As Peter Pan had his Neverland, Michael Jackson had the Neverland Ranch. A dream space full of games, sweets and all kinds of entertainment that gave him the license to feel like a child again.
Jackson, one of the greatest musicians in the history of pop, had to face hard signs and accusations during his life that he would have sexually abused children in Neverland. He invited them to share whole days at the ranch with their families and according to some of the alleged victims, the singer would have taken advantage of that situation with the children.
More than 20 years later, James “Jimmy” Safechuck and Wade Robson , who were close to the king of pop as children, decided to disclose his version of events. They did it through the documentary Leaving Neverland by HBO, a four-hour production that is divided into two parts.
Directed by Dan Reed , the documentary narrates the experiences that Safechuck, 41, and Robson, 36, say they had with Jackson during those visits to Neverland. Among them are stories of sexual abuse repeatedly.
His relatives, who were also invited to the place on more than one occasion, deliver their testimony in front of the cameras.
At the time when Safechuck and Robson met the artist, each was 10 and 7 years old respectively. Safechuck was a child actor from California, while Robson contacted him after winning a contest in which he had to imitate the singer.
The production has already premiered in the United States and was subsequently accompanied by an interview conducted by Oprah Winfrey to both men.
“He told me it was love. He told me that he loved me and that God loved us together. For me, Michael was God, ”said Robson, who later became a choreographer, in the interview he had with Winfrey after the premiere of the documentary.
The production has been strongly criticized by Jackson fans and now faces a $ 100 million lawsuit imposed by his family.
Several radio stations in Australia, New Zealand and Canada have released the songs of the pop king from their programming.
In Colombia, the first part of Leaving Neverland will be broadcast on HBO on Saturday, March 16 at 6:00 pm and the second will arrive on Sunday, 17 at 6:00 pm. From those days, both parties will be available on the HBO platform Go.
Michael Jackson’s daughter does not believe that it is necessary for her father to publicly defend her allegations of sexual abuse against minors made in a recent documentary.
“It’s not my role,” said 20-year-old Paris Jackson, who added in a Twitter message that “there is nothing I can say that has not been said in his defense.”
The daughter of the late “King of Pop,” however, also said she supported her family’s efforts to clear her father’s name.
Paris decided to play the issue publicly on Thursday after being chased by paparazzi in New Orleans.
A fan suggested that the young woman was being persecuted because people wanted to know her opinion about the documentary “Leaving Neverland” , released a week ago, in which two men accuse Jackson of sexually abusing them as children.