Where Is Michael Jackson's Chimpanzee Bubbles Today?

Antoine Fuqua's new hagiography, "Michael," is an antiseptic, wholly inoffensive film that sands all the edges off of Michael Jackson's life so aggressively that all we're left with is a tiny sphere. The film covers Jackson's life from the early days in the Jackson 5 through the Victory Tour in the late months of 1984. There is then a brief flash-forward to 1988, allowing the movie to end with a climactic performance of "Bad." Jackson was played by Jaafar Jackson, Michael's real-life nephew. 

In real life, Jackson was a deeply weird human being, a man who was forced into a perpetual childhood state by an overbearing and abusive father, as well as a combination of early-onset fame and untold, Croesus-level wealth. He notoriously became hooked on increasingly dramatic cosmetic surgeries and collected zoo animals. It's handy that Fuqua's film effectively ends in 1984, because now he doesn't have to deal with Jackson's marriages or the allegations of sexual abuse. 

Presented as a sweet peculiarity in the movie is Jackson's acquisition of Bubbles, his pet chimpanzee. Jackson owned exotic animals like a giraffe and a llama, but Bubbles was his most famous animal friend. Bubbles accompanied Jackson to many places where chimps aren't usually allowed. There's a famous story about how Freddie Mercury refused to sing a duet with Michael Jackson because Michael insisted that Bubbles be present in the studio. 

Bubbles was born in 1983 and acquired by Jackson sometime thereafter. He's still alive today. In the movie, Bubbles is realized via CGI. As any chimp specialist can tell you, chimpanzees become very aggressive in adulthood as they're naturally violent animals. According to a recent article in Variety, Bubbles is currently living at the Center for Great Apes Sanctuary, a place he has resided for 20 years. 

The Center for Great Apes has a webpage devoted to Bubbles, which states his year of birth and includes pictures of him. Bubbles is 42 or 43 years old. Chimpanzees in the wild tend to live short lives of only about 15 years. In captivity, their mean age is still somewhat short, reaching only about 31.7 years (for males) and 38.7 years (for females). Bubbles is an elder statesman of the chimp world.

Bubbles might have been a regular companion for Michael Jackson in the 1980s — the Center notes that he went on tour with the King of Pop to Japan when he was still only four years old — but also that he eventually grew too strong for human handling. In the early 2000s, it seems that Bubbles became, in Jackson's words, "pugnacious," forcing the King of Pop to hand the chimp over to an animal sanctuary. This was covered in the noted 2003 ITV documentary "Living with Michael Jackson."

The Washingtonian Times noted that Bubbles was moved to the Center for Great Apes around 2005, and that Michael Jackson never visited. The actual final days between Jackson and Bubbles are not a matter of record, but one can see how living with an increasingly violent chimpanzee would make one nervous. Variety noted that Bubbles was happy at the Center, and that he even became good friends with a chimp named Oopsie, who served as an understudy chimp on the 1978 sitcom "B.J. and the Bear." Like most elderly people, Bubbles now naps most of the time. 

In "Michael," as stated, Bubbles was fully animated, and it seems that no chimpanzees were ever on the movie's set. In the Variety article, a rep from Lionsgate — in communication with PETA — noted that CGI was the more logical choice. Lionsgate wanted to clarify that neither they nor PETA advocates owning chimpanzees. "This portrayal," their statement went, "is simply based on historical fact and is not intended to be an endorsement of keeping chimpanzees as pets."

Bubbles was, back in the 1980s, held up as the jewel in the crown of Michael Jackson's eccentricities. One couldn't talk about Jackson without also bringing up the fact that he actively chose to live with a chimpanzee. In "Weird Al" Yankovic's 1985 mockumentary "The Complete Al," the parodist stages a fake meeting with Jackson, and Jackson is portrayed as a weird, silent werewolf who sits on a throne. Yankovic, while asking permission to write a parody of Jackson's "Beat It" called "Eat It," is unexpectedly snuggled by Bubbles. In the 100% accurate "Weird: The Al Yankovic Story," Yankovic pranked Jackson yet again by positing that he wrote "Eat It" first, and that "Beat It" was the parody. 

Bubbles' place in popular culture is, even to this day, a subject of satire. Just last year, John Mullaney staged a showbiz interview with Bubbles (played by a man in a suit), who spoke using a computerized vocal system. Hilariously, Bubbles is cantankerous about his legacy, foulmouthed, and angry that no one wants to ask about "the music." Partway through the interview, Bubbles lights up and smokes a banana.

In actuality, Bubbles is probably asleep right now. The success of "Michael" is unfolding as we speak.