Michael Jackson's family defends the singer in new documentary 'Investigating Neverland' in response to 'Leaving Neverland'
Dan Reed's documentary 'Leaving Neverland' has created a lot of controversies ever since it hit the screen. It blew open the lid on the much-speculated sexuality and life of the King of Pop, Michael Jackson and the allegations of child sexual abuse levied against him. Now, in response to what Jackson's family have been calling a deliberate attempt to vilify the musician, the family has released a documentary titled 'Investigating Neverland'.
In this, Michael Jackson's family is coming forward to state their own take upon the controversy surrounding the accusation against the late pop sensation. Following all the allegations against sexual misconduct put forward by Wade Robson and James Safechuck against Jackson in the HBO documentary, journalist Liam McEwan took the initiative to interview members of the Jackson family in the documentary, 'Investigating Neverland'. The most vocal of all has been Jackson's niece, Brandi Jackson, who has time and again claimed that a decade after his death it's time to let the legend rest in peace.
In a conversation with Billboard about her 10-year-old relationship with Robson, Brandi confessed that she was absolutely shocked at what her old friend had done. The two were dating for a very long time, however, Brandi said, "Everything was fine until he was about 17 or 18, when I noticed his behavior changed. That's when he began to cheat," she explained. "As I would confront him about these things, he would say, 'No these aren't true.' Constantly lying. He denied [the infedelities]." On the other hand, she was completely taken aback at how much people are willing to hear a good, juicy story about anyone without checking if the claims are true.
The 37-year-old photographer said, "My uncle endured investigations, trials and humiliation and he was found not guilty. The public likes to hold onto this narrative that he was sleeping with little boys and it’s weird, but that’s really not the narrative. My uncle never could have done these horrible things.” Brandi, who is the daughter of Jackie Jackson, the oldest brother of the Jackson 5, is of the opinion that all the allegations have been radically motivated ever since 1991. She further stressed upon the fact that Jackson's identity as a black man had a lot to do with the false blames. She said, "When you look at the entire situation, and you start to break it down, it’s because he was a strong, influential black man."
Brandi alone is not disgusted by 'Leaving Neverland' as reportedly, a former biographer of Michael Jackson, UK journalist and author Mike Smallcombe, claims 'Leaving Neverland' director Dan Reed has ‘damaged’ Safechuck’s lawsuit against the star by effectively ‘changing his timeline of abuse for him’. Safechuck had mentioned in the documentary that between the years 1988 and 1992 he was assaulted in an upstairs room by the singer but Smallcombe indicated that the construction of Neverland didn’t begin until the latter part of 1993. While this puts Safechuck's allegations against the singer under doubt, Reed, on the other hand, has claimed that the date of the abuse was perhaps mentioned wrong.
Following this, the Michael Jackson Estate notice has claimed that 'Leaving Neverland' is nothing less than a "kind of tabloid character assassination Michael Jackson endured in life, and now in death." Jackson's nephew Taj, also stated that the allegations are incorrect since the singer who himself would write inspirational letters to his relatives could never really indulge in such acts. He said, "There’s tens and tens of us that have these notes. I had these, my brothers had these. He was like that, if he thought his words could help you or inspire you he would write you a letter. There’s nothing uncommon about it, but in the wrong context, people who don’t know him or the context of it will think that’s weird."