Kat Graham says her portrayal of Diana Ross won’t be seen in Michael—and the reason points to the complicated path the film took to the finish line.
Ahead of the biopic’s April 24 release, Graham revealed on social media that scenes she filmed were removed from the final cut. “Certain legal considerations affected a few scenes, including the ones I filmed with an incredible cast,” she wrote. “Those moments are no longer part of the Final Cut, though the team worked hard to preserve as much of the story as possible.”
According to People, Graham had been cast in 2024 to play Diana Ross, the Supremes icon who shared a long creative history with Michael Jackson, including their work in 1978’s The Wiz.
The update lands as Michael—directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jaafar Jackson as his uncle—heads into theaters after years of revisions. The film traces Jackson’s rise from the Jackson 5 through the Bad era, focusing on pivotal moments like Motown 25 and the Thriller phenomenon, while trying to center the artist behind the spectacle.
Fuqua has previously said the goal was to capture Michael Jackson as a person, not just a global symbol. “Michael just transcends any artist I’ve ever experienced,” he said, explaining that the film aims to reflect the emotional core of Jackson’s life alongside his cultural impact.
That approach has been echoed by the cast. Jaafar Jackson said he focused on his uncle’s “true essence,” drawing from personal memories, while Nia Long—who plays Katherine Jackson—described Michael as “such a real person” and said the production was driven by a shared desire to “get it right.”
Still, the film’s road to release has been anything but straightforward. Reports in 2025 indicated that portions of the story had to be reworked due to legal restrictions tied to past allegations against Jackson, which the estate has long denied.
Additional reshoots and edits followed, and some filmed material—like a dramatization of a 1993 police raid—did not make the final version.
