‘Leaving Neverland’ faces Jackson lawsuit
The estate of Michael Jackson has filed a lawsuit against HBO and parent company Time Warner over accusations made in the explosive documentary “Leaving Neverland.”
According to legal documents obtained by The Blast, Jackson’s estate filed a petition to compel HBO into arbitration over the documentary, which features two accusers — James Safechuck and Wade Robson — who say Jackson molested them when they were children.
The estate believes that damages could exceed $100 million.
Jackson’s estate has been targeting HBO since the network began promoting “Leaving Neverland” at the Sundance Film Festival. The estate alleges that HBO previously entered into a contract that included a non-disparagement agreement with Jackson in 1992 when the network aired “Michael Jackson Live in Concert in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour.”
In the contract, there was a clause that includes these words: “HBO shall not make any disparaging remarks concerning Per- former or any of his representatives, agents, or business practices or do any act that may harm or disparage or cause to lower in esteem the reputation or public image of performer.”
The estate claims that clause was breached by HBO.
The estate also addresses alleged victims Robson and Safechuck, by arguing, “Although Robson and Safechuck now claim to want to speak the truth publicly to help out other ‘victims,’ their prior actions show otherwise.”
The estate believes Robson and Safechuck participated in the documentary only because they were unsuccessful in litigation against the estate. It also decries the path HBO has taken, claiming the “once great and respected network” is has been “reduced to the pay television version of Hard Copy, with a little mix of The Jerry Springer Show.”
Jackson estate attorney, Howard Weitzman, told The Blast, “HBO breached its agreement not to disparage Michael Jackson by producing and selling to the public a one-sided marathon of unvetted propaganda to shamelessly exploit an innocent man no longer here to defend himself.”