Featured Image Credit: Channel 4
Topics: Film, TV and Film, Michael Jackson
Michael Slavin
Two of the accusers of Michael Jackson have spoken out in the first trailer for a sequel to a highly controversial documentary about the popstar.
The pair speak in the sequel to Leaving Neverland, an HBO documentary which brought allegations of child sex abuse against Jackson back to light.
The follow-up documentary, produced by Channel 4, is called Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson.
Jackson was first accused of child sex abuse in 1993 when Evan Chandler stated that his 13-year-old son Jordan had been abused.
This eventually led to both a civil and criminal trial, with the civil trial not continuing due to the Chandlers withdrawing their co-operation and the criminal trial eventually acquitting Jackson.
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Wade Robson and James Safechuck came forward in a 2019 documentary titled Leaving Neverland, alleging that Jackson sexually abused them as children.
The doc sparked a massive media backlash against Jackson, leading to a re-examining of his legacy.
It eventually led to a massive lawsuit being triggered against HBO by Jackson’s estate.
HBO lost due to a non-disparagement clause in a contract for a 1992 Jackson concert distributed by the TV studio.
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The sequel will premiere on 18 March in the UK and sees Robson and Safechuck continue to discuss their legal battle against the Jackson estate.
In the trailer, released this morning by Channel 4, Robson makes a simple request saying: “I want my day in court.”
The narrator says: “They told their story. Now after ten years, where is the justice?”
One speaker shockingly says in the trailer: “Michael Jackson got away with this for a long time. Paedophiles don’t operate in a vacuum, especially successful ones.”
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The Jackson estate has long denied the accusations made by the pair, as well as any accusations of child sex abuse against Jackson.
A spokesperson gave a strong response to the original documentary, saying in a statement to TMZ at the time that the film was ‘another lurid production in an outrageous and pathetic attempt to exploit and cash in on Michael Jackson.’
They went on to call it a ‘rehash of dated and discredited allegations’.
They finished by saying: “It’s baffling why any credible film-maker would involve himself with this project.”
Robson and Safechuck filed lawsuits against Jackson after his death in 2013 and 2014.
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Both were initially dismissed after being judged to have passed the statute of limitations.
The initial documentary detailed shocking allegations about Jackson’s famous Neverland ranch.
One of the most shocking was the allegation that the ranch was essentially ‘one big bed’, as ‘virtually every structure on the grounds had hideaways with beds or privacy nooks’.
This included Jackson’s private theatre room having a locked private box with one way glass.
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Safechuck and Robson both alleged they were molested at various locations on the ranch.
LADbible has contacted Jackson's estate for comment.