Madge to Jacko’s accusers: Prove it
Queen of Pop defends old pal
MADONNA has spoken out over the Michael Jackson sex abuse allegations, saying: “People are innocent until proven guilty.”
Two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, alleged in graphic detail in a documentary that they were sexually abused as children by the King of Pop.
Queen of Pop Madonna, 60, who took Jackson as her date to the Oscars in 1991, admitted she has not seen the film Leaving Neverland.
But she said:
“I don’t have a lynch-mob mentality, so in my mind, people are innocent until proven guilty.
“So my attitude when people tell me things about people is, ‘Can you prove it?’”
Asked what would constitute proof of Jackson’s guilt, she told British Vogue magazine: “I guess it would be people recounting actual events – but then, of course, people sometimes lie. So I always say, 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? I would take all those things into consideration.”
She also said of the HBO and Channel 4 documentary: “I guess I’ll get around to seeing it. I haven’t seen it yet.”
The King and Queen of Pop went to the Academy Awards together in 1991. Madonna later called it the “best date ever” and revealed the pair had shared a passionate kiss. Jackson’s brothers Tito, Marlon and Jackie, and his nephew Taj, have dismissed the abuse allegations against the late singer. Jackson, who died in 2009, aged 50, has been labelled a “master manipulator”. In March, singer Barbra Streisand was criticised for saying the men who claim Jackson abused them were “thrilled to be there”.
She later apologised online for any pain she had caused.