Channel 4 is to go ahead with the broadcast of British director Dan Reed’s controversial documentary about Michael Jackson’s alleged abuse of two children, despite demands from the late singer’s estate to pull it from the schedule.
“We tried to make it graphic enough to be eye-opening and for people to be confronted with what it means for a little child to be seduced and raped by an [alleged] adult paedophile,” the Bafta-winning film-maker said.
A spokeswoman for the British channel, which first commissioned Reed, said the Jackson estate and fans had “sent messages” about the film, but added: “There is no change in our commitment to airing the documentary.”
Leaving Neverland, which focuses on revised testimony from Wade Robson, 36, and James Safechuck, 41, prompted angry protests from fans when it premiered at the Sundance film festival in January.
It goes out in two parts on Wednesday and Thursday nights on Channel 4, but is broadcast on Sunday and Monday on HBO in the US. Last week the singer’s estate filed a lawsuit against HBO, claiming that the channel once signed a “non-disparagement” agreement before airing a Jackson concert in 1992.
This weekend Oprah Winfrey supported the programme in the face of complaints from those who question why Robson and Safechuck have changed their claims. In 1993 they both spoke in court in defence of Jackson. Robson appeared in defence of the singer again in 2005.
“I tried and tried and tried to get the message across that sexual abuse was not just abuse, that it was sexual seduction,” Winfrey is to say at the opening of a discussion programme, After Neverland, which will follow the documentary on HBO on Monday. “But for me, this moment transcends Michael Jackson; it is much bigger than any one person. It is a moment in time that allows us to see this societal corruption. It is a scourge on humanity.”
Robson, now a choreographer, met Jackson at a dance competition in Australia. He claims he was sexually abused by the singer between the ages of seven and 14. Safechuck, a computer programmer, met the star when they filmed a Pepsi advert together. He claims he was sexually abused by him from the age of 10.
The production team behind the musical Thriller Live, which has been running in London’s West End for 10 years, had no comment about the documentary’s allegations.
The show, billed as a celebration of the man, his music, his stagecraft and showmanship, has now played to more than 2 million people and is the Lyric theatre’s longest-running show.
