Spike Lee has defended Michael after the biopic was criticised for not including allegations of child sexual abuse against Michael Jackson.

The new movie has proved to be a huge hit at the box office despite being panned by critics for not featuring the accusations but the acclaimed filmmaker thinks such complaints are pointless as the movie ends with Jackson's Bad tour in 1988 - five years before allegations were first made against the late King of Pop.

Lee, 69, told CNN: "First of all, if you're a movie critic, and you're complaining about the stuff - all this other stuff - but the movie ends at '88.

"The stuff you're talking about, accusations, happen (later). So you're critiquing the film on something that you want in, but it doesn't work in the timeline of the film. But people showed up. Worldwide, people showed their love."

The Do the Right Thing helmer added: "I miss Mike. I miss Prince. I mean, these are my brothers. I worked with both of them. Both beautiful, beautiful people."

However, the omission of the allegations against Jackson in Michael have been criticised by Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed.

The filmmaker - who helmed the 2019 documentary that saw Wade Robson and James Safechuck open up about their alleged abuse at the hands of the Beat It artist - was particularly appalled by the depiction of Jackson's relationship with children, with scenes in Antoine Fuqua's film showing the late King of Pop visiting sick youngsters in hospital.

He told Variety: "That made me feel really icky. It suggests that Jackson's engagement with children was entirely benign and motivated by nothing but philanthropy.

"Jeffrey Epstein was a great philanthropist, and Harvey Weinstein was a great filmmaker, but there's unfortunately another dimension to their stories. In Jackson's case, he's such a cultural phenomenon that there's nothing you can do to eclipse that."

Reed added: "I want to clarify that I'm not calling for Jackson to be 'cancelled' and for nobody to listen to his music, but Wade and James' story needs to be respected as well, and what the movie does is creates a version of events that essentially portrays Wade, James, and others who've accused Jackson of child sexual abuse as liars without actually articulating it.

"They're saying that the reason Jackson liked children is because he's an angel and just wanted to be nice to children, not that he wanted to have sex with them."

Michael, which sees the King of Pop played by his nephew Jaafar Jackson, has performed impressively at the box office and Reed puts this down to the "myth" surrounding the Billie Jean singer - who died at the age of 50 in 2009.

The documentary maker said: "Jackson is an American myth, in addition to being an actual person, so he's metastasised into something much bigger than who he actually was.

"When that happens, it doesn't actually matter what the person was, because the person has been transfigured into something that is owned by the culture.

"He's become part of the collective imagination, and the collective imagination can never include the fact that he's a paedophile. It's just not possible. You can't say, God, that guy liked to have sex with children, but isn't his music great? That's not a narrative people can hold in their minds."