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 "Leaving Neverland" features two men now in their 30s and 40s
who say they were befriended by Jackson and sexually abused by
him starting from when they were 7 and 10 years old. It will be
aired on U.S. channel HBO on March 3 and 4 and on Britain's
Channel 4 on March 6 and 7.
Jackson's family has attacked the film and the "Thriller"
singer's estate last week filed a lawsuit against HBO saying the
documentary breached a 1992 agreement that the cable channel
would not disparage him. "Michael Jackson is innocent. Period,"
the estate said in the lawsuit.
HBO said in a statement however it would go ahead with the
four-hour documentary and "allow everyone the opportunity to
assess the film and the claims in it for themselves."
After the broadcast, HBO will air a conversation hosted by Oprah
Winfrey with the director and the two men in front of an
audience of sexual abuse survivors.
Jackson, who died in June 2009, was acquitted at a 2005 trial in
California on charges of molesting a different, 13- year-old boy
at his Neverland ranch in California. In 1994, he settled a
sexual abuse lawsuit concerning another 13 year-old boy.
Jackson's death was met with an outpouring of grief worldwide, a
spike in record sales and new projects including a Cirque du
Soleil show that have made him the highest-earning dead
celebrity for the past six years, according to an annual Forbes
survey.
"This is the 10-year anniversary of my uncle's death. We should
be mourning, but instead we are being bombarded with lies," the
singer's nephew, Taj Jackson, told Reuters.
"Leaving Neverland" focuses on Wade Robson and James Safechuck
who relate in graphic detail their experiences in the early
1990s at Neverland and elsewhere. They say that, as boys, they
were in love with Jackson.
Robson, now 36, had testified at Jackson's 2005 trial in the
singer's defense. He and Safechuck said they saw their childhood
experiences in a new light after they both became fathers to
young sons of their own.
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The singer's brothers and nephew Taj, who spent years as a child
at Neverland, say the accusations are untrue, hurtful and
motivated by money. No one in the family was contacted for the
documentary, and they said none of them have seen it.
"I don't care to see it, because I know my brother," said Jackie
Jackson, 67, the oldest of the Jackson 5 brothers.
Robson, who met Jackson after winning a dance contest in
Australia at age 5, and Safechuck, who appeared with Jackson in
a Pepsi commercial in 1986, filed after the singer's death
lawsuits seeking hundreds of millions of dollars from the
Jackson estate. Both cases alleging sexual misconduct were
dismissed but are being appealed.
Director Dan Reed says he wanted to make a film specifically
about the experiences of Robson and Safechuck. He noted that the
documentary includes interviews and denials the pop star gave
about sexual misconduct accusations when he was alive.
"I don't know that the Jackson family has any direct knowledge
of what happened to Wade and James," Reed told CBS Television's
"This Morning" in an interview on Tuesday. "There was no one
else in the room."
His family say they remember Jackson as a generous person who
gave millions to charities, loved to have fun and wanted to
unite people through his music.
"He was a family man. He loved kids around the world. He wanted
to be the best at his craft. His music lives on," said Jackie
Jackson.
(Reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Cynthia Osterman)
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