.

He would have to prove that he was the right person for the job and he would have to do it without any acting experience, without any formal training and with the weight of his family’s legacy on his shoulders. So he got to work for 2 years. Jafar auditioned, two years of call backs, rehearsals, and proving himself.

He worked with an acting coach for a full year before he even tried to step into Michael’s shoes. It wasn’t a classic audition. Jafar said, “I really had to earn the role and prove to the filmmakers that I was capable of becoming Michael. He trained with Rich and Tone Taloa, Michael’s own former choreographers from the history tour.

He learned dance moves he had never been taught. He studied archival footage obsessively. He listened to Michael’s music constantly. He immersed himself in Michael’s personal writings, journals, poems, mantras, and affirmations. It was an extensive amount of prep work that started with dissecting many archival videos, listening to his music, and immersing myself in his personal writings.

He said he lived at the Jackson family’s Havenhurst estate to absorb the atmosphere and understand his uncle’s world. He practiced Michael’s iconic moves at Havenhurst, learning how Michael would use his costume during a dance. It felt crucial to be in that same energy that Michael had been in at the time.

Jafar said, “I grew up in that house, too, and have personal memories of Michael there, so there were many emotions.” He also created a research room that he described as having every inch of the wall filled with information. I was fortunate to have access to some of Michael’s personal writings, which allowed me to get even closer to him.

Joffar explained, “I created a research room with every inch of the wall filled with quotes of his mantras, his personal handwritings, facts of things that he achieved, and a complete timeline of what was going on in the world at different points in his life.” Because that was all so much a part of him and what he created. He studied Michael’s tours, collecting a library of any video he could find of Michael dancing.

He practiced in front of a mirror for hours and hours every day. He read books aloud in Michael’s voice to master the distinct pitch and cadence. It took a couple years until I felt confident with the dance moves, he admitted. But there was one move that nearly broke him. Michael Jackson’s iconic spin.

The King of Pop spun to the left. Jafar’s body was conditioned to spin to the right. It sounds like a small thing, but it took him 3 years to master. Three years of spinning in the wrong direction, rewiring his muscle memory, and practicing until his body finally learned to do what Michael’s body had done effortlessly. Jafar has described the rehearsals as grueling, pushing his body to its absolute limit.

He danced until my feet would bleed or would go numb. “I knew how challenging this would be to take on playing Michael Jackson,” he said. “People think it’s easy, but it was so complicated.” He also kept the biggest secret of his life from his own family. For a full year, no one in his family knew he had been cast as Michael.

Not his father, not his mother, no one. Even in the process of preparing for it, I didn’t tell her for a full year, he said of his mother, Alejandra. No one in my family knew for a full year. I kept it pretty quiet until I felt comfortable enough to share it. His mother even visited the set without fully knowing what to expect. When she finally saw him on screen, it blew her away.

It was hard for her to connect it to me. So, it was very emotional for her, Jafar said. The director, Antoine Fukqua, later addressed the obvious accusation headon. It wasn’t a nepotism pick, he said flatly. He described a chemistry read so powerful that it brought the entire room to tears. His point was that the goal was never to find someone who looked like Michael Jackson.

It was to find someone who could channel him. Producer Graham King’s verdict after the global search came back was unambiguous. It was something so powerful that even after conducting a worldwide search, it was clear that he is the only person to take on this role. The film directed by Antoine Fuqua was released on April 24th, 2026.

It chronicled Michael’s life from his early days with the Jackson 5 through the release of the Bad Album in 1988. Jafar made his major acting debut portraying his uncle. The film was a massive success. It opened to $97 million domestically and $217 million globally in its opening weekend, breaking the record for the highest grossing biopic opening of all time.

It has since grossed over $1 billion worldwide, making it the first biopic in cinema history to surpass the billiondoll mark. Jafar received critical praise for his performance with many calling his portrayal of his uncle perfection. He won the Astra Award for best actor and the British National Film Award for best newcomer and outstanding performance.

The film’s success was driven by Ja Far’s performance. He didn’t just play Michael Jackson, he became him in his feature film debut. He captured the mannerisms, voice, dance moves, and energy of Michael in a way that made it feel as if you were truly watching the king of pop on screen. But there was another layer to the performance that audiences didn’t initially realize.

Jafar was actually singing in the film. When I was doing all the performances, I was actually singing out live in the microphone on top of Michael’s track. So, it’s a blend of my vocal and Michael’s. He revealed there are moments in the film where there is no backing track, and it is only his voice. It’s actually me singing the ac capellas, which was really fun to do, he said.

The reaction that mattered most to Jafar came from his grandmother, Catherine Jackson. The 95-year-old Jackson family matriarch saw the film and gave the shortest review of all. She said how excellent I did and how much I embody Michael. Jafar shared, “There were moments she couldn’t tell if it was me or Michael, and to me, that’s all I needed to hear.

It’s definitely the highest compliment that I could get.” In a Lionsgate press release issued prior to production, Catherine Jackson put her stamp of approval on her grandson’s casting, saying in a statement that Jafar embodies my son. When producer Graham King heard that reaction, he was stunned. She was so moved.

He revealed, “That’s Michael.” King found it incredible to think that we’ve achieved that to his own mother. Jafar has described the support from his family as crucial to his journey. I honestly wouldn’t be able to pull this off if I didn’t have the support, he shared. His father, Germaine, hasn’t seen it yet, but Jafar is eager for that moment.

My father hasn’t seen it yet, and I can’t wait for that. It definitely shows a side of me that my mom hasn’t seen. Now, the part that has everyone talking, the sequel, Michael 2. Lionsgate has confirmed plans to begin production on the sequel sometime in late 2026 or early 2027. Jafar will reprise his role as Michael Jackson.

The film is targeting a release in late 2027 or early 2028. The first film ended in 1988 with the release of the Bad Music Video. The sequel will cover the later years of Michael’s life, the 1990s and beyond. And that means it will address the controversies that the first film deliberately avoided. The director, Antoine Fukqua, has said that the first film originally included scenes covering the allegations against Michael, but they were later removed to focus on Michael’s journey to stardom, but the sequel will be different. I think the

second film will give even more insight from his point of view because at the end of the day, the allegations are always from someone else’s. Jafar told GQ Middle East, “It’s someone else’s story. It’s someone else’s idea of what it is, and it’s mainly driven by an agenda. And that’s really the issue we’ve been having as a family, not having Michael’s voice being heard.

I think that’s very, very important, especially in the late years.” Jafar clarified that he doesn’t have direct control over how future storylines will be handled, but he expressed hope that a sequel would give more insight into Michael Jackson’s own perspective. This first film focuses on Michael from his roots, so you get that idea of who he was before he had all the success and became the icon that people are familiar with.

You understand who he was as a human being first because at the end of the day, that’s who he was in the ’90s until he passed. But 17 years later, he found a way to see him everyday. He found a way to study him, to understand him, to become him. He found a way to give the world one more glimpse of the king of pop.

And when Catherine Jackson, Michael’s own mother, watched her grandson on screen and couldn’t tell the difference between him and her son, she gave the world the only review that mattered. She said, “That’s Michael.” Jafar Jackson didn’t just play Michael Jackson. He became him. He honored him. He loved him and he made sure that the world would never forget him.

That was his tribute. That was his goodbye. That was the promise he kept. Not the one Michael made in that Beverly Hills dining room all those years ago, but the one Joffar made to himself. He promised to carry the legacy. He promised to tell the story. He promised to make his uncle proud. And he did.

He did all of it and more.