Kat Graham has revealed why fans will not see her in the new Michael Jackson movie.
The Vampire Diaries actor, 36, was originally cast as Diana Ross in Michael, the controversial biopic centered around the late superstar’s rise to fame. However, she is missing from the final cut of Antoine Fuqua’s movie.
“Ahead of the April 24 release of the Michael Jackson film, I want to share that certain legal considerations affected a few scenes, including the ones I filmed with an incredible cast,” Graham said in a statement shared on social media Thursday morning.
“Unfortunately, those moments are no longer part of the final cut, though the team worked hard to preserve as much of the story as possible.”
Representatives for Diana Ross did not immediately return The Independent’s request for comment about the icon’s absence from the film.
Jackson and Ross were friends for decades after they met when the “Dirty Diana” singer was a child performer in the Jackson 5. He later wrote in his 1988 autobiography that she was his “mother, sister and lover all combined in one.”
Michael, which hits theaters Friday, stars Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson as the superstar, with Colman Domingo and Nia Long playing his father and mother, Joe and Katherine Jackson. The cast also includes Miles Teller, Laura Harrier and Larenz Tate.
Jackson’s relationship with Ross was not the only part of his life that was cut out of the movie.
Janet Jackson, his younger sister and fellow performer, “kindly declined” to be portrayed or participate in the film, LaToya Jackson revealed at the movie’s premiere earlier this week.
The film only follows Jackson’s rise to fame through 1988 — it did not confront the child sex abuse allegations against him before his death in 2009, and opted instead to completely cut the claims out of the film.
Previous reports revealed that a longer version of the movie was originally set to feature scenes showing Jackson facing the allegations against him. However, that version of the movie had to be scrapped because it violated the settlement between Jackson and one of his accusers, which decreed that neither side was allowed to make public statements about what occurred.
The cast and crew then hastily reassembled for a 22-day reshoot that reportedly cost $15 million – as the writers scrambled to find a new ending for the movie. The film’s release date was then pushed back an entire year.
Jackson’s daughter, Paris Jackson, later criticized the movie for “inaccuracy” after she denied Domingo’s previous claim that she had helped with the film.
“A big section of the film panders to a very specific section of my dad’s fandom that still lives in the fantasy, and they’re gonna be happy with it,” Paris said in September. “The narrative is being controlled and there’s a lot of inaccuracy and there’s a lot of just full-blown lies. At the end of the day, that doesn’t really fly with me. Go enjoy it. Do whatever. Leave me out of it.”
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