How the world has turned its back on Michael Jackson after Leaving Neverland
The Leaving Neverland HBO documentary on Michael Jackson has sparked a massive backlash online across the world. This is how the world has turned against the King of Pop.
The Leaving Neverland HBO documentary on Michael Jackson has sparked a massive backlash online across the world.
Many of his former longtime supporters, some of notable fame in Hollywood, are now convinced he was a paedophile.
Others have continued to rally around him, arguing it’s unfair to go after a man who cannot defend himself from the grave.
Since the two-part series has aired in the US, and Australians are watching it this weekend, this is how the world has turned against the King of Pop.
Child star’s shock reaction to being in Jacko doco
Jacko’s sister said he was a paedophile
Aussie stations split on playing Jacko
‘I was Jacko’s lover’: Aussie dancer’s shocking claims
MICHAEL JACKSON SIMPSONS EPISODE AXED
The producers of The Simpsons are removing a classic episode that featured the voice of Michael Jackson after HBO aired the doco in two men claim they were sexually abused by the singer when they were younger.
“It feels like the only choice to make,” executive producer James L. Brooks told The Wall Street Journal on Thursday.
Fellow executive producers Matt Groening and Al Jean are “of one mind on this,” Brooks said.
In the 1991 “Stark Raving Dad” episode, Jackson voiced a character who claims to be Jackson and who meets Homer Simpson in a mental institution. The singer is listed in credits as John Jay Smith.
The episode will be removed from streaming services and future DVD sets.
CALLS FOR JACKSON VEGAS SHOW TO END
An online petition by Care2 is now calling for the end of the Las Vegas Cirque du Soleil show Michael Jackson: One has also attractedn several thousand signatures by Friday.
“We’re excited to see people from all around the world who also probably love Michael Jackson’s music and agree that it’s time to have this tough conversation about whether we’re honouring a man that maybe doesn’t deserve the honour,” said Rebecca Gerber, director of advocacy and engagement for Care2.
Gerber understands people’s love for Jackson’s music, but she hopes Mandalay Bay on the Vegas strip will consider all victims of abuse and cancel the show.
Cirque du Soleil representatives have declined to comment.
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OPRAH APPEARS TO BELIEVE JACKSON ACCUSERS
Celebrity talk show host Oprah Winfrey waded into the Michael Jackson debate when she hosted an hour-long interview of the men, Australian Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who say the late superstar sexually abused them as minors.
Calling sexual abuse “a scourge on humanity,” Winfrey said “this moment transcends Michael Jackson. It’s much bigger than any one person.”
Winfrey — channelling her decades of experience as one of America’s foremost talk show hosts — unpacked how Jackson’s accusers began to identify themselves as victims, and why they remained silent for so long.
“He told me it was love,” said Robson, now 36.
“He told me that he loved me and that God brought us together. Michael was God to me.” Robson said he had testified in 2005 on behalf of Jackson, who was ultimately acquitted of those sexual abuse charges, because “if I was to question Michael and my story with my Michael, it would mean I would have to question everything in my life.”
Safechuck, 41, told Winfrey how Jackson “would cry for you, or he would cry because he’s so lonely. You want to be there for him.” But fatherhood and seeking help encouraged them to speak candidly about their experiences, they said.
Winfrey did a candid interview with Jackson back in 1993. Jackson fans have claimed her TV special titled After Neverland is very “one-sided”. They called on viewers to #MuteOprah.
RADIO STATIONS PULL MICHAEL JACKSON SONGS
Stations around the world have responded to the doco. In Australia, Smooth and Nova have both decided not to play his songs.
Nova Entertainment group program director Paul Jackson told News Corp the Billie Jean singer’s music had been completely removed from all stations in the Nova and Smooth FM groups.
“The decisions we make about the music we play on any of our stations are dependent on the relevance to the audience and the current context,” he said in a statement.
“In light of what is happening at the moment, smoothfm is not currently playing any Michael Jackson songs.”
Overseas, Canada’s Cogeco Media, which owns several radio stations in Montreal including CKOI and Rythme and the English-language station called The Beat, said it had temporarily pulled Jackson’s songs from airplay.
“We are attentive to the comments of our listeners, and the documentary released on Sunday evening created reactions,” spokeswoman Christine Dicaire said in a statement.
Dutch station NH radio said it would also stop playing Jackson’s music for a few weeks.
“I don’t think people can listen to the songs the same way anymore. They are supposed to make you happy, make you sing and dance,” NH radio editor Arjan Snijders said in a broadcast.
State-owned RNZ in New Zealand said its decision is “a reflection of our audiences and their preferences.”
NZME director Dean Buchanan said: “Playlists change from week to week and right now Michael Jackson does not feature on them.”
In the UK, Radio 2 has also stopped playing his songs. Fans recently reacted by vandalising a van belonging to a radio station.
They used spray-paint to write “MJ’s Innocent”- less than 24 hours after Fix Radio announced it was dropping Jackson’s songs from rotation. Program director Graham Mack said the station is “the no nonce-sense radio station”.
He dubbed Jackson a “paedophile” and stated listeners “won’t want to hear Michael Jackson again” after watching the documentary. He went as far as to say Jackson “ruined people’s lives” and “was America’s Jimmy Savile.”
JACKSON’S WALK OF FAME UNDER STRICT WATCH
Police are monitoring Michael Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame amid fears it could be vandalised, it has been reported.
Cops in Los Angeles told TMZ they are doing extra patrols of the area following the screening of the explosive documentary Leaving Neverland on HBO this week.
LAPD officers took similar measures following the election of US President Donald Trump and the trial of sex offender and comedian Bill Cosby.
Police told TMZ that surveillance cameras are also monitoring the section of the Walk of Fame.
Source said there have been no issues relating to vandalism as yet.
CORY FELDMAN CAN’T BACK JACKSON ANYMORE
Corey Feldman, who was friends with Jackson as a young teen can no longer defend him from sex abuse allegations.
In an interview with CNN, Feldman said: “I don’t want to be perceived as I’m here to defend Michael because I can no longer do that.
“I cannot in good consciousness defend anyone who’s being accused of such horrendous crimes, but at the same time, I’m also not here to judge him because he did not do those things to me and that was not my experience.
“So, therefore, my place is not to be the judge and not to be the accuser and not to be the defender, my job in this is to focus on what’s most important, which is helping to reform the statutes of limitations in every state because if we can reform the statutes of limitations, we can prevent things from ever getting to this point.”
Feldman said he was baffled by what he saw, saying it was not the guy he knew.
“As I’m watching it, I’m going this doesn’t make sense to me, this isn’t the guy that I knew,” Feldman said.
“But look, I’m a guy that at 14 years old was molested, did have a paedophile completely lie to me about who he was.
“I trusted him. I believed in him as a friend, and I thought he was a good person and then he molested me. It all proves that I’m not the best judge and that’s why I shouldn’t be the judge in this situation.”
JACKSON WAX STATUE REMOVED
A wax statue of the late “King of Pop” Michael Jackson was already removed from a mall in Denmark last month.
The statue was removed from the Roedovre Centrum shopping mall — the oldest in Denmark — over concerns it could offend shoppers or be vandalised because of accusations that Jackson molested boys. The mall is located in suburban Copenhagen.
The mall has received roughly 15 complaints about the statue, primarily from families with children, Charlotte Andersen, the marketing manager for the mall, told Denmark’s TV2 broadcaster, according to The Associated Press.
The wax statue, which was part of an exhibition at the mall that also featured statues of stars such as Marilyn Monroe and Julia Roberts, was replaced with one of actor Brad Pitt.
JACKSON’S FAMILY SUES
Jackson’s family has denounced the program, saying it’s full of falsehoods. His estate is suing HBO for a $US100 million lawsuit.
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