In 2019, a bomb exploded in the Michael Jackson world, when British TV director Dan Reed premiered a four-hour TV series about Wade Robson and James Safechuck – two men demanding millions of dollars from Michael Jackson’s posthumous estate as compensation for alleged childhood sexual abuse. A co-production between Britain’s Channel 4 and America’s HBO, the show generated months of scandalous, sensational and extraordinarily biased media coverage, much of it demanding the all-out cancellation of Michael Jackson.

For a while, that looked like a possibility – but ultimately, Jackson weathered the storm. His music streams went up instead of down. A Michael Jackson musical debuted on Broadway, won a string of awards and has become one of the highest grossing shows in New York theatre history. Its London transfer has just been nominated for three prestigious Olivier awards. New versions have now opened in Germany and Sydney. Meanwhile, Lionsgate has invested $150m in the most expensive Hollywood biopic of all time, Michael.

But six years later, Reed has re-emerged with a 49-minute sequel, subtitled Surviving Michael Jackson and focusing on Robson and Safechuck’s ongoing legal efforts to obtain hundreds of millions of dollars from Jackson’s estate. It premiered this week to substantially less fanfare than its predecessor and extremely poor viewing figures.

In this roundtable episode, a panel of experts react to the latest episode of Leaving Neverland and consider what it means for Michael Jackson’s legacy.

This episode was edited by Charlie Carter.

Participants
• Charles Thomson – An award-winning crime reporter who has spent years investigating the Michael Jackson allegations, appearing in various books and documentaries.
• Taj Jackson – Michael Jackson’s nephew and the Jackson family’s loudest voice against Leaving Neverland and the allegations it documents.
• Anika Kotecha – A lawyer and co-founder of campaign group MJInnocent – which challenges biased and inaccurate reporting on the allegations against Michael Jackson – who was asked by Dan Reed to appear in Leaving Neverland 2.
• Jenny Winings – A long-time fan who was on the defence witness list for Michael Jackson’s 2005 trial, appeared in the documentary Square One and is actually featured in Leaving Neverland 2.
• Paul Black – A professional filmmaker and editor, who offers expert insight into the construction of the latest episode.

Additional Links
• The “Square One” documentary on YouTube.

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If you have feedback on this Michael Jackson podcast episode, we’d love to hear from you. Contact us at [email protected] or find the links to our many social networks on www.themjcast.com. Keep Michaeling!