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This is an old revision of this page, as edited by Hammelsmith (talk | contribs) at 20:55, 21 July 2019 (→Background: Please read all the sources. Payments to the Francias were made in 1996 & 1998. Jason testified to telling police of his allegation when he was 13, after denying molestation in his first police interview. He testified that he went into counselling about the alleged events until he was 18. A subpoena supersedes an NDA, so the Francias and June Chandler could speak in court about their experiences w/ Michael Jackson.). The present address (URL) is a permanent link to this revision, which may differ significantly from the current revision.

Leaving Neverland is a 2019 documentary directed and produced by the British filmmaker Dan Reed. It focuses on two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who allege they were sexually abused as children by the singer Michael Jackson.

The film is a co-production between the UK broadcaster Channel 4 and the US broadcaster HBO. It premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019 and was broadcast on HBO in two parts in March 2019. It received acclaim from critics and mixed reviews from viewers. The documentary resulted in a backlash against Jackson and a reassessment of his legacy in some quarters. Others dismissed it as one-sided and questioned the veracity of the allegations. The Jackson estate condemned the film as a "tabloid character assassination."

The UK version of the film was trimmed by 47 minutes (the original four-hour version premiered at the Sundance Film Festival and aired on HBO in the US), and it has also been characterized as having discrepancies. The film led to protest from Jackson's fans which led to the release of two documentaries discussing the discrepancies observed in the film.

Synopsis

In Leaving Neverland, choreographer Wade Robson, James Safechuck and their families allege that singer Michael Jackson sexually abused them when they were children. They give graphic descriptions of Jackson's sex acts, including masturbation, oral sex, and anal sex, which they allege took place at his home, Neverland Ranch, and his other residences across California. Director Dan Reed described his film as a "study of the psychology of child sexual abuse, told through two ordinary families ... groomed for twenty years by a paedophile masquerading as a trusted friend."

Background

In 1993, Michael Jackson was accused of sexually molesting 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. Jackson denied the claims and settled the case out of court for a $15 million payment. The settlement included a non-disclosure agreement (NDA) and no criminal charges were filed. In 1994, Jason Francia accused Jackson of molesting him from when he was seven to ten years old, yet Francia had previously denied abuse during his first police interview. Jackson made an out-of-court settlement with Francia's family for more than $2 million and an NDA. The Francias never filed a lawsuit against him. In 2005, Jackson was criminally tried for child abuse charges, following concerns raised in the 2003 documentary Living with Michael Jackson. In the film, Jackson was holding hands with 12-year-old Gavin Arvizo and talked about his sleepovers with the boy. Jackson was acquitted of the child sexual abuse charges. In 2013, choreographer Wade Robson filed a lawsuit alleging that Jackson had sexually abused him for seven years, beginning when he was seven years old. James Safechuck subsequently filed a case in 2014, who alleged he was sexually abused over a four-year period from the age of ten. Both had previously testified in Jackson's defense — Safechuck as a child during the 1993 investigation, Robson both as a child in 1993 and as a young adult in 2005. In 2015, Robson's case against Jackson's estate was dismissed on the grounds of being filed too late. In 2017, it was ruled that the corporations formerly owned by Jackson could not be held accountable for Jackson's alleged past actions.

Production

Leaving Neverland was conceived by Channel 4 editors. After Reed produced enough material to make a four-hour film, the HBO network joined the production. He felt the length was necessary to present the story "in a way that makes it fully understandable in all its complexity". Reed said he did not use the film to comment on Jackson's actions or motivations.

In February 2017, Reed and assistant producer Marguerite Gaudin flew to Hawaii to interview Robson. Robson agreed to tell his story chronologically and omit no details. A camera failed shortly after shooting began, but a solution was found; shooting continued until nighttime and continued throughout the second day. Reed travelled to Los Angeles later that week to shoot Safechuck's story in two days. Reed said that Robson, Safechuck, and their families received no financial compensation for the film.

After filming, Reed returned to London and began corroborating the stories. Wondering how Robson and Safechuck's mothers could have allowed their sons to be abused, he returned to Los Angeles in November 2017 and interviewed their families. The interview discussing the wedding ring with Safechuck was filmed in July 2018. Reed decided that footage he had shot of former detectives and prosecutors from the 1993 case and the 2005 trial was unnecessary.

Reed was unable to contact Jordan Chandler for the documentary and assumed he preferred to remain private. Reed also said the Chandler and Arvizo stories could form the basis for a second documentary.

The documentary was scored by Chad Hobson. Hobson said his approach was to "imagine a walk through a beautiful and magical forest ... But as you travel deeper into the forest it becomes darker, more distorted, the limbs of the trees becoming more twisted and sinister."

Release

Leaving Neverland premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019. For television, it was split into two parts broadcast on March 3 and 4 on HBO in the US and March 6 and 7 on Channel 4 in the UK. It broke Channel 4 streaming records and became the most downloaded Channel 4 show ever, and took a 45% share of young television audiences. 2.1 million watched Part 1 on Channel 4, and 1.9 million watched Part 2. In the US, Part 1 drew a 0.4 rating and 1.285 million viewers, the third-largest audience for an HBO documentary this decade behind Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief and Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. Part 2 drew a 0.3 rating and 927,000 viewers in its initial airing.

Kew Media Group sold the documentary to channels in 130 territories. In New Zealand, the first episode was watched by 716,000, making it one of the most watched non-sporting non-news broadcasts in the country's history. Netherlands broadcaster VPRO referred viewers to the Mind Korrelatie foundation for victims of sexual abuse, and attracted callers in large numbers.

The US broadcast was followed by Oprah Winfrey Presents: After Neverland (recorded March 2, 2019), in which Robson, Safechuck, and Reed were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey before an audience of victims and their families. Winfrey later spoke of the "hateration" she received from people who negatively criticized the film and Jackson's supporters, yet said her support of the accusers has not wavered.

Channel One Russia originally planned to release the film on nighttime television on March 15 but later relegated it to their website, available until March 20, due to "mixed reception, speculation, and aggression from both supporters and opponents of the film."

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Leaving Neverland holds an approval rating of 98% based on ninety-two reviews, with an average score of 7.97/10. Its consensus states: "Crucial and careful, Leaving Neverland gives empathetic breadth and depth to the complicated afterlife of child sexual abuse as experienced by adult survivors." On Metacritic, it holds a weighted average of 85 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim", based on twenty-one reviews.

In Vanity Fair, Owen Gleiberman described the two men's stories as "overwhelmingly powerful and convincing." Hank Stuever of The Washington Post thought the documentary was "riveting" and "devastating", ending his review with a plea: "Turn off the music and listen to these men." Melanie McFarland of Salon believed the film's "intent isn’t to merely grant these men and their families a platform to air their stories in all their painful fullness, but to place the viewer inside the perspectives of everyone who was taken in by the dream...it does leave the viewer in the thorny clarity of what we know now." Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe wrote that the film was not "particularly imaginative", yet he admired how it chronicled Robson's and Safechuck's emotional narrative: "it accounts for every stage of their respective recoveries, which are still in progress, including their darkest feelings of fear, denial, and shame." In Entertainment Weekly, Kristen Baldwin gave the film a B grade. She criticized it as "woefully one-sided" and concluded: "As a documentary, Leaving Neverland is a failure. As a reckoning, though, it is unforgettable." In The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienberg wrote: Leaving Neverland is "about the 20+ years...Robson and Safechuck — and the damage that can do — as it is about the alleged crimes." He concluded, "it's doubtful you'll feel exactly the same after watching." The Daily Telegraph awarded it five out of five, describing it as "a horrifying picture of child abuse."

David Fear wrote in Rolling Stone: "By offering these men a forum, this doc has clearly chosen a side. Yet the thoroughness with which it details this history of allegations, and the way it personalizes them to a startling degree, is hard to shake off." IndieWire's David Ehrlich wrote that the film was "dry" and "hardly great cinema," but that it was "a crucial document for a culture that still can't see itself clearly in Michael Jackson's shadow." Alissa Wilkinson described the documentary as "a devastating case" that "may forever" change Jackson's legacy. In the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper described it as a "devastating and undeniably persuasive film."

Awards

Leaving Neverland earned five Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.

Criticisms of allegations and supporters of Jackson

In January 2019, the Jackson estate issued a press release condemning the film: "The two accusers testified under oath that these events never occurred. They have provided no independent evidence and absolutely no proof in support of their accusations." In February 2019, the estate filed a $100 million lawsuit against HBO, petitioning a court to compel their arbitrate cooperation regarding the film's broadcast. As Jackson is dead, HBO cannot be sued for defamation. Instead, the estate claimed HBO had violated a 1992 agreement never to disparage Jackson's public image, stipulated in the terms for broadcasting his concert film Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour. On the day of the HBO premiere of Leaving Neverland: Part One, the estate posted Live in Bucharest on YouTube. The next day, to coincide with the broadcast of Part Two, the estate posted another concert film, Live at Wembley July 16, 1988.

Fans of Jackson demanded the Sundance Film Festival cancel the screening. At the Sundance premiere, Robson and Safechuck said they had received death threats from some fans. Fans organised protests outside Channel 4's office, an internet campaign against the film, and a crowdfunded campaign placing posters with the slogan "Facts don't lie. People do" on public transport. On March 13, Transport for London announced it would remove the adverts after the charity Survivors Trust complained that they could discourage victims of sexual abuse from coming forward.

American actor Corey Feldman, a friend of Jackson since a child, called the documentary "one-sided" and said Jackson never approached him inappropriately. He later said that his comments " meant in any way to question the validity of the victims". Singer Aaron Carter, a friend of Jackson as a child, stated that he remembered his friend as "an amazing guy" and reiterated his support for Jackson. Brett Barnes and American actor Macaulay Culkin, who knew Jackson when they were children, also denied any inappropriate behavior from Jackson.

American singer Barbra Streisand spoke in Jackson's defense, saying "his sexual needs were his sexual needs" and that the accusers had been "thrilled" to be with him. She added that the accusers were "both married and they both have children, so it didn't kill them". Streisand later apologized and expressed sympathy for the accusers. English singer Boy George expressed skepticism about the documentary: "It's just taken almost for granted that this is what happened and therefore we all should accept it." American singer Madonna, who was a friend of Jackson, told British Vogue that "I don't have a lynch-mob mentality, so in my mind, people are innocent until proven guilty ... Are there people asking for money, is there some kind of extortion thing happening?" Joey Fatone of NSYNC, who had worked with Robson at the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards, also expressed skepticism: " it seemed like nothing was going on, that's the whole thing. To come out later on and have these repercussions, it's kind of weird and interesting because you never know what's true."

Brandi Jackson, Michael Jackson's niece, told John Ziegler of Mediaite in a podcast that Jackson introduced her to Robson, and the two began dating around the time Robson claimed to have been molested. She stated that her experience with Robson contradicted his story of abuse in the documentary. In an interview with Billboard, Brandi Jackson further expounded on her experience with Robson, saying Robson never mentioned any abuse occurring at the time, and that "the only thing he said was how blessed he was to have Michael as a business partner and a friend." Three original members of the Jackson 5 (who are also Jackson's brothers) and Taj Jackson, Jackson's nephew, denounced the film by saying there are no facts to corroborate the allegations.

A former bodyguard of Jackson dismissed claims of child sexual abuse, saying that Jackson was heterosexual. A second bodyguard condemned the film for omitting Robson and Safechuck's lawsuits against the Jackson estate. Mark Geragos, former attorney for Jackson during his 2005 trial, noted that the film contains a speech spoken by him but was edited to fit the film's narrative. The film portrayed Geragos threatening anyone, particularly victims of child abuse, who were willing to besmirch Jackson's image, but omitted showing Geragos addressing two men who were found guilty for wiretapping Jackson, contrary to the film's presentation.

Journalist Charles Thomson, who wrote about the media's biased coverage of Jackson, spoke about the film in various UK radio podcasts, " have maintained for decades that Michael Jackson was innocent. Both of whom hit hard times a couple of years after he died and changed their stories and started suing his estate for hundreds of millions of dollars. Their case has been thrown out of court twice...because had found that they have provably and deliberately lied under oath." He described the film as "edited with zero supporting evidence" and "completely covers up and omits all of the public record information." He said, "Whether you believe them now or you believe them then, either way they're perjurers.... This director has taken two perjurers at their word, which is so unethical anyway."

Jackson biographer Mike Smallcombe argued that Safechuck's claims of sexual abuse at Neverland’s train station from 1988 to 1992 could not be true because the train station was not built until 1994. Reed responded: "There seems to be no doubt about the station date. The date have wrong is the end of the abuse." He said that Safechuck was present at Neverland before and after the construction of the station, and that it was "just one of the many locations where James remembers sexual activity taking place". Smallcombe responded: "While this doesn't categorically rule out that Jackson abused them, it does make you wonder, if they've fabricated these stories, what about the rest?"

A 30-minute documentary rebutting the claims in the film, Neverland Firsthand: Investigating the Michael Jackson Documentary, was released on YouTube on March 30, 2019. It was directed by journalist Liam McEwan and features interviews with Jackson's family and colleagues. Another documentary challenging the film, Michael Jackson: Chase the Truth, will be released on August 13.

Backlash against Jackson

The documentary led to a media backlash against Jackson in some quarters. All Cogeco-owned stations in Canada pulled his music from their playlists, as did NH Radio in the Netherlands and MediaWorks New Zealand, New Zealand Media and Entertainment and Radio New Zealand. An episode of The Simpsons guest-starring Jackson, "Stark Raving Dad", was removed from syndication, streaming services, and future DVD sets; writer Al Jean said he believed Jackson had used the episode to groom boys for sexual abuse. A London concert produced by Jackson collaborator Quincy Jones removed Jackson's name and album titles from its advertisements; the organizers said the modified artwork reflected the show's broader inclusion of Jones' repertoire unrelated to his work with Jackson. "Weird Al" Yankovic indefinitely dropped his song parodies of Jackson's music from his Strings Attached Tour.

Film producer Jodi Gomes said she and the Jackson family had been working on a new documentary about the Jackson 5 for their 50th anniversary. The project was canceled after the broadcast of Leaving Neverland. However, Gomes believes Jackson's legacy will live on "from this generation to the next." Items of Jackson's clothing and a Jackson poster were removed from the Children's Museum of Indianapolis, but Jackson's photographs from the museum's Ryan White exhibit were kept. Fashion house Louis Vuitton canceled Jackson-inspired products planed for its 2019 collections. American artistic gymnast Katelyn Ohashi removed Jackson's music and Jackson-inspired dance moves from her floor routine at the 2019 PAC-12 Championships. The city council of Brussels cancelled plans to dress the Manneken Pis sculpture in Jackson's signature clothing.

In an essay reassessing Jackson's legacy, Jackson biographer Margo Jefferson expressed her support for Jackson's accusers and concluded that: "The task is to read the art and the life fully as they wind and unwind around each other, changing shape and direction."

Effect on Jackson's legacy

After an initial wave of negative publicity, Jackson's honors are not rescinded, and his music maintains popular. Jackson's albums rose in the charts following the documentary. According to Billboard, Jackson's combined music sales, including his work with the Jackson 5, increased 10%. Jackson audio and video streams increased 6%, rising to 19.7 million between March 3 and March 5, from 18.7 million between February 24 and February 26. His videos were viewed 22.1 million times, an increase of roughly 1.2 million from the week prior. Three of his albums re-entered the UK iTunes chart.

Jackson's bestselling album Thriller and the Thriller music video still reside in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry and National Film Registry respectively. His music is still featured in commercials and is a part of a Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas, and museums in Detroit and Tennessee continue to display Jackson artifacts.

In June 2019, around the time of the tenth anniversary of Jackson's death, various industry executives said that his legacy would endure. Darren Julien, president of Julien's Auctions, which has sold millions of dollars' worth of Jackson memorabilia, said: "He still commands prices compared to most any other celebrity." Billboard senior editor Gail Mitchell said she interviewed about thirty music executives who believed Jackson's legacy could withstand the Leaving Neverland controversy.

See also

• Neverland Firsthand: Investigating the Michael Jackson Documentary
• Michael Jackson: Chase the Truth
• 1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson
• Trial of Michael Jackson

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95. Trendell, Andrew (June 4, 2019). "Organisers respond to criticism of Quincy Jones changing 'Michael Jackson albums show'". NME. Retrieved June 22, 2019.
96. Graff, Gary (June 27, 2019). "'Weird Al' Yankovic Explains His Decision to Drop Michael Jackson Parodies From Set List". Billboard. Retrieved June 29, 2019.
97. Lindquist, David (March 11, 2019). "Michael Jackson items no longer on display at Children's Museum of Indianapolis". The Indianapolis Star. Retrieved March 16, 2019.
98. McLaughlin, Eliott C. (March 17, 2019). "Indianapolis children's museum removes Michael Jackson's hat and gloves but will keep some photos". CNN.com. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
99. Harper, Marques. "Louis Vuitton drops Michael Jackson-inspired items from 2019 men's collection". latimes.com. Retrieved June 11, 2019.
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101. Clarke, Patrick (June 21, 2019). "Brussels cancels plans to dress its famous Manneken Pis statue as Michael Jackson". NME. Retrieved June 21, 2019.
102. Jefferson, Margo (June 7, 2019). "Was I in denial? Margo Jefferson on Michael Jackson's legacy". The Guardian. Retrieved June 8, 2019.
103. ^ "Michael Jackson albums climb the charts following Leaving Neverland broadcast". The Independent. March 9, 2019.
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105. ^ Landrum, Jonathan (June 23, 2019). "Michael Jackson's popularity endures, even after new scandal". ABC News. Retrieved June 23, 2019.

External links

• Leaving Neverland on Channel 4
• Leaving Neverland. HBO. 2019.
• Leaving Neverland at IMDb

Template:People v. Jackson

• 2019 films
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• Documentary films about African Americans
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