Leaving Neverland Director Responds to Michael Jackson Estate Criticism

Leaving Neverland Director Responds to Michael Jackson Estate Criticism
Michael Jackson in 1993 (Esaias BAITEL/Gamma-Rapho through Getty Images)

Leaving Neverland is a brand new two-part documentary that follows two males, Wade Robson and James Safechuck (now of their thirties), who say they have been sexually abused within the 1990s by Michael Jackson. The four-hour documentary debuted on the Sundance Film Festival on January 25. The movie was met with statements from the Jackson Estate (who referred to as it “a tabloid character assassination”) and Jackson’s household (who referred to as Robson and Safechuck “perjurers” and the movie a “public lynching”).

In a brand new interview with The Hollywood Reporter’s Tatiana Siegel revealed in the present day, Leaving Neverland director and producer Dan Reed (whose earlier initiatives embrace The Paedophile Hunter and Three Days of Terror: The Charlie Hebdo Attacks) has responded to the property and household’s criticisms.

“A four-hour piece, is that a tabloid,” Reed mentioned. “I didn’t characterize Jackson at all in the film—I think if you watch it you’ll have noticed that it’s a story about these two families and Jackson is an element of that story.” Reed claimed that the movie isn’t about Jackson, saying it’s “an account of sexual abuse, how sexual abuse happens and then how the consequences play out later in life.”

“They have a very precious asset to protect,” Reed mentioned in response to the household and property’s statements. “Every time a song plays, a cash register goes ‘ka-ching.’ It doesn’t surprise me that they’ve come out fighting in defense of their asset.” Reed additionally mentioned that he doesn’t imagine the household have seen his movie. “Their statements are not consistent with having watched the movie,” Reed mentioned. Read the full interview.

Leaving Neverland will premiere on HBO and the UK’s Channel four this spring.

 
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