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Judge Tentatively Sides with Michael Jackson Estate in 'Leaving Neverland' Lawsuit
Just a few days after Corey Feldman vehemently defended Michael Jackson against the child sexual abuse allegations levied in HBO’s Leaving Neverland, the actor is reversing his stance. On Wednesday, Feldman told HLN’s Mike Galanos that while he was never abused by Jackson, he “can no longer” defend the pop star amid “very believable” accusations of molestation. Feldman went on to apologize for challenging Wade Robson and James Safechuck, the two men profiled in Leaving Neverland who claim that they were abused by Jackson as children, saying that he didn’t mean “to question the validity of the victims.”
Feldman told HLN that he and Jackson “were friends” when he was a child, but “absolutely nothing inappropriate ever happened.” This sentiment echoed his earlier Twitter comments, in which he said that Jackson “never touched [him] inappropriately, & never ever suggested [they] should be lovers in any way.” But despite those remarks, Feldman no longer wants people to think he is ignoring Robson and Safechuck’s allegations. “I don’t want to be perceived as I’m here to defend Michael Jackson, because I can no longer do that,” he said on Wednesday. “I cannot in good consciousness defend anyone who’s being accused of such horrendous crimes.”
The actor, who has been opened about being abused as a child, went on to say that his “place is not to be the judge and is not to be the accuser and not to be the defender,” as Jackson “didn’t do those things” to him. Feldman then urged people to “listen to all victims” before reflecting on his previous statement questioning Robson and Safechuck. “I certainly want to apologize if anybody took anything that I said out of context in those tweets, because it certainly wasn’t meant in any way to question the validity of the victims,” he said.
Feldman said he was only able to watch the first half of the two-part doc, as it was “very emotional” and “very painful,” but he found it “shocking and disturbing.” He described Safechuck and Robson’s stories as “very compelling” and added, “Both of these guys sound very believable, because they are talking about a cycle that’s called grooming. And the grooming process certainly fits the mold, and that’s why this case must be taken seriously — that’s why all cases must be taken seriously.”
Addressing his previous Twitter thread directly, Feldman said that his issue with Leaving Neverland is that it is not “journalistically proper” and doesn’t “investigate all sides.” The actor is currently making a film about his own abuse, and he said that he’s “going above and beyond” to do the necessary reporting. “All I can say is I wish it had happened while Michael was alive so that he could have been in trial and faced it and defended himself,” he said of the HBO doc. “That can’t happen today, so I don’t know where this leads. But I do know that it’s important that we keep talking and keep hearing the voice of each victim.”
Watch Feldman’s interview with HLN in the clip above.
