Michael Jackson: Chase the Truth (2019) Movie Script
- In the last few
weeks a large amount
of ugly, malicious information
has been released into
the media about me.
- This investigation
regarding Mister Jackson
involves allegations
of child molestation,
288-A of the
California penal code.
- And I will not be a silent
collaborator of his crimes.
- [Interviewer] Were
you ever accused
of having sexually
molested Brett Barnes?
- [Man] Don't answer that.
- The strain of the
ongoing investigation
is clearly taking its toll.
- I'm behind my son.
I don't believe
any of this stuff
that has been written about him.
- We support our
brother wholeheartedly.
- The the felony complaint
involves nine counts.
- [News Reporter]
So has the star simply buckled
under pressure?
Is the strain too much of
seeing his accuser in court?
- But in the end he
simply couldn't afford
to live in a fantasy.
- Breaking news for you tonight.
The singer, Michael Jackson,
is reported to have died
from a heart attack.
- Daddy has been the best
father you could ever imagine.
- Intense sexual abuse.
Being heard is a powerful thing.
We can't control
what people believe.
- The information is
disgusting and false.
- My name is Mike Smallcombe,
I'm a journalist
based in the UK,
and I've written a
book on the career
and the life of Michael Jackson.
Right after Michael
Jackson passed away,
being a journalist, I read
a few of his biographies,
and being interested
in his life and career,
and all of them were focused
on his personal life.
Here we've got probably the
biggest music superstar ever,
and there's not really any
literature, any books out there
that cover his career,
so loving research,
being a journalist,
and Michael Jackson being a
topic I was interested in,
I thought there's a real
gap in the market there.
Why can't I be the person who
writes something like that?
- I'm Mark Lester,
longtime friend of Michael's.
So I've known Michael
since about 1978.
When Michael was touring
with The Jacksons,
he came over to the UK,
and his manager phoned me up,
and said Mike would
like to meet me,
so we met.
When I was waiting on the
other side of the door
before I met him
for the first time,
I didn't know what to expect.
I thought he was going to
answer the door in a spacesuit,
or he would be levitating,
or something like weird.
But he wasn't, he was just
a completely normal guy.
We're both the same
age, within a month.
Michael was born in August,
I was born in July of '58.
Michael showed me all these
magazines, pop magazines,
"Tiger Beat," "Teen" magazine,
which were big in the States.
Whenever there was an article
with Michael was in it,
usually I would be somewhere
in the magazine as well,
so there was some kind
of association with that,
that Michael picked up on.
- My name's Lucy Lester,
Michael is my godfather.
I was 12 when I first met him.
He flew us over to Las Vegas,
and that's where we had
the naming ceremony.
I never grew up listening
to his music, or anything,
so to me it wasn't
Michael, like pop star,
it was just Michael,
my dad's best friend.
- My name's Matt Fiddes.
I was Michael Jackson's
friend and bodyguard,
for a number of years.
People have to understand,
I wasn't with him
24 hours a day.
I think when people try and
say, were you close to him?
Or, are you friends with him?
This guy's the biggest
superstar on Earth.
- When Michael was
onstage, he owned it.
It was an incredible
transformation.
["Wanna Be Startin'
Somethin'" by Michael Jackson]
a?? I said you wanna be
startin' somethin' a??
a?? You got to be
startin' somethin' a??
a?? I said you wanna be
startin' somethin' a??
a?? You got to be
startin' somethin' a??
- Being onstage at
the age of five,
it's all he ever knew.
He was in the
Jackson 5 of course,
and tremendously successful.
That had led him to be
one of the richest people
in entertainment ever,
and be adored by millions
of fans around the world.
So that's a great,
great privilege.
Of course, we know
the flip side to that,
with Michael Jackson,
and the burden of that.
- I always liken him to being
a member of the royal family.
He was born into it.
He didn't know any different.
So his perception of the world
was completely different from
my reality, your reality.
- He would say it was
the greatest thing
that happened to him,
but also he would like to
have been given a choice
to be a superstar.
Because he can't remember
not being Michael Jackson,
the famous guy who
couldn't go anywhere.
- There was one story in
particular that he would say,
and he was recording
with Motown,
and he was in the studio
with his brothers,
and they could hear
children playing
in a playground opposite.
And he just wished that he
could just go over there,
and be himself, be a child.
But he couldn't, because
he was recording.
And there was a
time when brothers
were due to go to
South America to tour.
And, in the car on the
way to the airport,
he was just crying, because
he didn't want to go.
He just wanted to stay,
and be a child, play.
He couldn't do that.
And it had a massive
impact on him as an adult.
Obviously, this
obsession with childhood,
and building Neverland Ranch,
wanting to be with children.
Always trying to compensate
for that childhood
that he never had.
[children playing]
- I think the way
to describe him,
he was the biggest media
manipulator there
is in the world,
where he could control the
media, in certain ways.
And at the same time, it
would backfire on occasions.
And no one wanted to tell him.
Is this the wrong thing to do?
This may look the wrong way
from the public point of view.
- He told me that he
was an illusionist,
so if he wanted to create
a stir with the press,
all he had to do was go out
of the hotel in a wheelchair,
and then all of a sudden,
the whole of the world's press,
was, oh Michael Jackson's
in a wheelchair.
And then he'd just
get out the wheelchair
and get in the car.
One of his favorites
was a surgical mask.
He'd walk around with that,
and they were like,
what's going on here?
Why is he wearing
a surgical mask?
It was for illusion.
So he knew kind of a
little bit how to play,
and then to toy with the press.
But in other ways he
was incredibly naive.
- We have stories about
Michael Jackson's soul.
The fact the Michael was a
bit eccentric, helped that.
So this mystery persona.
I mean wow, he sleeps
in an oxygen chamber.
He lives on a theme park.
His skin color's changed.
You name it.
- [Mark] Sadly, it
kind of came around
and it bit him on
the backside a bit.
- Unfortunately, it was
partly Michael's fault,
the mysterious
aspect of his life,
and the weird stuff
coming out in the 80's.
That was slightly his
fault with his PR campaign.
But, that was quite
innocent stuff, really.
The chamber, Bubbles the monkey,
elephant man bones.
It just got really,
really vicious,
and negative, and totally
backfired unfortunately.
The team around Michael,
stopped having his best
interests at heart.
In 1995,
so from '97 until 2009,
Michael had [muffled], I had
to get my head around this,
10 different managers,
different accountants,
different lawyers.
It was a mess, complete
and utter mess.
Partly Michael's fault,
but they have a duty
representing him
to have his best interests
at heart, and they didn't.
They had their own
interests at heart.
In '93, the civil lawsuit filed
by the Jordan Chandler family,
and the police report,
that was simultaneous.
Once Michael Jackson had
settled that civil lawsuit,
the reasons being,
not because he wanted
to hush the Chandler family.
The reasons actually
are quite incredible.
- I can't speak for Michael,
but I know one thing,
Michael is not guilty,
I've talked to him before,
I think he'll be fine,
because he had nothing
to be ashamed of.
- [Man] He's strong.
- [Katharine] So
he's very strong.
He'll just come out of it.
- A judge ruled that
the civil lawsuit
would be heard first.
Because it was a minor,
I think he thought that okay,
we're gonna have to hear
this within 120 days,
from this day.
Michael's lawyers are like,
hey, we want the
criminal trial first,
because a civil lawsuit,
that can really prejudice
a criminal trial.
Why?
Because we have a court hearing,
between the Chandlers
and Michael's defense,
in a civil lawsuit,
the Chandlers and their
attorneys will know
what Michael's defense
is going to be.
That's massively prejudicial
for any criminal trial.
He wouldn't get a
fair criminal trial,
because he had this civil
thing going on before.
The important one
was the criminal one,
because he could end up in jail.
The civil one is
just about money.
If you're hearing
the civil one first,
and that could help
get you in jail,
Michael's team was like,
the only option we've got,
because the judge
ruled the civil one
is going to be heard
first, to get rid of it.
How do you get rid of it?
You have to settle.
That made Michael look guilty.
What is he hiding?
Why is he paying
off this family?
- If this really went on,
do you think the father
would accept money,
that that would make it okay,
that that would make
everything all right?
It doesn't make any sense.
I know that if that
were my son, I'm sorry,
I don't care if he gave
me a billion dollars,
I want to see you either
behind bars or dead,
for the rest of your life,
for doing that to my son,
or my daughter.
It's crazy, the guy was after
money is what he wanted.
- I totally disagreed
with him doing that.
He should not have
given him anything.
But if there had been
any criminal activity,
you can't pay off the cops
or the legal system.
They will go after you.
You can't just say,
I'll pay the fine,
because it didn't
work like that.
If they pursued it through
the criminal courts,
they didn't.
- We have concluded that
because the young boy,
who was a catalyst,
for this investigation,
has recently informed us,
that he does not
wish to participate
in any criminal proceeding,
where he is named as a victim,
that we must decline prosecution
involving Mister Jackson.
- People don't know
the ins and outs
of why he was forced to
make that settlement.
He didn't want to, he
wanted to fight them both.
So, that was '93, gone.
- I think he got over
that quite quickly
and just pushed that one aside.
The second time,
with the Arvizo case,
now that was around 2003.
At that time I'd seen
quite a lot of Michael,
and going backwards and
forwards to the States,
spending a lot of
time at Neverland,
and I was at Neverland,
a great deal of the time when
the Arvizo family were there,
and they were awful.
- When we heard that
police were at Neverland,
me and Mark spoke,
and we knew exactly,
we're talking Gavin
Arvizo and his family.
And out at the fours even,
we'd been told, or the media
had even announced that we knew,
because they were
just called in havoc.
- Basically, the boy was
recovering from cancer,
and Michael had said
to him in the hospital
that if he ever wanted
to come to Neverland,
be my guest, come.
And of course, the mother
had overheard this,
and like yeah, we're going.
Okay, so they turn
up at Neverland.
It was just initially
the boy and his mom.
They were made to
feel very welcome,
and put up in one
of the guest lodges.
But they stayed for
like three months.
And then all of a sudden
all these cousins appeared.
And at one time there was
like 15 of these like kids,
and they were running
riot around Neverland.
- Anyone could clearly see
that they were taking
advantage of Michael,
because he had such a big heart,
and he wanted people
to come to Neverland.
He wanted them to have
this amazing experience,
and I think it's
quite sad that people
must portray that as,
if you're being kind,
you must be preying on people.
There must be something
sinister behind it,
when all he wanted to do
was just make people happy.
- They were just like hooligans,
and then it came to a time
when they were asked to leave.
The next day is when I think
the mother turned really nasty,
and then made all these
allegations about Michael.
- Years ago, I allowed a family
to visit and spend
some time at Neverland.
Neverland is my home.
I allowed this
family into my home
because they told me their
son was ill with cancer,
and needed my help.
Through the years I have
helped thousands of children
who were ill or in distress.
These events have caused
a nightmare for my family,
my children, and me.
I never intend to place myself
in so vulnerable a
position ever again.
- The service of the warrant
was part of an
ongoing investigation,
alleging criminal misconduct
on the part of Michael Jackson.
The basis for this investigation
regarding Mister Jackson,
involves allegations
of child molestation,
288-A of the
California penal code.
Additionally, an arrest
warrant for Mister Jackson
has been issued,
on multiple counts
of child molestation.
The bail amount on the
warrant has been set
at three million dollars.
At this point in
time, Mister Jackson's
been given an opportunity
to surrender himself
to the custody of the Santa
Barbara Sheriff's Department,
within a specified
period of time.
We are currently working
with Mister Jackson's
legal representation
on this matter.
- Sham of a trial,
again about money,
because Arvizo's mom
first went to a civil lawyer,
to try and get a
settlement of some sort.
But the civil lawyer said,
you need a conviction first.
And that's the only reason why
there was a criminal
trial first.
- This case is about
one thing only,
it's about the
dignity, the integrity,
the decency, the honor,
the charity, the innocence,
and the complete vindication
of a wonderful human being
named Michael Jackson.
- I would like to thank
the fans around the world.
- [News Reporter] Could
you speak up please?
- I would like to thank
the fans around the world,
for your loving support,
from every corner of the Earth,
my family who has
been very supportive,
my brother Randy,
who's been incredible.
I want to thank the
community of Santa Maria.
I want you to know that
I love the community of
Santa Maria very much,
it's my community.
I love the people.
I will always love the people.
My children were born
in this community,
my home is in this community.
I will always love
this community
from the bottom of my heart.
That's why I moved here.
Thank you very much.
- The first thing wasn't
going to the police
and saying, this
is what happened.
The first step was
civil lawyer, money.
- But the media wanted
that clash, bang.
The guy who has
come from nothing,
and then you see him
in the handcuffs.
The money would have been in
if he was found
guilty for the media.
And the media outside
was just unbelievable.
You have never seen
anything like it.
- In America, the coverage
of the trial was horrid.
Certain things would
be said in court,
and then a completely
different thing
would be reported in the media.
There's no wonder that non-fans,
members of the public were
outraged that Michael
Jackson was found not guilty,
because they'd
read this coverage
of Michael for five months,
thinking that this was
the coverage in the court,
when it wasn't.
- The reason publicity
about these settlements
is unfair and damaging
to him, his family,
and his dedication to
the world's children.
The charges he faces are false,
and will be battled
in a court of law
within our justice system.
He is innocent and
will be vindicated.
- It was a disgrace.
The media was spreading
around this narrative
that Michael Jackson was guilty.
How can a jury find
him not guilty,
given what's happened
in that courtroom?
But that wasn't the case.
In fact, what was
heard in the courtroom
was highly in Michael's favor.
After the prosecution
case was put forward,
the defense were thinking,
are we even gonna bother here?
Because the jury was ready
to declare Michael
Jackson not guilty,
after the prosecution case.
But the defense decided
we're gonna hammer
the nail in the coffin
of all of this.
- [Thomas] The only people
that really mattered
were 12 jurors and
one judge, 13 people.
The rest were just extraneous
as far as we were concerned.
You had to drown out the media.
They were just a distraction.
They had their own agenda,
which was ratings and
revenue, not justice,
and you had to just
focus on the evidence,
focus on the courtroom,
and stay away from them.
- [Susan] I think Michael is
one of those rare clients,
where lawyers really
don't have to prep a lot.
You don't even
have to coach him,
in terms of how he should
behave in the courtroom.
He was just so
well-behaved naturally,
without even having to tell him
to do anything other
than just be himself.
- [David] How he
survived two years,
where you're possibly
going to live
the rest of your
life behind bars.
I don't know, I would have
taken a gun and shot myself.
But he was very strong
and he was someone who
knew he had done nothing wrong.
And he just believed in his
conviction, so I hand it to him.
But it was tough.
- The image and persona the
tabloid press saw of Michael,
is not the man,
not the true Michael Jackson.
And I think because
he was different,
he didn't conform to the norm,
people didn't like that.
There was this kind
of witch hunt about
getting this man,
because he just
didn't conform to how
they wanted him to.
- In the UK, there seem to
be these top-down agreements
since the late '80's,
that Michael Jackson
was to be smeared.
Reporters would be told,
all we're gonna report on
is negative Michael Jackson
stories, to sell papers.
So the red tops, they
all agreed on that.
You still see that today.
So that's the dirtier
thing in the UK.
Michael Jacko, all
the newspapers.
And now again, two
accusers, 2013,
going to a civil
lawyer, and saying,
I want to sue Michael
Jackson's estate.
- Yeah, you know, there's
been different times
where it would just
be me and Michael.
Then there'd be other
times where he has
other friends over too.
That's what Albert Brett said.
It's just a slumber party,
we'd just have a lot of fun.
We just have a lot of fun.
- Intense sexual abuse.
That had to be clear.
- I can just say for decades,
Jackson put up this smokescreen,
which was reinforced
by his family,
and the media as well.
- The allegations
are nothing new.
Obviously I didn't know
there was gonna be a film,
but I knew about
the allegations,
because Wade Robson
and James Safechuck
sued the Michael Jackson estate
all the way back in 2013.
This is something that's
very much under the radar,
rumbled on and on.
How that all started,
Wade Robson tried to get a job
with the Michael Jackson estate,
being the lead choreographer
on the Cirque du Soleil show.
- I'm starting on Cirque du
Soleil, Michael Jackson show.
So it's the equivalent of
The Beatles Love
Show that they have,
or the Elvis show,
but for Michael.
- Didn't get the job.
Was at a crossroads
in his career,
lacking finances, not really
knowing where to turn.
He was desperate
to get this job,
been praising Michael
ever since Michael died,
went to his memorial service
at the Staples Center,
saying in interviews how Michael
is this great friend of his.
- Michael's such a hug part
of my career, and life.
We were friends for 20
years before he passed,
since I was seven.
So it's an opportunity for me
to give back a little
bit to his legacy,
it's such a big
part of his legacy,
and to make sure
as much as I can,
that it's done right,
and that it really
represents his essence.
- Didn't get the job.
Didn't know what to do.
He was having this
sort of breakdown,
and he started to write
a book about Michael,
and tried to shop
that book around,
and in it, claimed that
Michael Jackson had abused him.
No one would have it,
so that was when Wade Robson
went to a civil lawyer,
and looked at his options,
and eventually filed
a creditor's claim
against the Michael
Jackson estate.
It was initially at
1.5 billion dollars.
I don't have an
intrinsic knowledge
of the ins and outs of how
much it eventually was,
but it's hundreds of
millions of dollars.
He actually filed that
lawsuit, initially under seal.
So if you file
something under seal,
it doesn't become public record.
He was hoping that
the estate would go,
oh, here's X amount of money.
Let's keep this quiet.
Here's your money, go away.
But the estate was
like, no chance.
We're gonna fight this.
That's when it became public.
I'll go back to James Safechuck.
He was watching Wade Robson,
and this is May 2013,
watching Wade Robson on TV,
one of the TV shows in America,
where Wade Robson
says I was abused,
and all this stuff
happened to me,
and James Safechuck said,
in his sworn declaration,
that was what triggered
something in his mind,
made him realize, I've been
abused by Michael Jackson, too.
There have been so
many inconsistencies
in terms of, when they knew
about this alleged abuse.
Wade Robson is
saying that in 2005,
I testified in Michael's defense
because I saw his children.
Michael was a friend.
I didn't want him to go to jail.
That's why I did it.
And yet, then he's saying
that he only realized
that he was abused in 2012-13,
you've got that inconsistency.
It's the same with Safechuck.
2005, claiming that he
was asked to testify
in Michael Jackson's
trial, which is not true.
Early on in the trial,
a judge ruled that
any evidence as per James
Safechuck would not be admitted,
would not be allowed
in the trial.
Yet in the documentary
we see Safechuck saying,
that Michael called me,
Michael's lawyers called me,
but I refused to testify.
He's saying that he knew
about the abuse in 2005.
Michael was a bad man.
I'm not gonna testify.
Then he says that the
Wade Robson TV show
is what triggered him into
realizing that he was abused.
So you've got them saying,
okay we suddenly
realized in 2012-13,
that hey we knew, in 2005,
because Wade Robson, I
was protecting Michael.
Safechuck, I wasn't gonna
testify because he's a bad man.
That's when James Safechuck
filed a copycat lawsuit.
So from 2013, till 2017,
you've got this ongoing
litigation with the estate.
Eventually a judge
threw out the lawsuit,
because of a thing called
statute of limitations.
They just basically
filed it too late.
A year later, you've got the
documentary film being made.
- I watched it, and I
was saddened by the show.
Victims of child abuse is a
very, very serious matter,
but it didn't really
push anything about
the child abuse thing.
I don't know,
I watched it and
all it was was like,
watching a court
case where you heard
the prosecution and no defense.
It was so totally unbalanced,
and I don't know,
I just, it made me feel sick.
- That was, for them,
the obvious route.
Let's make this thing public,
let's make this a
worldwide issue.
Can this help our appeal?
Which isn't mentioned
in the documentary,
against the decision by a
judge to throw out the case.
- It's like I don't feel
like they want justice.
If that was me, that
would be above anything.
That is why I would want,
but we don't want to be
going in front of a camera,
talking about my experience
to people that don't know me.
The first I would do
is, go to the police.
I wouldn't be thinking like how,
let's turn this into a book.
Let's go and sue the family.
Because, who does that?
- I couldn't speak the truth
any earlier than I did.
I wish I could have.
I wish I was emotionally
and mentally capable
earlier, than I was.
- I think being heard is
probably one of the number
one wants of a victim.
But also,
when all this goes away,
and the interest goes away,
we're still left
with being abused.
- So much silence,
and so much isolation,
which I experienced,
James experienced,
and most survivors experience.
So being heard is
a powerful thing.
We can't control
what people believe.
That's up to
people's own journey.
- All of Michael's accusers,
it's always been about money.
- It's never because
there's evidence
that he's done
this or done that.
It's always money, always
going for the money first.
Or they wait until he dies,
and goes for the money,
because they know a
criminal trial won't work,
so it's always financial.
- Let's start at the beginning.
So when there's money involved,
that automatically
should make people wary.
What are their intentions here?
And then you've got
previous behavior in court.
Wade Robson and Jimmy
Safechuck are perjurers,
because they
testified under oath.
So Safechuck back
in '93, and Robson.
Michael Jackson never did
anything, sworn declaration,
signed, under
penalty of perjury.
2005, Wade Robson
testified in court,
under oath, under
penalty of perjury,
nothing ever happened.
- What I find odd
is the fact that
Mesereau, Michael's lawyer,
who is an extremely
high-powered lawyer,
who would have obviously
interviewed this kid,
in depth, and you're
talking about one of the top
lawyers in America,
and if he was convinced that
he was safe to put on the stand,
I don't know,
it baffles me.
- So already you've got
credibility issues there.
You've got the financial aspect,
and you've got the credibility,
due to previous statements.
If there was a court case,
if Michael Jackson was alive,
Michael's defense
would try and impeach
those witnesses by
bringing into evidence
previous inconsistent
statements,
and that would include Michael
Jackson never did anything,
under oath, under
penalty of perjury.
That alone is enough
to make all the allegations
highly not credible.
The first time that
Wade Robson alleges
that he was abused by Michael
Jackson, was in January 1990.
The Robson family went
to Record One Studios,
while Michael was working
on the album that
became, "Dangerous."
Michael said, why
don't you come up
to Neverland for the weekend?
To the whole family,
the whole Robson family.
So that was Wade,
Chantal, his sister,
her mother, Joy, and her
parents, so Wade's grandparents.
All whisked up to
Neverland for the weekend.
They stayed for two
nights, the whole family.
And both Wade, and Joy Robson,
said under oath, that
those first two nights,
Wade and Chantal slept with
Michael, in Michael's bedroom.
Nothing happened.
Wade said in the documentary,
nothing happened.
- And I've slept in the
same bed as Michael.
He says, you watch
cartoons, you fall asleep.
You know, it's
just a friendship,
and I know he would never do
anything to hurt my brother.
He's the nicest guy
you've ever met.
- I've been there
when these kids
have been in Michael's room.
I've been there with them.
It's just party time.
They watch videos,
they eat junk food,
they play video games.
They play so hard,
they fall asleep, they're
exhausted, they fall asleep.
There's nothing more
to it than that.
- [Interviewer]
From your standpoint
does it seem unusual
for a 34-year-old man
to have kids sleeping over?
- Not when you know
Michael's background.
Under normal circumstances,
possibly yes.
But Michael, everybody knows
he didn't have a childhood.
- Then, the rest
of Robson's family
went away to the Grand Canyon.
Wade says that after the
first couple of nights,
he saw Michael hunched
in a corner, crying,
that he didn't want to
Robson family to leave him.
But the Robson family was
touring America at the time.
So the story goes that
Wade stayed at Neverland,
and the rest of the family
went away to the Grand Canyon,
leaving little
seven-year-old Wade Robson
alone at Neverland.
He says that slowly,
as those days went on,
he was abused by Michael
Jackson, for the first time,
and goes into real
livid detail about that.
His whole story that it
happened that first time,
that first weekend.
So I had a source
who could provide me
with some court transcripts.
Joy Robson, in a
deposition from '93,
and I discovered that
during that deposition,
Joy Robson said that,
yeah we went to Neverland
for the weekend,
the whole family,
and stayed a couple of nights,
and then the whole family then
went off to the Grand Canyon.
So they didn't
leave Wade behind.
She then said that again,
in 2016, in a deposition,
for the civil lawsuit,
which is very odd,
because Wade's whole story is,
I was left behind
while my family
went off to the Grand Canyon.
But Joy Robson says that
the whole family went,
naming Wade as having
gone with them.
And Joy has also previously
testified under oath,
that the first time Wade
was alone with Michael
at Neverland was '93.
And then in a different,
totally different case,
Wade Robson, in 2005 also says,
the last time I was alone
with Michael was in 1993.
So you've got these
statements made
by both Joy and
Wade, under oath,
on three or four occasions,
where that story is,
we stayed two nights,
we went off to the
Grand Canyon, all of us.
Wade Robson has never been at
Neverland alone until 1993.
- He's not just
getting dates mixed up,
because Joy Robson was an
adult, in the early 90's,
and she gave this
deposition two years
after the first Neverland trip.
She would have remembered then,
that first weekend at Neverland,
Wade came with us
to the Grand Canyon.
It's not 15 years later,
did he, didn't he?
No, they said Wade came
with us to the Grand Canyon.
Why would you then
lie about that?
In the "Leaving
Neverland" documentary,
James Safechuck gives this
detailed story about how
he was abused in
different places
around Neverland
by Michael Jackson,
including the grand
train station,
which people will know
because of the floral clock
in front, it's quite
an iconic piece.
So he goes into this detail
about how he was abused
in a room upstairs, and
pictures appear on the screen,
so it's definitely
that train station,
and he says it
happened every day,
and he says of the how,
it's something that
happens when you first
get into a relationship
and things are exciting.
That to me would indicate that
he's talking about the stars,
when he was abused by
Michael Jackson allegedly.
So his time period where
he alleges he was abused,
began, signed two
sworn declarations,
under penalty of perjury that
he was abused between
1988 and 1992,
until he was 14.
The narrative of the
whole thing is that,
"I got too big, I got too
old, Michael moved on."
He started phasing me out,
and replaced me essentially.
So if we've got
that time line of,
I was abused between
1988 and '92,
the train station abuse
must have happened
during that time period.
And then a fan pointed
out that the train station
didn't open until 1994,
by which time Safechuck was 16.
They got a couple of pictures,
a couple of Associated
Press Getty Images pictures
of footage of
Neverland from 1991,
Elizabeth Taylor's wedding,
footage above Neverland,
from a helicopter,
no train station.
So the fans had
established that,
that prompted me
to use my source
to try and narrow this down.
Let's prove that this train
station didn't exist until '94.
So I managed to get hold of
the construction permits,
which showed that
the train station
was not approved for
construction until
September, 1993.
There was an image taken
by a press photographer
on the 25th of August,
'93, from a helicopter.
His name is Steven Starr,
so he was working
in an office in LA.
The reason he was flying
over Neverland on that day,
was because of the allegations,
which itself was
two days earlier.
So Steve, get yourself
in a helicopter,
take some pictures of
Neverland from above.
Those pictures show
no train station.
And I contacted Steve
Starr personally,
and he confirmed that
25th of August, '93,
is the correct day for
when he took that picture,
no train station,
and then you've got the
permits approved a month later.
So you've got real
solid evidence
that there was no
train station until,
the building didn't
begin until late '93,
opened in 1994.
Michael Jackson in '94,
was living in New York,
to record the "History"
album, a couple of reasons,
to get out of California because
of the DA going after him.
There was an earthquake
in LA in early '94,
and he was a bit
scared about that,
so he wanted to move the
entire operation to New York.
Michael Jackson
wasn't in LA in '94,
but the point being,
you've got a two-year
discrepancy there.
Safechuck saying, the
abuse stopped, I was 14.
It was 1992, going
into vivid detail
about abuse happening
in the train station,
in an upstairs room.
That's a massive discrepancy.
Those are the two main ones,
Wade Robson and
the Grand Canyon,
and Jimmy Safechuck
in the train station.
Then we go back to
Wade Robson's behavior
in the civil lawsuit.
Wade Robson files his lawsuits
in I believe it was March, 2013.
He's saying that he realized
he was abused in May, 2012.
Under US law you've got 60 days
from the period of knowing
that you've been abused,
or realizing you've been abused,
to file a creditor's claim,
but Wade Robson filed
that 10 months too late.
To get around that,
he claimed, I didn't know that
the Michael Jackson estate
was open for administration.
So I didn't know who to sue.
But then, evidence
came out in that case,
that Wade Robson was aware of
the Michael Jackson estate,
because in 2011, he'd
met with John Branca,
the co-executor of the estate,
but this had [mumbles],
so the judge ruled
that Wade Robson
had lied in his
sworn declaration.
Lying under oath, under
penalty of perjury,
just to be able to sue.
[light instrumental music]
- Neverland was built
as, A, a safety boho,
where no one could get in.
It was a big property,
it was the size of Hyde
Park, the whole area of it.
Then he had his
movie theater built,
which was like a
100-seater movie theater,
beautifully done, like a small
cinema with a big screen.
Then he had his
fairgrounds built,
for his own entertainment,
then he had his zoo,
so that he had
kind of everything.
- But Neverland was not
really a home for him.
That was somewhere he
would return to go back,
and to show himself,
and it was built really
for sick children.
He would have Make
A Wish Foundation,
coachloads of kids,
thousands and thousands
would go through
there every year.
And then he would make sure,
he would try and show his face,
and come out to the
kids, and so on.
He would fly in
from wherever he is.
Because being in Neverland,
it's in the middle of nowhere.
He used to hate the drive
from Neverland to Los Angeles.
He had a permanent suite,
and an apartment at one
stage, in Los Angeles.
He had a permanent place at
the Beverly Wilshire Hotel,
called the Michael Jackson
Suite, too in the end,
because he used to
rent it out full-time.
He needed to be in the
city, and do business,
not up in the valley.
He was rarely there.
A lot of people make this
big deal about an alarm,
that when you walk up to
Michael Jackson's bedroom,
you go down the corridor,
and an alarm goes off.
That's completely true.
Now, not only is that in
Michael Jackson's house,
since Michael died
I've gone on to work
for a lot of big superstars,
they have alarms too.
It's just the same thing.
It's just a sensor, walks along,
just in case there's an
intruder in the night,
they can get to
their escape route.
Michael made sure that
was already in place,
a security team.
So whenever you walk,
alarm bells would go off
in Michael's room,
to say someone is approaching.
And that was for him to wake up,
everything's okay, it's the
middle of the night, and so on.
They also go on about
this abuse room,
the sexual secret room.
Now that angers me a lot,
because for a start, let's
talk about Michael's bedroom,
it's two stories, it's massive,
it's the normal size
of a house, basically,
and he does have a secret room,
if you want to call it that.
Now that room was built
before he bought Neverland.
He recorded a video
called, "Say, Say, Say,"
with Paul McCartney there,
it was called
Sycamore Valley then,
and he liked the property
so much, he liked the ranch,
he wanted to buy it.
And it's quite standard for
houses of that magnitude,
to have panic rooms,
and it had a panic room
already built in there.
And that's what we're
talking about here,
we're not talking about
an abuse room, a sex abuse
room, anything like that.
That was where Michael went
when the alarms went off,
or when head of security,
or someone at
Neverland alerting us
that something had gone awry,
he would run to,
and shut himself in,
and he would have stuff in
there that would entertain him,
because he would be in
there for some hours
waiting for the police
to turn up, and so on.
Because Neverland is in
the middle of nowhere.
So he would have,
watched Disney films,
and what may not be
normal to normal people,
but he ain't normal,
he's Michael Jackson.
He'd been raised differently.
Michael was guarded as much
as the President literally.
He's the most
famous man on Earth.
So from a bodyguard's
point of view,
it's very hard to understand
how these allegations
could be true.
Because he was the most
protected man on Earth.
He had security
like the President.
So if we talk about
along the road,
you would have, you would
get there the day before.
You'd go directly to the hotel.
You'd go through the
fire exits, and so on.
You'd put security sensor
mats outside his door,
or any entrance to
wherever his suite is.
You'd put a camera up
top of his bedroom door,
a camera outside
the hallway door.
A camera at the front,
a camera at the hallway.
There'd be nobody
coming on either side.
There'll be nighttime security,
which is actually
my brother-in-law,
believe it or not,
who would stand outside
his door all night, too.
So it was unbelievable.
Child abuse is a serious thing,
it's a huge, serious matter.
I'm not here to discredit
that in any way at all.
I'm here to just
prove, from my side,
from a bodyguard's
point of view,
and a friend who'd
been around Michael,
how difficult it would have been
for Wade and James to go
unnoticed at any time,
and for them to have what
they said done to them,
by Michael, when there's
so many staff around.
I mean it's unbelievable.
- I think people have
always had in their minds,
like one way or the other,
whether they believe
he's innocent or guilty,
I think once they have
that idea in their head
no matter how much
evidence is put forward,
I don't think anyone's
mind ever gets swayed.
And I do think once you've
got that image in your head,
if you think that he's guilty,
it doesn't matter how much
evidence comes forward,
or how many people speak out
and give their
version of events,
there's an image that
the media I think
want you to have of him,
and it's almost like any
evidence that comes out,
disproving what they've said,
it's like they
don't want to know.
If you consider what
there is out there,
that actually shows him
in an innocent light.
Versus what doesn't,
I mean it completely
is like, staggering,
how much evidence there
is to support the fact
that he is an innocent man,
and people don't want to
hear it, they really don't.
And he went to court,
he was acquitted.
His Neverland home was raided.
The FBI investigated
him for 10 years,
and people forget about that,
and when it's brought up,
it's like they don't care,
they don't want to hear that.
I could make a claim that
something's happened to me,
and people would believe it.
- I don't think this is
a deliberate hijacking
or piggybacking on to #MeToo.
These allegations were first
made way before that, 2013.
What I do believe,
is that #MeToo protects
the documentary.
The media are very, very scared,
very wary, of doing
any investigation work,
or questioning this
documentary whatsoever,
because of #MeToo.
Because we cannot
challenge any more,
we cannot question
alleged victims,
which goes against
all journalism.
Journalism is about
seeking the truth.
If you upset some
people, then so be it.
So #MeToo really protects
"Leaving Neverland,"
really protects Safechuck,
Robson, and Dan Reed,
because the media will not
challenge the allegations.
For example, the work
I've done in the media,
I know that people will
probably look at that as
victim-shaming, or be on the
side of this alleged pedophile,
but for me that's not the case.
If people see me
in a negative light
because of the research
I'm doing, so be it,
because I want to
seek the truth.
I want to put this
under a microscope,
and do my job as a journalist,
and try and seek the truth.
The coverage in the media has
been, again, so one-sided,
and no journalist can be
bothered to do their job.
It's all copy and paste,
copy and paste each article,
and all this, Michael Jackson
needs to be counseled.
No challenge made
whatsoever because
journalists are scared of the
damage to their reputations.
People think I'm
defending Michael Jackson.
Directly I guess, yes I am,
but what I'm trying
to do is balance
what didn't happen
from the beginning.
So from the beginning,
Dan Reed, the director,
not investigating the claims,
not making a balanced,
50-50 documentary where
we interview Robson
and Safechuck,
and then we challenge them
about all the different
inconsistencies,
about the lawsuit, about
the financial motive.
#MeToo is at its core,
a great cause, for people
to be able to speak out,
that's fantastic, that's great.
The core values of #MeToo
are incredibly positive,
but when that gags the media,
that's incredibly dangerous.
[soft piano music]
While it can't be
completely ruled out,
that Michael Jackson abused
Safechuck and Robson,
you just never know.
I can't sit here and say,
Michael Jackson's innocent,
this definitely didn't happen.
But what I can say,
is that at least
half a dozen things,
they're inconsistent,
they're lying in court,
so if I'm sitting on the jury,
and I hear that those
two have lied under oath,
to be able to sue for money,
and just lying in general,
and their stories
are not adding up,
just so they can sue the
Michael Jackson estate.
I'll think to myself,
they've lied about that,
what about the rest?
Because all of it is testimony.
There's no physical evidence.
There's no forensic evidence.
The only evidence
that they've got,
is their oral testimony,
and in that oral testimony
they've lied several times.
So what about the rest
of the whole testimony?
Can you convict,
can you be sure,
that Michael Jackson is guilty,
when part of that whole
testimony is irrefutably false.
That's what you'd
have to ask yourself,
if you had to try
Michael Jackson.
That's what it comes down to.
Can you be sure that
Robson and Safechuck
are telling the truth,
about the whole thing?
You know that 10-20-30%
of it is provably a lie,
or incredibly inconsistent.
What about the rest?
That's the bottom line.
- I will be acquitted,
and vindicated,
when the truth is told.
Thank you.
Prince, that was for you,
to learn about perseverance,
and confidence,
and the true meaning of
success with just love,
and to know that you
can reach any goal
that your heart desires.
It's totally up to you,
you can do anything
you want to be,
and I love you.
- He was the most amazing father
that you could ever witness.
- Michael's kids adored him,
they would follow him
like little ducklings
following their mother duck.
He was just great,
but he had boundaries
with his children.
They had to go to bed
at a certain time.
They had a tutor,
they had to have
four hours, minimum,
every day, of schooling.
When I took my kids to
see Michael at any time,
they were always whisked
off to do their schooling,
and my kids were like,
oh, do we have to do that?
I said, oh no no, it's
fine, you're on holiday.
- I think one thing
that really stood out
was how well-brought-up
the children were.
These were children
that could probably
like have anything
that they wanted.
But they were just so polite
and respectful to everyone.
- [Michael] Are
you ready for this?
Here we go.
Good move.
- Daddy?
- [Michael] Yes?
- This is a real game.
- [Michael] Now you
move that, your turn.
Good move, apple
head, very good.
- Daddy, we should live
in a castle like this.
- [Michael] I know,
I love that castle.
- My kids absolutely
adored Michael.
I mean I took my two younger
daughters to Neverland,
and we spent about a week there.
And they had access
to everything.
At the end of the week
I was with Michael,
and I'm prompted,
and I'm talking about
they would have been about
seven, eight, nine years old,
and I said to him at
the end of the week,
I said what was the best thing
that you liked about Neverland?
And they both turned
around and said,
the best thing about Neverland,
was being with Michael.
- Daddy, thank you
for my birthday cake,
and I love you so much.
I love my daddy so much.
You're the best daddy
in the whole world.
- I think before
"Leaving Neverland,"
the allegation had
almost been forgotten.
After Michael died people
were willing to celebrate
his music again, who he was,
there's a saying isn't it,
that you appreciate something
really when it's gone.
And after Michael died,
no one was really talking
about that anymore,
the allegations,
the plastic surgery.
It was being spoken about,
but ultimately it was back
to Michael Jackson,
the performer.
That has totally changed now,
with the movie, "Neverland."
obviously, you've got the
fans who still adore him
they're never gonna
turn their back on him.
You've got many people,
normal members of the public,
who still don't believe
the allegations.
But you've also got these people
who are sort of in the middle,
who have now gone
to the other side.
They're not listening
to him anymore.
Or they say they're not.
So it has had an effect
on his legacy, for sure.
I think again, because of how
the allegations made on him
have backfired slightly now.
People are starting
to challenge them now.
So I think slowly but surely,
we will cover the situation
where we'll cover,
but I think it's a testament
to Michael Jackson,
that he can be accused of
these horrendous crimes,
on three occasions,
and yet we're still
talking about him
in musical terms.
[crowd cheering]
- This is it, I mean,
this is really it.
This is the final,
this is the final curtain call.
- I just remember Michael as
just being a very generous,
very kind, he'd always listen
to what you were saying.
It wasn't always about him,
or what he was doing,
in fact, very little,
he'd listen an awful lot,
and he used to listen
to my children.
He used to ask them how
they were doing at school,
what their favorite
subjects were,
what they wanted to
do when they grew up,
and he took a lot of time
finding out about
what other people,
and what their interests were.
He was a very, very good father,
to the point where
it used to annoy me,
the fact that how
good a father he was,
'cause it used to make me
look not such a good dad.
Just a free spirit really.
He was a free bird.
I miss Michael a lot,
I miss him a lot and
my kids miss him.
They miss his kids,
and it's just such a shame
that the man isn't
around with us.
- I mean just how caring
and how loving he was,
he had so much love to give.
And I would give anything if
he was to be still around,
but in a way,
because of his name
being drug through the
mud, as sad as it sounds,
I'm kind of glad he's
not here to see this,
because he would be
heartbroken, he really would.
When it all first came out,
he was obviously devastated.
He just couldn't
comprehend how people
could think that about him.
To be honest, he
couldn't comprehend how
anyone could even do that
to a child, let alone him.
So then, for those accusations
to be made towards him,
he was heartbroken.
I don't think he was
really the same, after.
I think he was just like,
he was just a broken man
really, to be honest.
- He was an
intelligent, smart guy,
not some comic figure that
people seem to think he is.
He was an intelligent man.
And intelligence is not shown,
and I think that may
be his biggest mistake.
Had he shown the
businessman Michael Jackson,
which he did a little bit with
the Beatles catalog decision,
and a few other
wise moves he made,
then they would
understand him more.
But yeah, he's misunderstood,
and it's a shame that
we're not celebrating
his music and dance now,
on his 10th year
anniversary of his passing,
and having to deal with
stuff that's been done with,
but he never really
recovered from that.
It broke his heart.
[Michael singing]
a?? Counting your blessings
a?? Biding your time
a?? Then you lay me
down sleeping a??
a?? My heart is bleeding
a?? You go down sleeping
a?? And pray for all
a?? Do the work for all
[muffled]
- Where's you guys' rhythm?
[man laughing]
a?? You're changing well
a?? And wishing them all
- We know what Peter
Pan represents,
never growing up,
staying childlike forever.
Michael, in adulthood,
sees himself as Peter Pan,
and remaining childlike forever.
Michael never wanted to grow up.
Whenever anyone
mentioned it to him,
he would just cry, because he
really believed that,
and he deeply believed that.
In the Bashir interview
as well, he says,
because she asks him the
question you're asking me now,
about Peter Pan, and he
says, "I am Peter Pan."
Bashir says, "No you're not,
you're Michael Jackson."
And Michael Jackson says,
"I'm Peter Pan in my heart."
a?? Have you seen my childhood
a?? I'm searching for the
world that I come from a??
a?? 'Cause I've been
looking around a??
a?? In the lost and
found of my heart a??
- When Michael talks about
the song, "Childhood,"
from the "History" album,
he says, "Our personal
history begins in childhood,
"and the song 'Childhood'
is a reflection of my life.
"It's about the pain,
some of the joys,
"some of the dreaming,
"some of the mental
adventures that I took,
"because of the different
lifestyle that I had,
"in being a child performer.
"I was born onstage,
"and 'Childhood,' it's my
mirror, it's my story."
a?? Before you judge me
a?? Try hard to love me
a?? The painful youth
a?? I've had
a?? Have you seen my Childhood
[dramatic instrumental music]
weeks a large amount
of ugly, malicious information
has been released into
the media about me.
- This investigation
regarding Mister Jackson
involves allegations
of child molestation,
288-A of the
California penal code.
- And I will not be a silent
collaborator of his crimes.
- [Interviewer] Were
you ever accused
of having sexually
molested Brett Barnes?
- [Man] Don't answer that.
- The strain of the
ongoing investigation
is clearly taking its toll.
- I'm behind my son.
I don't believe
any of this stuff
that has been written about him.
- We support our
brother wholeheartedly.
- The the felony complaint
involves nine counts.
- [News Reporter]
So has the star simply buckled
under pressure?
Is the strain too much of
seeing his accuser in court?
- But in the end he
simply couldn't afford
to live in a fantasy.
- Breaking news for you tonight.
The singer, Michael Jackson,
is reported to have died
from a heart attack.
- Daddy has been the best
father you could ever imagine.
- Intense sexual abuse.
Being heard is a powerful thing.
We can't control
what people believe.
- The information is
disgusting and false.
- My name is Mike Smallcombe,
I'm a journalist
based in the UK,
and I've written a
book on the career
and the life of Michael Jackson.
Right after Michael
Jackson passed away,
being a journalist, I read
a few of his biographies,
and being interested
in his life and career,
and all of them were focused
on his personal life.
Here we've got probably the
biggest music superstar ever,
and there's not really any
literature, any books out there
that cover his career,
so loving research,
being a journalist,
and Michael Jackson being a
topic I was interested in,
I thought there's a real
gap in the market there.
Why can't I be the person who
writes something like that?
- I'm Mark Lester,
longtime friend of Michael's.
So I've known Michael
since about 1978.
When Michael was touring
with The Jacksons,
he came over to the UK,
and his manager phoned me up,
and said Mike would
like to meet me,
so we met.
When I was waiting on the
other side of the door
before I met him
for the first time,
I didn't know what to expect.
I thought he was going to
answer the door in a spacesuit,
or he would be levitating,
or something like weird.
But he wasn't, he was just
a completely normal guy.
We're both the same
age, within a month.
Michael was born in August,
I was born in July of '58.
Michael showed me all these
magazines, pop magazines,
"Tiger Beat," "Teen" magazine,
which were big in the States.
Whenever there was an article
with Michael was in it,
usually I would be somewhere
in the magazine as well,
so there was some kind
of association with that,
that Michael picked up on.
- My name's Lucy Lester,
Michael is my godfather.
I was 12 when I first met him.
He flew us over to Las Vegas,
and that's where we had
the naming ceremony.
I never grew up listening
to his music, or anything,
so to me it wasn't
Michael, like pop star,
it was just Michael,
my dad's best friend.
- My name's Matt Fiddes.
I was Michael Jackson's
friend and bodyguard,
for a number of years.
People have to understand,
I wasn't with him
24 hours a day.
I think when people try and
say, were you close to him?
Or, are you friends with him?
This guy's the biggest
superstar on Earth.
- When Michael was
onstage, he owned it.
It was an incredible
transformation.
["Wanna Be Startin'
Somethin'" by Michael Jackson]
a?? I said you wanna be
startin' somethin' a??
a?? You got to be
startin' somethin' a??
a?? I said you wanna be
startin' somethin' a??
a?? You got to be
startin' somethin' a??
- Being onstage at
the age of five,
it's all he ever knew.
He was in the
Jackson 5 of course,
and tremendously successful.
That had led him to be
one of the richest people
in entertainment ever,
and be adored by millions
of fans around the world.
So that's a great,
great privilege.
Of course, we know
the flip side to that,
with Michael Jackson,
and the burden of that.
- I always liken him to being
a member of the royal family.
He was born into it.
He didn't know any different.
So his perception of the world
was completely different from
my reality, your reality.
- He would say it was
the greatest thing
that happened to him,
but also he would like to
have been given a choice
to be a superstar.
Because he can't remember
not being Michael Jackson,
the famous guy who
couldn't go anywhere.
- There was one story in
particular that he would say,
and he was recording
with Motown,
and he was in the studio
with his brothers,
and they could hear
children playing
in a playground opposite.
And he just wished that he
could just go over there,
and be himself, be a child.
But he couldn't, because
he was recording.
And there was a
time when brothers
were due to go to
South America to tour.
And, in the car on the
way to the airport,
he was just crying, because
he didn't want to go.
He just wanted to stay,
and be a child, play.
He couldn't do that.
And it had a massive
impact on him as an adult.
Obviously, this
obsession with childhood,
and building Neverland Ranch,
wanting to be with children.
Always trying to compensate
for that childhood
that he never had.
[children playing]
- I think the way
to describe him,
he was the biggest media
manipulator there
is in the world,
where he could control the
media, in certain ways.
And at the same time, it
would backfire on occasions.
And no one wanted to tell him.
Is this the wrong thing to do?
This may look the wrong way
from the public point of view.
- He told me that he
was an illusionist,
so if he wanted to create
a stir with the press,
all he had to do was go out
of the hotel in a wheelchair,
and then all of a sudden,
the whole of the world's press,
was, oh Michael Jackson's
in a wheelchair.
And then he'd just
get out the wheelchair
and get in the car.
One of his favorites
was a surgical mask.
He'd walk around with that,
and they were like,
what's going on here?
Why is he wearing
a surgical mask?
It was for illusion.
So he knew kind of a
little bit how to play,
and then to toy with the press.
But in other ways he
was incredibly naive.
- We have stories about
Michael Jackson's soul.
The fact the Michael was a
bit eccentric, helped that.
So this mystery persona.
I mean wow, he sleeps
in an oxygen chamber.
He lives on a theme park.
His skin color's changed.
You name it.
- [Mark] Sadly, it
kind of came around
and it bit him on
the backside a bit.
- Unfortunately, it was
partly Michael's fault,
the mysterious
aspect of his life,
and the weird stuff
coming out in the 80's.
That was slightly his
fault with his PR campaign.
But, that was quite
innocent stuff, really.
The chamber, Bubbles the monkey,
elephant man bones.
It just got really,
really vicious,
and negative, and totally
backfired unfortunately.
The team around Michael,
stopped having his best
interests at heart.
In 1995,
so from '97 until 2009,
Michael had [muffled], I had
to get my head around this,
10 different managers,
different accountants,
different lawyers.
It was a mess, complete
and utter mess.
Partly Michael's fault,
but they have a duty
representing him
to have his best interests
at heart, and they didn't.
They had their own
interests at heart.
In '93, the civil lawsuit filed
by the Jordan Chandler family,
and the police report,
that was simultaneous.
Once Michael Jackson had
settled that civil lawsuit,
the reasons being,
not because he wanted
to hush the Chandler family.
The reasons actually
are quite incredible.
- I can't speak for Michael,
but I know one thing,
Michael is not guilty,
I've talked to him before,
I think he'll be fine,
because he had nothing
to be ashamed of.
- [Man] He's strong.
- [Katharine] So
he's very strong.
He'll just come out of it.
- A judge ruled that
the civil lawsuit
would be heard first.
Because it was a minor,
I think he thought that okay,
we're gonna have to hear
this within 120 days,
from this day.
Michael's lawyers are like,
hey, we want the
criminal trial first,
because a civil lawsuit,
that can really prejudice
a criminal trial.
Why?
Because we have a court hearing,
between the Chandlers
and Michael's defense,
in a civil lawsuit,
the Chandlers and their
attorneys will know
what Michael's defense
is going to be.
That's massively prejudicial
for any criminal trial.
He wouldn't get a
fair criminal trial,
because he had this civil
thing going on before.
The important one
was the criminal one,
because he could end up in jail.
The civil one is
just about money.
If you're hearing
the civil one first,
and that could help
get you in jail,
Michael's team was like,
the only option we've got,
because the judge
ruled the civil one
is going to be heard
first, to get rid of it.
How do you get rid of it?
You have to settle.
That made Michael look guilty.
What is he hiding?
Why is he paying
off this family?
- If this really went on,
do you think the father
would accept money,
that that would make it okay,
that that would make
everything all right?
It doesn't make any sense.
I know that if that
were my son, I'm sorry,
I don't care if he gave
me a billion dollars,
I want to see you either
behind bars or dead,
for the rest of your life,
for doing that to my son,
or my daughter.
It's crazy, the guy was after
money is what he wanted.
- I totally disagreed
with him doing that.
He should not have
given him anything.
But if there had been
any criminal activity,
you can't pay off the cops
or the legal system.
They will go after you.
You can't just say,
I'll pay the fine,
because it didn't
work like that.
If they pursued it through
the criminal courts,
they didn't.
- We have concluded that
because the young boy,
who was a catalyst,
for this investigation,
has recently informed us,
that he does not
wish to participate
in any criminal proceeding,
where he is named as a victim,
that we must decline prosecution
involving Mister Jackson.
- People don't know
the ins and outs
of why he was forced to
make that settlement.
He didn't want to, he
wanted to fight them both.
So, that was '93, gone.
- I think he got over
that quite quickly
and just pushed that one aside.
The second time,
with the Arvizo case,
now that was around 2003.
At that time I'd seen
quite a lot of Michael,
and going backwards and
forwards to the States,
spending a lot of
time at Neverland,
and I was at Neverland,
a great deal of the time when
the Arvizo family were there,
and they were awful.
- When we heard that
police were at Neverland,
me and Mark spoke,
and we knew exactly,
we're talking Gavin
Arvizo and his family.
And out at the fours even,
we'd been told, or the media
had even announced that we knew,
because they were
just called in havoc.
- Basically, the boy was
recovering from cancer,
and Michael had said
to him in the hospital
that if he ever wanted
to come to Neverland,
be my guest, come.
And of course, the mother
had overheard this,
and like yeah, we're going.
Okay, so they turn
up at Neverland.
It was just initially
the boy and his mom.
They were made to
feel very welcome,
and put up in one
of the guest lodges.
But they stayed for
like three months.
And then all of a sudden
all these cousins appeared.
And at one time there was
like 15 of these like kids,
and they were running
riot around Neverland.
- Anyone could clearly see
that they were taking
advantage of Michael,
because he had such a big heart,
and he wanted people
to come to Neverland.
He wanted them to have
this amazing experience,
and I think it's
quite sad that people
must portray that as,
if you're being kind,
you must be preying on people.
There must be something
sinister behind it,
when all he wanted to do
was just make people happy.
- They were just like hooligans,
and then it came to a time
when they were asked to leave.
The next day is when I think
the mother turned really nasty,
and then made all these
allegations about Michael.
- Years ago, I allowed a family
to visit and spend
some time at Neverland.
Neverland is my home.
I allowed this
family into my home
because they told me their
son was ill with cancer,
and needed my help.
Through the years I have
helped thousands of children
who were ill or in distress.
These events have caused
a nightmare for my family,
my children, and me.
I never intend to place myself
in so vulnerable a
position ever again.
- The service of the warrant
was part of an
ongoing investigation,
alleging criminal misconduct
on the part of Michael Jackson.
The basis for this investigation
regarding Mister Jackson,
involves allegations
of child molestation,
288-A of the
California penal code.
Additionally, an arrest
warrant for Mister Jackson
has been issued,
on multiple counts
of child molestation.
The bail amount on the
warrant has been set
at three million dollars.
At this point in
time, Mister Jackson's
been given an opportunity
to surrender himself
to the custody of the Santa
Barbara Sheriff's Department,
within a specified
period of time.
We are currently working
with Mister Jackson's
legal representation
on this matter.
- Sham of a trial,
again about money,
because Arvizo's mom
first went to a civil lawyer,
to try and get a
settlement of some sort.
But the civil lawyer said,
you need a conviction first.
And that's the only reason why
there was a criminal
trial first.
- This case is about
one thing only,
it's about the
dignity, the integrity,
the decency, the honor,
the charity, the innocence,
and the complete vindication
of a wonderful human being
named Michael Jackson.
- I would like to thank
the fans around the world.
- [News Reporter] Could
you speak up please?
- I would like to thank
the fans around the world,
for your loving support,
from every corner of the Earth,
my family who has
been very supportive,
my brother Randy,
who's been incredible.
I want to thank the
community of Santa Maria.
I want you to know that
I love the community of
Santa Maria very much,
it's my community.
I love the people.
I will always love the people.
My children were born
in this community,
my home is in this community.
I will always love
this community
from the bottom of my heart.
That's why I moved here.
Thank you very much.
- The first thing wasn't
going to the police
and saying, this
is what happened.
The first step was
civil lawyer, money.
- But the media wanted
that clash, bang.
The guy who has
come from nothing,
and then you see him
in the handcuffs.
The money would have been in
if he was found
guilty for the media.
And the media outside
was just unbelievable.
You have never seen
anything like it.
- In America, the coverage
of the trial was horrid.
Certain things would
be said in court,
and then a completely
different thing
would be reported in the media.
There's no wonder that non-fans,
members of the public were
outraged that Michael
Jackson was found not guilty,
because they'd
read this coverage
of Michael for five months,
thinking that this was
the coverage in the court,
when it wasn't.
- The reason publicity
about these settlements
is unfair and damaging
to him, his family,
and his dedication to
the world's children.
The charges he faces are false,
and will be battled
in a court of law
within our justice system.
He is innocent and
will be vindicated.
- It was a disgrace.
The media was spreading
around this narrative
that Michael Jackson was guilty.
How can a jury find
him not guilty,
given what's happened
in that courtroom?
But that wasn't the case.
In fact, what was
heard in the courtroom
was highly in Michael's favor.
After the prosecution
case was put forward,
the defense were thinking,
are we even gonna bother here?
Because the jury was ready
to declare Michael
Jackson not guilty,
after the prosecution case.
But the defense decided
we're gonna hammer
the nail in the coffin
of all of this.
- [Thomas] The only people
that really mattered
were 12 jurors and
one judge, 13 people.
The rest were just extraneous
as far as we were concerned.
You had to drown out the media.
They were just a distraction.
They had their own agenda,
which was ratings and
revenue, not justice,
and you had to just
focus on the evidence,
focus on the courtroom,
and stay away from them.
- [Susan] I think Michael is
one of those rare clients,
where lawyers really
don't have to prep a lot.
You don't even
have to coach him,
in terms of how he should
behave in the courtroom.
He was just so
well-behaved naturally,
without even having to tell him
to do anything other
than just be himself.
- [David] How he
survived two years,
where you're possibly
going to live
the rest of your
life behind bars.
I don't know, I would have
taken a gun and shot myself.
But he was very strong
and he was someone who
knew he had done nothing wrong.
And he just believed in his
conviction, so I hand it to him.
But it was tough.
- The image and persona the
tabloid press saw of Michael,
is not the man,
not the true Michael Jackson.
And I think because
he was different,
he didn't conform to the norm,
people didn't like that.
There was this kind
of witch hunt about
getting this man,
because he just
didn't conform to how
they wanted him to.
- In the UK, there seem to
be these top-down agreements
since the late '80's,
that Michael Jackson
was to be smeared.
Reporters would be told,
all we're gonna report on
is negative Michael Jackson
stories, to sell papers.
So the red tops, they
all agreed on that.
You still see that today.
So that's the dirtier
thing in the UK.
Michael Jacko, all
the newspapers.
And now again, two
accusers, 2013,
going to a civil
lawyer, and saying,
I want to sue Michael
Jackson's estate.
- Yeah, you know, there's
been different times
where it would just
be me and Michael.
Then there'd be other
times where he has
other friends over too.
That's what Albert Brett said.
It's just a slumber party,
we'd just have a lot of fun.
We just have a lot of fun.
- Intense sexual abuse.
That had to be clear.
- I can just say for decades,
Jackson put up this smokescreen,
which was reinforced
by his family,
and the media as well.
- The allegations
are nothing new.
Obviously I didn't know
there was gonna be a film,
but I knew about
the allegations,
because Wade Robson
and James Safechuck
sued the Michael Jackson estate
all the way back in 2013.
This is something that's
very much under the radar,
rumbled on and on.
How that all started,
Wade Robson tried to get a job
with the Michael Jackson estate,
being the lead choreographer
on the Cirque du Soleil show.
- I'm starting on Cirque du
Soleil, Michael Jackson show.
So it's the equivalent of
The Beatles Love
Show that they have,
or the Elvis show,
but for Michael.
- Didn't get the job.
Was at a crossroads
in his career,
lacking finances, not really
knowing where to turn.
He was desperate
to get this job,
been praising Michael
ever since Michael died,
went to his memorial service
at the Staples Center,
saying in interviews how Michael
is this great friend of his.
- Michael's such a hug part
of my career, and life.
We were friends for 20
years before he passed,
since I was seven.
So it's an opportunity for me
to give back a little
bit to his legacy,
it's such a big
part of his legacy,
and to make sure
as much as I can,
that it's done right,
and that it really
represents his essence.
- Didn't get the job.
Didn't know what to do.
He was having this
sort of breakdown,
and he started to write
a book about Michael,
and tried to shop
that book around,
and in it, claimed that
Michael Jackson had abused him.
No one would have it,
so that was when Wade Robson
went to a civil lawyer,
and looked at his options,
and eventually filed
a creditor's claim
against the Michael
Jackson estate.
It was initially at
1.5 billion dollars.
I don't have an
intrinsic knowledge
of the ins and outs of how
much it eventually was,
but it's hundreds of
millions of dollars.
He actually filed that
lawsuit, initially under seal.
So if you file
something under seal,
it doesn't become public record.
He was hoping that
the estate would go,
oh, here's X amount of money.
Let's keep this quiet.
Here's your money, go away.
But the estate was
like, no chance.
We're gonna fight this.
That's when it became public.
I'll go back to James Safechuck.
He was watching Wade Robson,
and this is May 2013,
watching Wade Robson on TV,
one of the TV shows in America,
where Wade Robson
says I was abused,
and all this stuff
happened to me,
and James Safechuck said,
in his sworn declaration,
that was what triggered
something in his mind,
made him realize, I've been
abused by Michael Jackson, too.
There have been so
many inconsistencies
in terms of, when they knew
about this alleged abuse.
Wade Robson is
saying that in 2005,
I testified in Michael's defense
because I saw his children.
Michael was a friend.
I didn't want him to go to jail.
That's why I did it.
And yet, then he's saying
that he only realized
that he was abused in 2012-13,
you've got that inconsistency.
It's the same with Safechuck.
2005, claiming that he
was asked to testify
in Michael Jackson's
trial, which is not true.
Early on in the trial,
a judge ruled that
any evidence as per James
Safechuck would not be admitted,
would not be allowed
in the trial.
Yet in the documentary
we see Safechuck saying,
that Michael called me,
Michael's lawyers called me,
but I refused to testify.
He's saying that he knew
about the abuse in 2005.
Michael was a bad man.
I'm not gonna testify.
Then he says that the
Wade Robson TV show
is what triggered him into
realizing that he was abused.
So you've got them saying,
okay we suddenly
realized in 2012-13,
that hey we knew, in 2005,
because Wade Robson, I
was protecting Michael.
Safechuck, I wasn't gonna
testify because he's a bad man.
That's when James Safechuck
filed a copycat lawsuit.
So from 2013, till 2017,
you've got this ongoing
litigation with the estate.
Eventually a judge
threw out the lawsuit,
because of a thing called
statute of limitations.
They just basically
filed it too late.
A year later, you've got the
documentary film being made.
- I watched it, and I
was saddened by the show.
Victims of child abuse is a
very, very serious matter,
but it didn't really
push anything about
the child abuse thing.
I don't know,
I watched it and
all it was was like,
watching a court
case where you heard
the prosecution and no defense.
It was so totally unbalanced,
and I don't know,
I just, it made me feel sick.
- That was, for them,
the obvious route.
Let's make this thing public,
let's make this a
worldwide issue.
Can this help our appeal?
Which isn't mentioned
in the documentary,
against the decision by a
judge to throw out the case.
- It's like I don't feel
like they want justice.
If that was me, that
would be above anything.
That is why I would want,
but we don't want to be
going in front of a camera,
talking about my experience
to people that don't know me.
The first I would do
is, go to the police.
I wouldn't be thinking like how,
let's turn this into a book.
Let's go and sue the family.
Because, who does that?
- I couldn't speak the truth
any earlier than I did.
I wish I could have.
I wish I was emotionally
and mentally capable
earlier, than I was.
- I think being heard is
probably one of the number
one wants of a victim.
But also,
when all this goes away,
and the interest goes away,
we're still left
with being abused.
- So much silence,
and so much isolation,
which I experienced,
James experienced,
and most survivors experience.
So being heard is
a powerful thing.
We can't control
what people believe.
That's up to
people's own journey.
- All of Michael's accusers,
it's always been about money.
- It's never because
there's evidence
that he's done
this or done that.
It's always money, always
going for the money first.
Or they wait until he dies,
and goes for the money,
because they know a
criminal trial won't work,
so it's always financial.
- Let's start at the beginning.
So when there's money involved,
that automatically
should make people wary.
What are their intentions here?
And then you've got
previous behavior in court.
Wade Robson and Jimmy
Safechuck are perjurers,
because they
testified under oath.
So Safechuck back
in '93, and Robson.
Michael Jackson never did
anything, sworn declaration,
signed, under
penalty of perjury.
2005, Wade Robson
testified in court,
under oath, under
penalty of perjury,
nothing ever happened.
- What I find odd
is the fact that
Mesereau, Michael's lawyer,
who is an extremely
high-powered lawyer,
who would have obviously
interviewed this kid,
in depth, and you're
talking about one of the top
lawyers in America,
and if he was convinced that
he was safe to put on the stand,
I don't know,
it baffles me.
- So already you've got
credibility issues there.
You've got the financial aspect,
and you've got the credibility,
due to previous statements.
If there was a court case,
if Michael Jackson was alive,
Michael's defense
would try and impeach
those witnesses by
bringing into evidence
previous inconsistent
statements,
and that would include Michael
Jackson never did anything,
under oath, under
penalty of perjury.
That alone is enough
to make all the allegations
highly not credible.
The first time that
Wade Robson alleges
that he was abused by Michael
Jackson, was in January 1990.
The Robson family went
to Record One Studios,
while Michael was working
on the album that
became, "Dangerous."
Michael said, why
don't you come up
to Neverland for the weekend?
To the whole family,
the whole Robson family.
So that was Wade,
Chantal, his sister,
her mother, Joy, and her
parents, so Wade's grandparents.
All whisked up to
Neverland for the weekend.
They stayed for two
nights, the whole family.
And both Wade, and Joy Robson,
said under oath, that
those first two nights,
Wade and Chantal slept with
Michael, in Michael's bedroom.
Nothing happened.
Wade said in the documentary,
nothing happened.
- And I've slept in the
same bed as Michael.
He says, you watch
cartoons, you fall asleep.
You know, it's
just a friendship,
and I know he would never do
anything to hurt my brother.
He's the nicest guy
you've ever met.
- I've been there
when these kids
have been in Michael's room.
I've been there with them.
It's just party time.
They watch videos,
they eat junk food,
they play video games.
They play so hard,
they fall asleep, they're
exhausted, they fall asleep.
There's nothing more
to it than that.
- [Interviewer]
From your standpoint
does it seem unusual
for a 34-year-old man
to have kids sleeping over?
- Not when you know
Michael's background.
Under normal circumstances,
possibly yes.
But Michael, everybody knows
he didn't have a childhood.
- Then, the rest
of Robson's family
went away to the Grand Canyon.
Wade says that after the
first couple of nights,
he saw Michael hunched
in a corner, crying,
that he didn't want to
Robson family to leave him.
But the Robson family was
touring America at the time.
So the story goes that
Wade stayed at Neverland,
and the rest of the family
went away to the Grand Canyon,
leaving little
seven-year-old Wade Robson
alone at Neverland.
He says that slowly,
as those days went on,
he was abused by Michael
Jackson, for the first time,
and goes into real
livid detail about that.
His whole story that it
happened that first time,
that first weekend.
So I had a source
who could provide me
with some court transcripts.
Joy Robson, in a
deposition from '93,
and I discovered that
during that deposition,
Joy Robson said that,
yeah we went to Neverland
for the weekend,
the whole family,
and stayed a couple of nights,
and then the whole family then
went off to the Grand Canyon.
So they didn't
leave Wade behind.
She then said that again,
in 2016, in a deposition,
for the civil lawsuit,
which is very odd,
because Wade's whole story is,
I was left behind
while my family
went off to the Grand Canyon.
But Joy Robson says that
the whole family went,
naming Wade as having
gone with them.
And Joy has also previously
testified under oath,
that the first time Wade
was alone with Michael
at Neverland was '93.
And then in a different,
totally different case,
Wade Robson, in 2005 also says,
the last time I was alone
with Michael was in 1993.
So you've got these
statements made
by both Joy and
Wade, under oath,
on three or four occasions,
where that story is,
we stayed two nights,
we went off to the
Grand Canyon, all of us.
Wade Robson has never been at
Neverland alone until 1993.
- He's not just
getting dates mixed up,
because Joy Robson was an
adult, in the early 90's,
and she gave this
deposition two years
after the first Neverland trip.
She would have remembered then,
that first weekend at Neverland,
Wade came with us
to the Grand Canyon.
It's not 15 years later,
did he, didn't he?
No, they said Wade came
with us to the Grand Canyon.
Why would you then
lie about that?
In the "Leaving
Neverland" documentary,
James Safechuck gives this
detailed story about how
he was abused in
different places
around Neverland
by Michael Jackson,
including the grand
train station,
which people will know
because of the floral clock
in front, it's quite
an iconic piece.
So he goes into this detail
about how he was abused
in a room upstairs, and
pictures appear on the screen,
so it's definitely
that train station,
and he says it
happened every day,
and he says of the how,
it's something that
happens when you first
get into a relationship
and things are exciting.
That to me would indicate that
he's talking about the stars,
when he was abused by
Michael Jackson allegedly.
So his time period where
he alleges he was abused,
began, signed two
sworn declarations,
under penalty of perjury that
he was abused between
1988 and 1992,
until he was 14.
The narrative of the
whole thing is that,
"I got too big, I got too
old, Michael moved on."
He started phasing me out,
and replaced me essentially.
So if we've got
that time line of,
I was abused between
1988 and '92,
the train station abuse
must have happened
during that time period.
And then a fan pointed
out that the train station
didn't open until 1994,
by which time Safechuck was 16.
They got a couple of pictures,
a couple of Associated
Press Getty Images pictures
of footage of
Neverland from 1991,
Elizabeth Taylor's wedding,
footage above Neverland,
from a helicopter,
no train station.
So the fans had
established that,
that prompted me
to use my source
to try and narrow this down.
Let's prove that this train
station didn't exist until '94.
So I managed to get hold of
the construction permits,
which showed that
the train station
was not approved for
construction until
September, 1993.
There was an image taken
by a press photographer
on the 25th of August,
'93, from a helicopter.
His name is Steven Starr,
so he was working
in an office in LA.
The reason he was flying
over Neverland on that day,
was because of the allegations,
which itself was
two days earlier.
So Steve, get yourself
in a helicopter,
take some pictures of
Neverland from above.
Those pictures show
no train station.
And I contacted Steve
Starr personally,
and he confirmed that
25th of August, '93,
is the correct day for
when he took that picture,
no train station,
and then you've got the
permits approved a month later.
So you've got real
solid evidence
that there was no
train station until,
the building didn't
begin until late '93,
opened in 1994.
Michael Jackson in '94,
was living in New York,
to record the "History"
album, a couple of reasons,
to get out of California because
of the DA going after him.
There was an earthquake
in LA in early '94,
and he was a bit
scared about that,
so he wanted to move the
entire operation to New York.
Michael Jackson
wasn't in LA in '94,
but the point being,
you've got a two-year
discrepancy there.
Safechuck saying, the
abuse stopped, I was 14.
It was 1992, going
into vivid detail
about abuse happening
in the train station,
in an upstairs room.
That's a massive discrepancy.
Those are the two main ones,
Wade Robson and
the Grand Canyon,
and Jimmy Safechuck
in the train station.
Then we go back to
Wade Robson's behavior
in the civil lawsuit.
Wade Robson files his lawsuits
in I believe it was March, 2013.
He's saying that he realized
he was abused in May, 2012.
Under US law you've got 60 days
from the period of knowing
that you've been abused,
or realizing you've been abused,
to file a creditor's claim,
but Wade Robson filed
that 10 months too late.
To get around that,
he claimed, I didn't know that
the Michael Jackson estate
was open for administration.
So I didn't know who to sue.
But then, evidence
came out in that case,
that Wade Robson was aware of
the Michael Jackson estate,
because in 2011, he'd
met with John Branca,
the co-executor of the estate,
but this had [mumbles],
so the judge ruled
that Wade Robson
had lied in his
sworn declaration.
Lying under oath, under
penalty of perjury,
just to be able to sue.
[light instrumental music]
- Neverland was built
as, A, a safety boho,
where no one could get in.
It was a big property,
it was the size of Hyde
Park, the whole area of it.
Then he had his
movie theater built,
which was like a
100-seater movie theater,
beautifully done, like a small
cinema with a big screen.
Then he had his
fairgrounds built,
for his own entertainment,
then he had his zoo,
so that he had
kind of everything.
- But Neverland was not
really a home for him.
That was somewhere he
would return to go back,
and to show himself,
and it was built really
for sick children.
He would have Make
A Wish Foundation,
coachloads of kids,
thousands and thousands
would go through
there every year.
And then he would make sure,
he would try and show his face,
and come out to the
kids, and so on.
He would fly in
from wherever he is.
Because being in Neverland,
it's in the middle of nowhere.
He used to hate the drive
from Neverland to Los Angeles.
He had a permanent suite,
and an apartment at one
stage, in Los Angeles.
He had a permanent place at
the Beverly Wilshire Hotel,
called the Michael Jackson
Suite, too in the end,
because he used to
rent it out full-time.
He needed to be in the
city, and do business,
not up in the valley.
He was rarely there.
A lot of people make this
big deal about an alarm,
that when you walk up to
Michael Jackson's bedroom,
you go down the corridor,
and an alarm goes off.
That's completely true.
Now, not only is that in
Michael Jackson's house,
since Michael died
I've gone on to work
for a lot of big superstars,
they have alarms too.
It's just the same thing.
It's just a sensor, walks along,
just in case there's an
intruder in the night,
they can get to
their escape route.
Michael made sure that
was already in place,
a security team.
So whenever you walk,
alarm bells would go off
in Michael's room,
to say someone is approaching.
And that was for him to wake up,
everything's okay, it's the
middle of the night, and so on.
They also go on about
this abuse room,
the sexual secret room.
Now that angers me a lot,
because for a start, let's
talk about Michael's bedroom,
it's two stories, it's massive,
it's the normal size
of a house, basically,
and he does have a secret room,
if you want to call it that.
Now that room was built
before he bought Neverland.
He recorded a video
called, "Say, Say, Say,"
with Paul McCartney there,
it was called
Sycamore Valley then,
and he liked the property
so much, he liked the ranch,
he wanted to buy it.
And it's quite standard for
houses of that magnitude,
to have panic rooms,
and it had a panic room
already built in there.
And that's what we're
talking about here,
we're not talking about
an abuse room, a sex abuse
room, anything like that.
That was where Michael went
when the alarms went off,
or when head of security,
or someone at
Neverland alerting us
that something had gone awry,
he would run to,
and shut himself in,
and he would have stuff in
there that would entertain him,
because he would be in
there for some hours
waiting for the police
to turn up, and so on.
Because Neverland is in
the middle of nowhere.
So he would have,
watched Disney films,
and what may not be
normal to normal people,
but he ain't normal,
he's Michael Jackson.
He'd been raised differently.
Michael was guarded as much
as the President literally.
He's the most
famous man on Earth.
So from a bodyguard's
point of view,
it's very hard to understand
how these allegations
could be true.
Because he was the most
protected man on Earth.
He had security
like the President.
So if we talk about
along the road,
you would have, you would
get there the day before.
You'd go directly to the hotel.
You'd go through the
fire exits, and so on.
You'd put security sensor
mats outside his door,
or any entrance to
wherever his suite is.
You'd put a camera up
top of his bedroom door,
a camera outside
the hallway door.
A camera at the front,
a camera at the hallway.
There'd be nobody
coming on either side.
There'll be nighttime security,
which is actually
my brother-in-law,
believe it or not,
who would stand outside
his door all night, too.
So it was unbelievable.
Child abuse is a serious thing,
it's a huge, serious matter.
I'm not here to discredit
that in any way at all.
I'm here to just
prove, from my side,
from a bodyguard's
point of view,
and a friend who'd
been around Michael,
how difficult it would have been
for Wade and James to go
unnoticed at any time,
and for them to have what
they said done to them,
by Michael, when there's
so many staff around.
I mean it's unbelievable.
- I think people have
always had in their minds,
like one way or the other,
whether they believe
he's innocent or guilty,
I think once they have
that idea in their head
no matter how much
evidence is put forward,
I don't think anyone's
mind ever gets swayed.
And I do think once you've
got that image in your head,
if you think that he's guilty,
it doesn't matter how much
evidence comes forward,
or how many people speak out
and give their
version of events,
there's an image that
the media I think
want you to have of him,
and it's almost like any
evidence that comes out,
disproving what they've said,
it's like they
don't want to know.
If you consider what
there is out there,
that actually shows him
in an innocent light.
Versus what doesn't,
I mean it completely
is like, staggering,
how much evidence there
is to support the fact
that he is an innocent man,
and people don't want to
hear it, they really don't.
And he went to court,
he was acquitted.
His Neverland home was raided.
The FBI investigated
him for 10 years,
and people forget about that,
and when it's brought up,
it's like they don't care,
they don't want to hear that.
I could make a claim that
something's happened to me,
and people would believe it.
- I don't think this is
a deliberate hijacking
or piggybacking on to #MeToo.
These allegations were first
made way before that, 2013.
What I do believe,
is that #MeToo protects
the documentary.
The media are very, very scared,
very wary, of doing
any investigation work,
or questioning this
documentary whatsoever,
because of #MeToo.
Because we cannot
challenge any more,
we cannot question
alleged victims,
which goes against
all journalism.
Journalism is about
seeking the truth.
If you upset some
people, then so be it.
So #MeToo really protects
"Leaving Neverland,"
really protects Safechuck,
Robson, and Dan Reed,
because the media will not
challenge the allegations.
For example, the work
I've done in the media,
I know that people will
probably look at that as
victim-shaming, or be on the
side of this alleged pedophile,
but for me that's not the case.
If people see me
in a negative light
because of the research
I'm doing, so be it,
because I want to
seek the truth.
I want to put this
under a microscope,
and do my job as a journalist,
and try and seek the truth.
The coverage in the media has
been, again, so one-sided,
and no journalist can be
bothered to do their job.
It's all copy and paste,
copy and paste each article,
and all this, Michael Jackson
needs to be counseled.
No challenge made
whatsoever because
journalists are scared of the
damage to their reputations.
People think I'm
defending Michael Jackson.
Directly I guess, yes I am,
but what I'm trying
to do is balance
what didn't happen
from the beginning.
So from the beginning,
Dan Reed, the director,
not investigating the claims,
not making a balanced,
50-50 documentary where
we interview Robson
and Safechuck,
and then we challenge them
about all the different
inconsistencies,
about the lawsuit, about
the financial motive.
#MeToo is at its core,
a great cause, for people
to be able to speak out,
that's fantastic, that's great.
The core values of #MeToo
are incredibly positive,
but when that gags the media,
that's incredibly dangerous.
[soft piano music]
While it can't be
completely ruled out,
that Michael Jackson abused
Safechuck and Robson,
you just never know.
I can't sit here and say,
Michael Jackson's innocent,
this definitely didn't happen.
But what I can say,
is that at least
half a dozen things,
they're inconsistent,
they're lying in court,
so if I'm sitting on the jury,
and I hear that those
two have lied under oath,
to be able to sue for money,
and just lying in general,
and their stories
are not adding up,
just so they can sue the
Michael Jackson estate.
I'll think to myself,
they've lied about that,
what about the rest?
Because all of it is testimony.
There's no physical evidence.
There's no forensic evidence.
The only evidence
that they've got,
is their oral testimony,
and in that oral testimony
they've lied several times.
So what about the rest
of the whole testimony?
Can you convict,
can you be sure,
that Michael Jackson is guilty,
when part of that whole
testimony is irrefutably false.
That's what you'd
have to ask yourself,
if you had to try
Michael Jackson.
That's what it comes down to.
Can you be sure that
Robson and Safechuck
are telling the truth,
about the whole thing?
You know that 10-20-30%
of it is provably a lie,
or incredibly inconsistent.
What about the rest?
That's the bottom line.
- I will be acquitted,
and vindicated,
when the truth is told.
Thank you.
Prince, that was for you,
to learn about perseverance,
and confidence,
and the true meaning of
success with just love,
and to know that you
can reach any goal
that your heart desires.
It's totally up to you,
you can do anything
you want to be,
and I love you.
- He was the most amazing father
that you could ever witness.
- Michael's kids adored him,
they would follow him
like little ducklings
following their mother duck.
He was just great,
but he had boundaries
with his children.
They had to go to bed
at a certain time.
They had a tutor,
they had to have
four hours, minimum,
every day, of schooling.
When I took my kids to
see Michael at any time,
they were always whisked
off to do their schooling,
and my kids were like,
oh, do we have to do that?
I said, oh no no, it's
fine, you're on holiday.
- I think one thing
that really stood out
was how well-brought-up
the children were.
These were children
that could probably
like have anything
that they wanted.
But they were just so polite
and respectful to everyone.
- [Michael] Are
you ready for this?
Here we go.
Good move.
- Daddy?
- [Michael] Yes?
- This is a real game.
- [Michael] Now you
move that, your turn.
Good move, apple
head, very good.
- Daddy, we should live
in a castle like this.
- [Michael] I know,
I love that castle.
- My kids absolutely
adored Michael.
I mean I took my two younger
daughters to Neverland,
and we spent about a week there.
And they had access
to everything.
At the end of the week
I was with Michael,
and I'm prompted,
and I'm talking about
they would have been about
seven, eight, nine years old,
and I said to him at
the end of the week,
I said what was the best thing
that you liked about Neverland?
And they both turned
around and said,
the best thing about Neverland,
was being with Michael.
- Daddy, thank you
for my birthday cake,
and I love you so much.
I love my daddy so much.
You're the best daddy
in the whole world.
- I think before
"Leaving Neverland,"
the allegation had
almost been forgotten.
After Michael died people
were willing to celebrate
his music again, who he was,
there's a saying isn't it,
that you appreciate something
really when it's gone.
And after Michael died,
no one was really talking
about that anymore,
the allegations,
the plastic surgery.
It was being spoken about,
but ultimately it was back
to Michael Jackson,
the performer.
That has totally changed now,
with the movie, "Neverland."
obviously, you've got the
fans who still adore him
they're never gonna
turn their back on him.
You've got many people,
normal members of the public,
who still don't believe
the allegations.
But you've also got these people
who are sort of in the middle,
who have now gone
to the other side.
They're not listening
to him anymore.
Or they say they're not.
So it has had an effect
on his legacy, for sure.
I think again, because of how
the allegations made on him
have backfired slightly now.
People are starting
to challenge them now.
So I think slowly but surely,
we will cover the situation
where we'll cover,
but I think it's a testament
to Michael Jackson,
that he can be accused of
these horrendous crimes,
on three occasions,
and yet we're still
talking about him
in musical terms.
[crowd cheering]
- This is it, I mean,
this is really it.
This is the final,
this is the final curtain call.
- I just remember Michael as
just being a very generous,
very kind, he'd always listen
to what you were saying.
It wasn't always about him,
or what he was doing,
in fact, very little,
he'd listen an awful lot,
and he used to listen
to my children.
He used to ask them how
they were doing at school,
what their favorite
subjects were,
what they wanted to
do when they grew up,
and he took a lot of time
finding out about
what other people,
and what their interests were.
He was a very, very good father,
to the point where
it used to annoy me,
the fact that how
good a father he was,
'cause it used to make me
look not such a good dad.
Just a free spirit really.
He was a free bird.
I miss Michael a lot,
I miss him a lot and
my kids miss him.
They miss his kids,
and it's just such a shame
that the man isn't
around with us.
- I mean just how caring
and how loving he was,
he had so much love to give.
And I would give anything if
he was to be still around,
but in a way,
because of his name
being drug through the
mud, as sad as it sounds,
I'm kind of glad he's
not here to see this,
because he would be
heartbroken, he really would.
When it all first came out,
he was obviously devastated.
He just couldn't
comprehend how people
could think that about him.
To be honest, he
couldn't comprehend how
anyone could even do that
to a child, let alone him.
So then, for those accusations
to be made towards him,
he was heartbroken.
I don't think he was
really the same, after.
I think he was just like,
he was just a broken man
really, to be honest.
- He was an
intelligent, smart guy,
not some comic figure that
people seem to think he is.
He was an intelligent man.
And intelligence is not shown,
and I think that may
be his biggest mistake.
Had he shown the
businessman Michael Jackson,
which he did a little bit with
the Beatles catalog decision,
and a few other
wise moves he made,
then they would
understand him more.
But yeah, he's misunderstood,
and it's a shame that
we're not celebrating
his music and dance now,
on his 10th year
anniversary of his passing,
and having to deal with
stuff that's been done with,
but he never really
recovered from that.
It broke his heart.
[Michael singing]
a?? Counting your blessings
a?? Biding your time
a?? Then you lay me
down sleeping a??
a?? My heart is bleeding
a?? You go down sleeping
a?? And pray for all
a?? Do the work for all
[muffled]
- Where's you guys' rhythm?
[man laughing]
a?? You're changing well
a?? And wishing them all
- We know what Peter
Pan represents,
never growing up,
staying childlike forever.
Michael, in adulthood,
sees himself as Peter Pan,
and remaining childlike forever.
Michael never wanted to grow up.
Whenever anyone
mentioned it to him,
he would just cry, because he
really believed that,
and he deeply believed that.
In the Bashir interview
as well, he says,
because she asks him the
question you're asking me now,
about Peter Pan, and he
says, "I am Peter Pan."
Bashir says, "No you're not,
you're Michael Jackson."
And Michael Jackson says,
"I'm Peter Pan in my heart."
a?? Have you seen my childhood
a?? I'm searching for the
world that I come from a??
a?? 'Cause I've been
looking around a??
a?? In the lost and
found of my heart a??
- When Michael talks about
the song, "Childhood,"
from the "History" album,
he says, "Our personal
history begins in childhood,
"and the song 'Childhood'
is a reflection of my life.
"It's about the pain,
some of the joys,
"some of the dreaming,
"some of the mental
adventures that I took,
"because of the different
lifestyle that I had,
"in being a child performer.
"I was born onstage,
"and 'Childhood,' it's my
mirror, it's my story."
a?? Before you judge me
a?? Try hard to love me
a?? The painful youth
a?? I've had
a?? Have you seen my Childhood
[dramatic instrumental music]