Oprah: I fear a backlash over Jacko
Tearful accusers tell Jacko docu of abuse allegations
OPRAH Winfrey has admitted she fears a backlash after interviewing Michael Jackson’s rape accusers.
She spoke to Wade Robson and James Safechuck for a US TV show to coincide with the controversial documentary Leaving Neverland.
The chat show queen, expecting an angry response from Jackson fans, said, “I’m gonna get it” at the recording in New York on Wednesday.
During Leaving Neverland, Robson and Safechuck claim they were repeatedly sexually abused by the singer as children. They are now in their 30s.
Oprah, herself raped by a cousin at the age of nine, told an audience of abuse survivors: “This movie transcends Michael Jackson. It [sex abuse] is a scourge on humanity. It’s happening right now. It’s happening in families, it’s happening in churches... it’s happening in schools and sports teams.”
Leaving Neverland, a two-part docu, will be broadcast on Channel 4 on Wednesday and Thursday.
Oprah, 65, interviewed Jackson in 1993. He died in 2009, aged 50, and always denied sex abuse allegations.
karen.rockett@mirror.co.uk
A NEW documentary about Michael Jackson on Channel 4 next week has sparked a furious response from his family.
Leaving Neverland: Michael Jackson And Me alleges the late pop star was a paedophile and features interviews with accusers who break down in tears sharing their stories.
Producer and director Dan Reed met with two men – James Safechuck and Wade Robson – who claim they were abused by the singer as children.
The controversial programme has provoked a furious reaction from the Jackson estate which is now suing HBO, the US TV channel which co-produced it, alongside Channel 4.
Both companies have said they will go ahead with the broadcasts on successive nights next week.
Reed claimed it is “not a film about Michael Jackson” but instead about “two very ordinary families whose paths crossed with Jackson’s”.
He added: “In my storytelling, I don’t choose to criticise Jackson directly, or comment on his actions, motives, or reasons why.
“I’ve left it quite neutral, deliberately… I wanted people to understand that when a child is groomed, it’s a very complex relationship. The parents are manipulated.
“The focus of the documentary is deliberately narrow. I did interview former detectives and prosecutors from the investigations but I realised the families’ story was so complete already.
“The changes within the family become the echo chamber of the story. You feel like you are inside, and I felt interviews from the public sphere would break that spell and place us back on the outside.”
Reed comes from a world of war zones, crime and undercover work and has made several documentaries for HBO about terrorist attacks. His latest documentary is four hours long and explains in detail why Robson and Safechuck decided to speak out after so long.
One critic who watched the documentary, a selfprofessed fan of the late pop icon and his music, concluded: “Michael Jackson cast a spell. Leaving Neverland breaks it.”
Leaving Neverland: Michael Jackson And Me is on Wednesday and Thursday at 9pm on Channel 4.
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