Leaving Neverland new documentary on Michael Jackson

[Anonymous]

So this new 4 hour documentary is apparently very shocking. It puts Michael Jackson in a new light.

A new documentary about past allegations of child sexual abuse made against the late Michael Jackson drew emotional reactions after it premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on Friday.

Leaving Neverland, which the King of Pop's estate has denounced, focuses on accusations by two men, choreographer Wade Robson and computer programmer James Safechuck, and was directed by Dan Reed. The three took part in a Q&A after the screening of the four-hour film at the Egyptian Theatre in Park City, UT and received a standing ovation from the packed crowd, Deadline reported.

Earlier, the Daily Beast's Kevin Fallon tweeted, "On a 10-min break halfway through Sundance's 4-hour Michael Jackson child sex abuse documentary. Whatever you thought you knew or were aware of, the content of this is more disturbing than you could imagine. And again, we're only halfway through."

"It's halftime at the four-hour Michael Jackson doc and I'm already gonna need 400 showers to ever feel clean again. #Sundance," IndieWire film critic David Erlich tweeted.

The Los Angeles Times' Amy Kaufman said there was an "incredibly emotional reaction from the audience."

"One audience member says he was molested as a child and that Robson and Safechuck 'are going to do a lot more f--king good in the world than Michael f--king Jackson,'" she tweeted.

Healthcare professionals were present in the theater lobby to help any audience members upset by the film's content. Two pro-Jackson protesters were spotted outside. A few police officers were stationed outside the theater, tweeted Variety's Matt Donnelly.

https://m.eonline.com/news/1008561/leaving-neverland-draws-shock-at-sundance-film-festival-screening

[Anonymous]

Four hours?

[Anonymous]

Every time I hear another Michael Jackson song played on the radio or overhear one being played in a store or wherever, I wonder if anyone will ever have the guts finally to say it's time to stop playing the "separate the performer from the performance" game with his music.

Everyone has known, since long before he died, that there were very serious sexual abuse allegations that got hushed up with buckets of money; maybe this documentary will at last out him as the pedophile so many knew he really was.

Yes, we all know he was a superstar, and that zillions still just love love love his music. But if film distributors won't distribute Kevin Spacey's films ever again because of his criminality, or if no one can ever hear decades of "Prairie Home Companion" radio shows that were expunged because the host was fired for allegations (no charges) that are still disputed....Why does the god Michael Jackson get a pass so that his music gets to be heard?

Because his relatives still make a vast fortune off of it?

[Anonymous]

I am interested in seeing how bad(as in how bad Jackson was), but 4 hours? Maybe they could break it down into a mini series?

[Anonymous]

I was about to post about the documentary when I saw this topic. I just read this article and I think I won't ever play Jackson's songs ever again and it will be so hard for me as so many great memories are triggered by his music.

https://www.rollingstone.com/movies/movie-features/leaving-neverland-michael-jackson-doc-sundance-784801/?fbclid=IwAR0REcp_4QteKXRfc8eRuCGtC9kepzBXxXBhJ-yIrTpJjnSnCK5dBzaLb1I

[Anonymous]

I love his music but it feels icky now to hear it. I think he died in the nick of time as he would be vilified now, as so many others are. So sad.

[Anonymous]

I remember the day I finally changed my mind about him. I was reading an article about Jerry Sandusky. It was a really long piece that went into great detail about how Sandusky groomed his victims, how people knew, but covered it up, how he convinced the parents he did nothing wrong. It was a great piece; I’ll see if I can find it.

But while I was reading, I kept thinking about Michael. How the grooming behaviors Sandusky used sounded an awful lot like how Michael interacted with little boys. He talked about these things himself in that weird Martin Bashir interview. And it hit me — wow, I think he really did it. I had defended him for a long time, but that unrelated article changed it for me.

[Anonymous]

I’m not going to watch Bohemian Rhapsody either. The director flies a huge red flag with the latest allegations against him.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:I’m not going to watch Bohemian Rhapsody either. The director flies a huge red flag with the latest allegations against him.

Bryan Singer started out directing the film but got booted and another director finished it.

I dislike the idea of unthinkingly rejecting a film -- which involves dozens or even hundreds of participants working sometimes over years -- because any particular director or producer (think, Harvey Weinstein, shudder) touched it too. I definitely understand not ever being able to watch a certain actor, like Kevin Spacey, again. I think he's extremely talented but won't re-watch his work. But it seems harsh to throw out the work of many, many innocent people because a slime was on the unseen side of it. In the case of a Roman Polanski, where every film is ABOUT the fact it's A Roman Polanski Film, I do understand never wanting to see the work at all.

I don't know about the whole cast but certainly Rami Malek has said he had no idea about the allegations circulating about Singer back when Malek signed on for the movie. Someone here will post "Well, he should have known, everyone should have known, rumors for ages, etc." but that's assuming people are going to reject work based on...something they may never even have heard, or may have heard only vaguely.

I think that with #metoo, people in entertainment now are telling their agents etc. to dig deep to ensure directors, producers, costars, writers (i.e. James Gunn: old tweets) or guest artists (like R. Kelly, now being disowned by any singer who ever did a duet with him) have nothing on them. That will eventually weed out problematic people--or at least drive their behavior way underground....

[Anonymous]

I think I heard it's going to be on HBO.

[Anonymous]

So what’s the truth here? Im curious about this doc but seems biased in its narrative. I’ve read articles that the FBI cleared MJ but if it looks like a duck...
Was he really a clueless man child or was he abusing children?

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:So what’s the truth here? Im curious about this doc but seems biased in its narrative. I’ve read articles that the FBI cleared MJ but if it looks like a duck...
Was he really a clueless man child or was he abusing children?

I think the difference is that two men have come forward and are now open and willing to talk about the abuse they experienced. I would guess after this, there will be more victims come forward. Previously, there were rumors and whispers and little snippets but no one just put it all out on the table.

It takes a lot of guts for sexual abuse survivors (especially men) to go public and tell it all.

This isn't an investigative documentary. It is two people telling about what happened to them in detail. I don't know if these two had ever disclosed anything while MJ was alive. They may have not come forward until after this death.

[Anonymous]

Anonymous wrote:

Anonymous wrote:So what’s the truth here? Im curious about this doc but seems biased in its narrative. I’ve read articles that the FBI cleared MJ but if it looks like a duck...
Was he really a clueless man child or was he abusing children?

I think the difference is that two men have come forward and are now open and willing to talk about the abuse they experienced. I would guess after this, there will be more victims come forward. Previously, there were rumors and whispers and little snippets but no one just put it all out on the table.

It takes a lot of guts for sexual abuse survivors (especially men) to go public and tell it all.

This isn't an investigative documentary. It is two people telling about what happened to them in detail. I don't know if these two had ever disclosed anything while MJ was alive. They may have not come forward until after this death.

They both came forward before denying MJ abused them, one even testifying in court on his behalf. If they were lying then, there could be multiple reasons why and I hope the documentary addresses it. I would really love to hear from the first accuser from the early 90s. I remember reading his deposition on The Smoking Gun and it was chilling.

[Anonymous]

Wade Robson is extremely successful and in the entertainment industry. (Also, allegedly the persons Britney Spears cheated on Justin Timberlake with way back when; he directed/choreographed the tour she was about to do at the time.) There is literally no reason he would ever make this up.

[Anonymous]

MJ is innocent. He was proven so. There is 0 evidence of child abuse. He was just a man-child.