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Leaving Neverland is a 2019 documentary directed and produced by the British filmmaker Dan Reed. It focuses on two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who allege they were sexually abused as children by the singer Michael Jackson. It also examines the effects on their families.

The film is a co-production between the UK broadcaster Channel 4 and the US broadcaster HBO. It premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019 and was broadcast on HBO in two parts in March 2019. It received acclaim from critics and mixed reviews from viewers. The documentary resulted in a backlash against Jackson and a reassessment of his legacy in some quarters. Others dismissed it as one-sided and questioned the veracity of the allegations. The Jackson estate condemned the film as a "tabloid character assassination." It was followed by two documentaries challenging the allegations made in the film.

Synopsis

The film depicts Jackson's child molestation allegations primarily with interviews of Robson, Safechuck and their families. Director Dan Reed described his film as a "study of the psychology of child sexual abuse, told through two ordinary families...groomed for twenty years by a paedophile masquerading as a trusted friend."

In 2013, choreographer Wade Robson filed a lawsuit alleging that Jackson had sexually abused him for seven years, beginning when he was seven years old. James Safechuck subsequently filed a case in 2014, who alleged he was sexually abused over a four-year period from the age of ten. Both had previously testified in Jackson's defense — Safechuck as a child during the 1993 investigation, Robson both as a child in 1993 and as a young adult in 2005. In 2015, Robson's case against Jackson's estate was dismissed on the grounds of being filed too late. In 2017, it was ruled that the corporations formerly owned by Jackson could not be held accountable for Jackson's alleged past actions.

In the film, Robson, Safechuck, and their respective families describe their intimate relationships with Jackson. It includes graphic descriptions by both men of Jackson's sex acts during their boyhood. The descriptions include masturbation, rimming, oral sex, and in the case of Wade Robson, anal sex when he was fourteen years old. Safechuck and Robson allege that Jackson committed these acts and sexually abused them at his home, Neverland Ranch, and at his other residences across California.

Production

Leaving Neverland was conceived by Channel 4's editors. After Reed produced enough material to make a four-hour film, the HBO network joined the production. He felt the length was necessary to present the story "in a way that makes it fully understandable in all its complexity". Reed said he did not use the film to comment on Jackson's actions or motivations.

In February 2017, Reed and assistant producer Marguerite Gaudin flew to Hawaii to interview Robson. Robson agreed to tell his story chronologically and omit no details. A camera failed shortly after shooting began, but a solution was found; shooting continued until nighttime and continued throughout the second day. Reed travelled to Los Angeles later that week to shoot Safechuck's story in two days. Reed said that Robson, Safechuck, and their families received no financial compensation for the film.

After filming, Reed returned to London and began corroborating the stories. Wondering how Robson and Safechuck's mothers could have allowed their sons to be abused, he returned to Los Angeles in November 2017 and interviewed their families. The interview discussing the wedding ring with Safechuck was filmed in July 2018. Reed decided that footage he had shot of former detectives and prosecutors from the 1993 case and the 2005 trial was unnecessary.

Reed was unable to contact Jordan Chandler for the documentary and assumed he preferred to remain private. Reed also said the Chandler and Arvizo stories could form the basis for a second documentary.

Release

Leaving Neverland premiered at the 2019 Sundance Film Festival on January 25, 2019. For television, it was split into two parts broadcast on March 3 and 4 on HBO in the US and March 6 and 7 on Channel 4 in the UK. It broke Channel 4 streaming records and became the most downloaded Channel 4 show ever, and took a 45% share of young television audiences. 2.1 million watched Part 1 on Channel 4, and 1.9 million watched Part 2. In the US, Part 1 drew a 0.4 rating and 1.3 million viewers, the third-largest audience for an HBO documentary this decade behind Going Clear: Scientology and the Prison of Belief and Bright Lights: Starring Carrie Fisher and Debbie Reynolds. Part 2 drew a 0.3 rating and 927,000 viewers in its initial airing.

Kew Media Group sold the documentary to channels in 130 territories. In New Zealand, the first episode was watched by 716,000, making it one of the most watched non-sporting non-news broadcasts in the country's history. Netherlands broadcaster VPRO referred viewers to the Mind Korrelatie foundation for victims of sexual abuse, and attracted callers in large numbers.

The US broadcast was followed by Oprah Winfrey Presents: After Neverland (recorded March 2, 2019), in which Robson, Safechuck, and Reed were interviewed by Oprah Winfrey before an audience of victims and their families. Winfrey later spoke of the "hateration" she received from people who negatively criticized the film and Jackson's supporters, yet said her support of the accusers has not wavered.

Channel One Russia originally planned to release the film on nighttime television on March 15 but later relegated it to their website, available until March 20, due to "mixed reception, speculation, and aggression from both supporters and opponents of the film."

Reception

Critical response

On Rotten Tomatoes, Leaving Neverland holds an approval rating of 98% based on ninety-two reviews, with an average score of 7.97/10. Its consensus states: "Crucial and careful, Leaving Neverland gives empathetic breadth and depth to the complicated afterlife of child sexual abuse as experienced by adult survivors." On Metacritic, it holds a weighted average of 85 out of 100, indicating "universal acclaim", based on twenty-one reviews.

In Vanity Fair, Owen Gleiberman described the two men's stories as "overwhelmingly powerful and convincing." Hank Stuever of The Washington Post thought the documentary was "riveting" and "devastating", ending his review with a plea: "Turn off the music and listen to these men." Melanie McFarland of Salon believed the film's "intent isn’t to merely grant these men and their families a platform to air their stories in all their painful fullness, but to place the viewer inside the perspectives of everyone who was taken in by the dream...it does leave the viewer in the thorny clarity of what we know now." Matthew Gilbert of The Boston Globe wrote that the film was not "particularly imaginative", yet he admired how it chronicled Robson's and Safechuck's emotional narrative: "it accounts for every stage of their respective recoveries, which are still in progress, including their darkest feelings of fear, denial, and shame." In Entertainment Weekly, Kristen Baldwin gave the film a B grade. She criticized it as "woefully one-sided" and concluded: "As a documentary, Leaving Neverland is a failure. As a reckoning, though, it is unforgettable." In The Hollywood Reporter, Daniel Fienberg wrote: Leaving Neverland is "about the 20+ years...Robson and Safechuck — and the damage that can do — as it is about the alleged crimes." He concluded, "it's doubtful you'll feel exactly the same after watching." The Daily Telegraph awarded it five out of five, describing it as "a horrifying picture of child abuse."

David Fear wrote in Rolling Stone: "By offering these men a forum, this doc has clearly chosen a side. Yet the thoroughness with which it details this history of allegations, and the way it personalizes them to a startling degree, is hard to shake off." IndieWire's David Ehrlich wrote that the film was "dry" and "hardly great cinema," but that it was "a crucial document for a culture that still can't see itself clearly in Michael Jackson's shadow." Alissa Wilkinson described the documentary as "a devastating case" that "may forever" change Jackson's legacy. In the Chicago Sun-Times, Richard Roeper described it as a "devastating and undeniably persuasive film."

Issues regarding credibility and supporters of Jackson

In January 2019, the Jackson estate issued a press release condemning the film: "The two accusers testified under oath that these events never occurred. They have provided no independent evidence and absolutely no proof in support of their accusations." In February 2019, the estate filed a $100 million lawsuit against HBO, petitioning a court to compel their arbitrate cooperation regarding the film's broadcast. As Jackson has died, HBO cannot be sued for defamation. Instead, the estate claimed HBO violated a 1992 agreement never to disparage Jackson's public image, one of the terms in broadcasting his concert film Live in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour. On the day of the HBO premiere of Leaving Neverland: Part One, the estate posted Live in Bucharest on YouTube. The next day, to coincide with the broadcast of Part Two, the estate posted another concert film, Live at Wembley July 16, 1988.

Fans of Jackson demanded the Sundance Film Festival to cancel the screening. At the Sundance premiere, Robson and Safechuck said they had received death threats from some fans. There were protests outside Channel 4's office, an internet campaign against the film calling it a "mockumentary," and a crowdfunded advertising campaign publicising Jackson's alleged innocence with the slogan "Facts don't lie. People do" on buses and bus stops. On March 13, Transport for London announced it would remove the adverts after the charity Survivors Trust complained that they could discourage victims of sexual abuse from coming forward. Several critiques of the film's credibility have appeared online.

American actor Corey Feldman, a friend of Jackson since a child, called the documentary "one-sided" and said Jackson never approached him inappropriately. He later clarified that his comments " meant in any way to question the validity of the victims." Singer Aaron Carter, who was also a friend of Jackson as a child, stated that he remembered his friend as "an amazing guy" and reiterated his support for Jackson when the media speculated on the suggestiveness behind some of his previous comments. Brett Barnes and American actor Macaulay Culkin also denied any inappropriate behavior coming from Jackson, when they were close to him as children.

American singer Barbra Streisand spoke in Jackson's defense, saying, "his sexual needs were his sexual needs," and that the accusers were "thrilled to be there." She added that the accusers were "both married and they both have children, so it didn't kill them." Streisand later apologized and expressed sympathy for the accusers. English singer Boy George expressed skepticism about the documentary's claims: "It's just taken almost for granted that this is what happened and therefore we all should accept it." American singer Madonna, who was a friend of Jackson, spoke to British Vogue in defense of him: "I don't have a lynch-mob mentality, so in my mind, people are innocent until proven guilty." She further questioned the filmmakers' intentions and credibility, saying, "What's the agenda? What do people want out of this? Are there people asking for money, is there some kind of extortion thing happening?" Joey Fatone of NSYNC, who knew Robson and worked with him during the 2001 MTV Video Music Awards also expressed skepticism: " it seemed like nothing was going on, that's the whole thing. To come out later on and have these repercussions, it's kind of weird and interesting because you never know what's true."

Brandi Jackson, Michael Jackson's niece, told John Ziegler of Mediaite in a podcast that Jackson introduced her to Robson, and the two began dating around the time Robson claimed to have been molested. She stated that her experience with Robson contradicted his story of abuse in the documentary. In an interview with Billboard, Brandi Jackson further expounded on her experience with Robson, saying Robson never mentioned any abuse occurring at the time, and that "the only thing he said was how blessed he was to have Michael as a business partner and a friend."

A former bodyguard of Jackson dismissed claims of child sexual abuse, saying that Jackson was heterosexual. A second bodyguard condemned the film for omitting Robson and Safechuck's lawsuits against the Jackson estate. Mark Geragos, former attorney for Jackson during his 2005 trial, noted that the film contains a speech spoken by him but was edited to fit the film's narrative. The film portrayed Geragos threatening anyone, particularly victims of child abuse, who were willing to besmirch Jackson's image, but omitted showing Geragos addressing two men who were found guilty for wiretapping Jackson, contrary to the film's presentation.

Journalist Charles Thomson, who wrote about the media's biased coverage of Jackson, spoke about the film in a radio podcast, "...have maintained for decades that Michael Jackson was innocent, including under oath defending him in legal proceedings. And then both of whom hit hard times a couple of years after he died and changed their stories and started suing his estate for hundreds of millions of dollars. Their case has been thrown out of court twice, and in one of them, the judge reprimanded them and threw their entire witness statement out of court, because he had found that they have provably and deliberately lied under oath. In the film they tell stories which directly contradict the stories they told under oath in their lawsuit." He described the film as "edited with zero supporting evidence" and "completely covers up and omits all of the public record information the court documents which have been accrued over the last five years." He said, "Whether you believe them now or you believe them then, either way they're perjurers.... This director has taken two perjurers at their word, which is so unethical anyway." In an interview with BBC Essex, he described the media's failure to provide any balance of information as a "universal, catastrophic failure" and said the only reason why the film is allowed to air is because Jackson is dead, hence the film is free from libel laws.

Mike Smallcombe, a biographer of Jackson, wrote that Safechuck's claims of sexual abuse at Neverland’s train station from 1988 to 1992 are false because the train station was not built until 1994. Reed responded, "The two still photos of the station shown in were in fact taken by James," inferring that Safechuck experienced sexual abuse at Neverland before and after the train station was constructed. Smallcombe called Reed's response "embarrassing." He accused Reed of changing Safechuck's timeline to post-1994, claiming that would damage the accusers' lawsuits.

A mini-documentary directed by Eli Pedraza and produced by Liam McEwan called Neverland Firsthand: Investigating the Michael Jackson Documentary was released on March 30, 2019; it explores the allegations of sexual abuse against Jackson. The 30-minute documentary explores the various credibility issues of the documentary and the accusers. It also looks into the many details which were excluded from Leaving Neverland. Michael Jackson: Chase the Truth, a documentary challenging the accusations made in the film, will be released on August 13.

Other public response

The documentary led to a backlash against Jackson in the media and provoked negative responses from various individuals and organizations. However, it also prompted a significant increase in his music's sales. According to Billboard, Jackson's combined music sales, including his work with the Jackson 5, increased 10%. Michael Jackson audio and video streams increased 6%, rising to 19.7 million between March 3 and March 5, from 18.7 million between February 24 and February 26. His videos were viewed 22.1 million times, an increase of roughly 1.2 million from the week prior. Three of his albums re-entered the UK iTunes chart.

Some radio stations banned Jackson's music after the release of the film. All Cogeco-owned stations in Canada pulled his music from their playlists temporarily. NH Radio in the Netherlands boycotted for a few weeks due to fears of its listeners being unable to listen to his music "in a neutral way." MediaWorks New Zealand removed them from their playlists explaining, " a reflection of our audiences and their preferences." Their rivals at New Zealand Media and Entertainment also removed Jackson's music indefinitely.

Executive producer James L. Brooks of The Simpsons stated the episode guest starring Jackson, "Stark Raving Dad," will be removed from syndication, FXX's "Simpson's World" on-demand service, and future DVD sets of the show. A London concert of music produced by Jackson collaborator Quincy Jones removed Jackson's name and album titles from its advertisements. Some concertgoers demanded refunds. Concert organizers claimed the modified artwork reflected the show's broader inclusion of Jones' repertoire unrelated to his work with Jackson. On June 27, "Weird Al" Yankovic indefinitely dropped his song parodies of Jackson's music from his Strings Attached Tour. Film producer Jodi Gomes said she and the Jackson family had been working on a fiftieth anniversary Jackson 5 documentary. The contract was ready to be signed with a network, but it reneged after Leaving Neverland. However, Gomes maintained that Jackson's legacy will endure.

Items of Jackson's clothing and a Jackson poster were removed from The Children's Museum of Indianapolis due to concerns over Jackson's moral character. However, Jackson's photographs from the Ryan White exhibit were kept. Fashion house Louis Vuitton announced they no longer will produce Jackson-inspired products that were originally planned for its fall and winter 2019 men’s collection.

American artistic gymnast Katelyn Ohashi removed Jackson's music and Jackson-inspired dance moves from her floor routine at the 2019 PAC-12 Championships. The city council of Brussels cancelled plans to dress the Manneken Pis sculpture in Jackson's signature clothing.

Margo Jefferson, a biographer of Jackson, wrote an essay reassessing her views on his legacy. She expressed her support for Jackson's accusers: "I am rooting for these men to win any legal and financial recompense they possibly can." Jefferson also explored the issue of separating Jackson's life from his art: "The task is to read the art and the life fully as they wind and unwind around each other, changing shape and direction."

Around the time of the tenth anniversary of Jackson's death in June 2019, various industry executives said that his legacy would endure. Darren Julien, president of Julien's Auctions, which has sold millions of dollars' worth of Jackson memorabilia, said, "He still commands prices compared to most any other celebrity." Billboard senior editor Gail Mitchell said she interviewed about thirty music executives who believed Jackson's legacy could withstand the Leaving Neverland controversy.

Thriller and its music video still reside in the Library of Congress' National Recording Registry and National Film Registry respectively. His music is still featured in commercials and is a part of a Cirque Du Soleil show in Las Vegas. Museums in Detroit and Tennessee kept images and artifacts of Jackson on display.

Awards

Leaving Neverland earned five Emmy nominations, including Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special.

See also

• Neverland Firsthand: Investigating the Michael Jackson Documentary
• Michael Jackson: Chase the Truth
• 1993 child sexual abuse accusations against Michael Jackson
• Trial of Michael Jackson

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98. McLaughlin, Eliott C. (March 17, 2019). "Indianapolis children's museum removes Michael Jackson's hat and gloves but will keep some photos". CNN.com. Retrieved June 9, 2019.
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External links

• Leaving Neverland on Channel 4
• Leaving Neverland. HBO. 2019.
• Leaving Neverland at IMDb

Template:People v. Jackson

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