Although Leaving Neverland initially premiered almost two months ago in the United States, the response to this documentary has been swift and chaotic. One one side of the fray, you have the mainstream media, misinformed people, and concerned parents wanting to do something to “Mute Michael Jackson”. On the other side, you have fans, “stans”, and people who have been close to the accusers and Michael respectively.

Let’s get one things straight: in the eyes of the law, Michael Jackson is an innocent man. He was found not guilty in 2005 after there was not enough evidence and too many conflicting claims to prove Michael was guilty of anything related to molestation or child exploitation. It seems that people in the MSM (mainstream media) either don’t understand this fact or don’t care. In the time period we are in, people feel like they always have to believe the accusers, and that is not a good thing. Thinking like this not only makes you put on blinders, but when the truth comes out, it makes you look ignorant. For example, let’s look at the media’s coverage of the Nick Sandman situation. There was a video released of an old Native American man and teenage boy having a “standoff”. The media was quick to attack the boy, Nick Sandman, for being the aggressor, even though he was just… standing there. The reason he was attacked was simply because he chose to wear a “MAGA” hat. Everyone described the situation as a clashing of race, but all it was was a kid standing still. What the media didn’t know is the whole story. They didn’t know about the Black Israelite hurling homophobic and racist slurs at people who were there. They didn’t know about the Native American’s questionable past. Luckily, Nick and his family are suing, so that’s good. The point is that the media tends to jump the gun when it comes to defending the alleged. Out of all the articles I have read covering this documentary, none of them talk about how Wade testified in Michael’s defense and defended him until 2013. They don’t talk about people close to Wade believing he is now lying, they don’t talk about how this film doesn’t have any evidence, and they don’t talk about several claims made by the accusers just being wrong.

What the media wants to talk about is trauma. Every single excuse the media gives about why the accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, didn’t come forward chalks up to trauma. Now, I luckily haven’t had the incredible misfortune of being abused, but Taj Jackson has. For those of you who do not know, Taj Jackson is Michael’s nephew and a member of the band 3T. He has been on several British talk shows recently, defending the legacy and innocence of his late uncle. He brings up a great point that nobody is discussing. He says in an interview with Good Morning Britain that “you don’t put someone you molested for seven years as your first star defense witness”. All of the online press is ignoring this and instead saying that Wade and James are brave for “speaking their truth”.

Do you know who isn’t speaking their truth? Stephanie Safechuck, the mother of James Safechuck. She claims that when she heard of the death of Michael Jackson, she “danced”. The problem with this is that according to James himself, he realized he was abused only after Wade “came out” about it, which was in 2013. 4 years after Michael died. This brings up two problems. Either Stephanie is a time traveler or James told her before he himself recognized it as abuse. The second idea goes directly against what he is claiming in the documentary, so that means Stephanie is lying about this whole thing. Fans of Jackson were quick to catch this and spread it all over social media. What I am about to say next is not 100% confirmed, but viewers in the UK are claiming that the documentary is noticeably shorter than in the US. What does this mean? It means that Dan Reed, the director of this film, recognized parts of it were untrue and took them out.

What does the media have to say about this though? Well, nothing. Even when you search for that specific event on Google, nothing comes up except hit piece after hit piece on Michael Jackson. This is such a shame because everybody who has the job of being a journalist is not doing their research and just calling Michael guilty of a crime he did not commit. The worst part about all of this is the reaction.

The public does not seem to care that Michael Jackson is innocent. They see a documentary that attempts to put down Michael in the most serious way possible and believe it. Partially, I don’t blame them. If they don’t know a lot about the topic it makes sense for them to believe a fake documentary. However, once you start researching the claims yourself and finding out the truth, you can just see the credibility of the accusers and the filmmaker crumble. I urge you to do your research before or after watching this documentary. I hope that you are able to take the word of people who knew Michael before you take the word of opportunists and extortionists.