Joe wasn’t so bad.
After the recent Michael Jackson biopic “Michael” portrayed Jackson family patriarch Joe as a dictator who physically beat the young performer into pop stardom, another son is trying to rescue his father’s legacy.
Page Six has learned that Marlon Jackson has teamed up with production company BLK Prime on “The Manager, The Mythology, The Legend,” a docuseries that aims to reclaim his late father’s reputation as a “visionary trailblazer,” we’re told.
Longtime family friend Steven Manning will serve as one of the executive producers on the eight-episode series, which will delve into Joe’s early years of cultivating his children, including Michael and Janet, into global superstars.
The sixth child of Joseph and Katherine Jackson told Page Six in a statement he’s “thrilled” to finally tell Joseph’s story.
“Our father’s life is replete with triumphs and challenges, and we firmly believe that this series will offer a distinctive and accurate portrayal of the man behind our family,” he said.
“We are thrilled to share [my] father’s indelible legacy with fans worldwide, granting them an intimate glimpse into the remarkable individual we knew and loved,” he said.
Joe launched his sons, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael’s careers in the 1960s and ’70s, turning them into a global sensation as the Jackson Five.
He later launched daughter Janet’s acting career and the infant stages of her musical career before she became “Miss Jackson if you’re nasty.” In the 1980s and onward, Joe was known more for his alleged abuse and strict parenting than a doting father who pulled his family out of poverty to the bright lights of Hollywood.
In “Michael” the history-making biopic on the King of Pop, Colman Domingo portrays Joe as an overbearing and sometimes violent villain.
An insider familiar with the docuseries told us they feel Joseph “was demonized” in the film, and in “MJ” the Broadway musical about the “Smooth Criminal” singer’s life. “There’s another side of him that hasn’t been told. He hasn’t been portrayed in a good light,” they said. “There’s no manager greater than Mr. Jackson. He created the Jackson Five, Janet and Michael,” they said.
Joe died from pancreatic cancer at 89 in 2018. Janet described him as “a great man” during a performance at Essence Music Festval, just days after his death. She tearfully shared with the audience that she “didn’t know how to go forward” and contemplated canceling her tour at the time.
“I talked to my brother and we started to talk about my father’s strength … We’re a black family that came from Indiana and, we broke all kinds of records from all around the globe. That’s truth,” she said.
She added: “My father was a great man. My brother asked me, ‘If he were here right now listening to this conversation, what do you think he would say to you?’ and I think my father would’ve said, ‘Janet, please, finish what you started and I will be there with you every step of the way in your heart.’”
She dedicated her performance that evening to Joseph, telling the crowd, “My father would want to celebrate his life.” She has since been celebrating him and her late brothers Michael and Tito at all of her shows.
The Vice President of Operations at BLK Prime Lauren Pearson described Joe as a “visionary trailblazer who laid the groundwork for one of the most triumphant family dynasties in the realm of music.”
“It is with immense honor that we collaborate with Marlon Jackson to bring this inspirational and multi-faceted story to television screens worldwide,” Pearson said.
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