Ezra Edelman – the director of the axed Prince documentary – has branded Netflix’s decision to scrap the project a “joke”.

Last month, it was announced that the planned nine-part series, exploring the life and career of the music icon, had been cancelled amid a new “mutual agreement” with The Prince Estate.

The deal will see the streamer “develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive”, with Edelman addressing the move in a new podcast interview.

Speaking on the ‘Pablo Torre Finds Out’ podcast, he insisted: “It’s a joke… I can’t get past this – the short-sightedness of a group of people whose interest is their own bottom line. They’re afraid of his humanity.”

Explaining how he had been sent a list of editorial changes by Prince’s representatives that would have impacted the narrative of the series, he added: “You think I have any interest in putting out a film that is factually inaccurate?

“Everything about who you believe he is, is in this movie. You get to bathe in his genius. And yet you have to confront his humanity. People had issues with how he treated people – he was emotionally abusive, he was physically abusive.”

Representatives for The Prince Estate previously claimed the project misrepresented the artist – who died of an accidental fentanyl overdose in April 2016, aged 57 – and in a statement issued at the time of the cancellation, they revealed they’ll collaborate with Netflix on the new venture.

“The Prince Estate and Netflix have come to a mutual agreement that will allow the estate to develop and produce a new documentary featuring exclusive content from Prince’s archive,” they wrote. “As a result, the Netflix documentary will not be released.”