Hours after HBO announced when Leaving Neverland would premiere, the estate of Michael Jackson fired off a 10-page letter to HBOs CEO slamming the film and HBOs decision to air it.
In the letter to HBOs CEO Richard Plepler, the estates counsel deem Leaving Neverland an admittedly one-sided, sensationalist programreferred to as a documentary' and defend Jackson against the accusations brought forth by the films two accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck.
The Estate spent years litigating with Robson and Safechuck, and had four different lawsuits by these two men dismissed with prejudice, the estate said. Today, Robson owes the Estate almost seventy thousand dollars in court costs, and Safechuck owes the Estate several thousand dollars as well.
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The estate also accuses Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed of purposefully not contacting or interviewing anyone who could dispel Robson and Safechucks allegations, including Jacksons family, former legal team, other young children who spent time with Jackson or those who know Safechuck and Robson and dont believe their accusations.
The fact that HBO and its producing partners did not even deign to reach out to any of these people to explore the credibility of the false stories Robson and Safechuck told violates all norms and ethics in documentary filmmaking and journalism, the estate said. It is a disgrace.
Much of the letter questions Robsons credibility, with the estate detailing how Robson once served as a witness in support of Jackson during the singers child molestation trial; following Jacksons 2009 death, Robson released a statement that said Jackson was one of the main reasons I believe in the pure goodness of human kind.
The letter states that, two years later, after the estate turned down Robson, a noted choreographer, for a Michael Jackson-themed Cirque de Soleil show, Robson came forward with his fabricated allegations against Jackson.
Simply put, Robson is an admitted perjurer who proudly called himself (in his draft book) a master of deception,' the letter said. Robson is such a good liar that his own mother testified under oath at her deposition that she could not tell when he was lying; she even volunteered that he should have had an Oscar given how convincing his lies were. It may just be that he deserves an Oscar for HBOs documentary as well.
The letter to HBO continued, As for Safechuck, by his own admission, he did not realize that he had been abused until after he saw Robson on the Today Show in May 2013 being interviewed by Matt Lauer about Robsons newly-concocted story of abuse. All of a sudden, Safechuck realized that he had been abused. He then contacted Robsons lawyers and filed copycat lawsuits against the Estate for millions of dollars. And like Robson, he too had testified under oath that Jackson never did anything inappropriate with him. His two cases against the Estate were also dismissed. Safechucks frivolous lawsuits were dismissed so early in the proceedings that significant discovery was never taken in his case, and he was able to avoid having his deposition taken and producing documents.
In closing, the estate counsels wrote, We would be happy to meet with HBO to discuss a solution. We have plenty of further information and witnesses that would expose these two for who they are. If HBO wants to maintain its industry position as a valid source of news and fact, it owes an obligation to the publicnot to mention the deceased Michael Jackson with whom HBO had previously partnered with during his lifetimeto actually investigate these matters. Barring that, this documentary will say a lot more about HBO than it ever could about Michael Jackson.
Jacksons family previously issued a statement calling the documentary a public lynching.
In response to the 10-page letter, HBO said in a statement to Rolling Stone, Our plans remain unchanged. The two-part documentary,Leaving Neverland will air as scheduled on Sunday, March 3rd and Monday, March 4th. Dan Reed is an award-winning filmmaker who has carefully documented these survivors accounts. People should reserve judgment until they see the film.
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