JACKO WAS A PERV LIKE JIMMY SAVILE
THE director of the controversial new Michael Jackson film has compared the singer to Jimmy Savile.
Dan Reed says there are parallels between the two men in their actions.
And he thinks Jacko’s legacy, like that of shamed TV host and serial abuser Savile, will be tarnished drastically when people watch his documentary Leaving Neverland next week.
Dan told the Mirror: “I can absolutely see a comparison with Jimmy Savile.
“The whole Savile story broke before I began work on this film and I had it very much in mind when I set out, how somebody as celebrated as Savile can turn out to be a brutal child rapist.
“And it takes one victim to come out and to be believed, I know there were attempts to suppress that story as well. Everybody looked the other way.
“And that’s what’s been happening with Jackson as well. One wonders how many people looked the other way?
“He was hiding in plain sight. He had this Peter Pan identity where he made it normal to sleep with little boys. Neverland was designed to lure little children.
“I think the film will open a lot of people’s eyes to the way child sexual abuse, this sort of grooming that Jackson practised, how it all plays out.”
The film features interviews with two alleged victims, James Safechuck and Wade Robson, who say Jackson abused them.
James first met Jackson as a young model and actor, and they worked together in a 1988 Pepsi commercial. The two made friends and became inseparable, with Jackson often staying over at his family home.
At around the same time, Jackson met five-year-old Wade after he won a dance contest in Australia.
Both talk at length in graphic detail in DJ Jimmy Savile was a serial abuser Accuser Wade Robson now the film about how they were abused by Jackson at his Neverland ranch. Dan said: “He was very manipulative and deliberate in his grooming and his sexual activities with these children that took place over many years.” The filmmaker believes that Jackson had “at least a dozen” child victims who had been abused and could come out in the future.
He said he wants the film to inspire
DIRECTOR OF LEAVING NEVERLAND
Wade, left, & family with Jacko
A Polaroid snap of Jackson taken by Wade other victims, adding: “My hope is that victims of child sexual abuse out there will see the courage with which James and Wade speak out, and how fearless they are in confronting a powerful abuser, and will say, ‘If they can do it, I can.’”
The late singer’s estate has dismissed the film as “a lurid production that is a pathetic attempt to cash in” on Jackson’s legacy.
Lawyers acting on behalf of the estate sent a letter to Channel 4, warning that the film violates their programming guidelines, but the channel denies this.
Ian Katz, director of programmes, said: “Dan has ended the argument over whether Michael Jackson was a paedophile and given an insight into how families could be sucked into his celebrity.
“It is hard not to feel dismay that he was able to buy himself out of trouble.
“The way the Jackson estate have responded to this by seeking to discredit Wade and James is frankly despicable.” ■ Leaving Neverland airs on Channel 4 on March 6 and 7 at 9pm.
This Peter Pan identity made it normal to sleep with little boys
DAN REED