Why?

Paul is friends with the Jacksons. They liked how we handled his eccentricities. I'm not writing a draft. It's just to clear up the misconception. They reckon that he was weird and possibly illegal, but not a paedophile. They aren't denying that strange stuff went down at Neverland ranch. They aren't denying that his behaviour was increasingly odd. They're saying the motive comes down to a skin condition and bad plastic surgery, rather than increasingly impure thoughts like wanting to have sex with kids. - To me, the arc is like The Skin I Live In. Body horror with songs.

It starts with a botched laser surgery to correct his vitiligo, but it burns his face. Michael settles with them for an undisclosed sum, similar to his settlements. He's in constant pain and addicted to prescription drugs. The doctors become increasingly parasitic, exploiting his vanity. As he grows whiter, he shifts from pop star to freak. LA's racial climate heats up and his unusual status as a pale black person that's getting whiter is under scrutiny. People wonder whether it's real or if he's like other stars that are into radical plastic surgery. The rumour starts that he wants to be white... Everyone finds his behaviour increasingly strange. To him, it's a new chapter. He takes stock of his life and decides to live his life in defiance of stereotypes. We see that there's a real conspiracy against the Jacksons from LA's elite, all of whom aren't relishing the 1990's. Some of their employees are feeding information to people from the record company or from Hollywood studios. Even his dancing is painful. He takes even more drugs to keep going. He only feels free when he sings. The business revolves around his show, and he can't let on that it's killing him. We see that he has sleepovers with children*, and that becomes another part of the MJ industry and the anti-MJ industry. Some parents are seen smoothing narratives with private investigators, then going to the police. The police investigate and decide there's enough for a warrant. After his arrest, the Jacksons hire a shitload of lawyers and investigators. They go over the case from many angles. While the cops are overzealous, they think some charges could stick. Michael isn't exactly jury-friendly material after all the surgeries. The police run their own investigation. The evidence isn't conclusive. The 2000's is probably similar, but with more focus on how it feels to be in that mutilated, transformed body that they've made. Things like Last Night in Soho. The doctors take every part of him, then he eventually ODs. That's my summary of the story. *In Māori culture, this isn't so unusual. Families often sleep together, and everyone sleeps together in the wharenui when people are visiting a marae. Read The Dream Swimmer by Witi Ihimaera.