{"id":627770,"date":"2026-04-25T13:30:08","date_gmt":"2026-04-25T13:30:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/627770\/"},"modified":"2026-04-25T13:30:08","modified_gmt":"2026-04-25T13:30:08","slug":"leaving-neverland-director-says-michael-jackson-was-worse-than-jeffrey-epstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/627770\/","title":{"rendered":"\u2018Leaving Neverland\u2019 director says Michael Jackson was “worse than Jeffrey Epstein”"},"content":{"rendered":"

Leaving Neverland<\/a> director Dan Reed has criticised the new Michael Jackson<\/a> biopic and claimed that the musician was \u201cworse than Jeffrey Epstein\u201d.<\/p>\n

Reed directed the HBO-produced, two-part documentary back in 2019, which focused on interviews with Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who alleged that they were sexually abused as children by Jackson.<\/p>\n

In 2024, Reed slammed the then-upcoming biopic Michael as \u201cstartlingly disingenuous\u201d<\/a>, claiming it discredits Robson and Safechuck\u2019s experiences with the singer.<\/p>\n

Now that the film has hit theatres, he\u2019s questioned why the new biopic failed to acknowledge the abuse allegations against Jackson. \u201cIt says that people don\u2019t care that he was a child molester. Literally, people just don\u2019t care,\u201d Reed said in a new interview with Hollywood Reporter<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cI think a lot of people just love his music and turn a deaf ear. And short of having actual video evidence of Michael Jackson engaged in sexual intercourse with a seven-year-old child, I don\u2019t know what would be sufficient to change these people\u2019s minds.<\/p>\n

\u201cHow can you tell an authentic story about Michael Jackson without ever mentioning the fact that he was seriously accused of being a child molester?\u201d he added.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

According to a recent\u00a0Variety<\/a> report, the film\u2019s third act was initially supposed to explore how Jackson was impacted by multiple allegations of child molestation<\/a>. However, Jackson\u2019s estate reportedly had to pay around $15million for reshoots<\/a> after it emerged that the singer\u2019s out-of-court settlement with Jordan Chandler, the first of his accusers, included a clause barring Chandler from being depicted on screen.<\/p>\n

Antoine Fuqua, the director of the film, recently addressed the allegations made against Jackson<\/a>, saying: \u201cWhen I hear things about us \u2014 Black people in particular, especially in a certain position \u2014 there\u2019s always pause.\u201d<\/p>\n

A New Yorker<\/a> article noted that the director \u201cwas sceptical of some of the accusers\u2019 parents, particularly Chandler\u2019s father, who was recorded threatening to ensure that Jackson was \u2018humiliated beyond belief.\u2019\u201d<\/p>\n

Fuqua then emphasised that he didn\u2019t know the truth behind any allegations made against Jackson, but speculated that \u201csometimes people do some nasty things for some money.\u201d<\/p>\n

Reed also addressed Fuqua\u2019s remarks, saying, \u201cFor Antoine Fuqua to accuse people of gold digging is kind of ironic. It seems to me all the people involved in this movie are just making bank.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf anyone\u2019s making money, it\u2019s Michael Jackson\u2019s estate and the people who worked on this biographical picture,\u201d Reed said, adding that Safechuck and Robson \u201chave never made a cent from their accusations\u201d against Jackson.<\/p>\n

\u201cPeople don\u2019t seem to understand: If you bring a lawsuit, you don\u2019t get any money until you win in court. And when you win in court, that means you\u2019ve proved your case, right?\u201d he said.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

He went on to claim that the \u201cpress\u201d is \u201csucking up to the Jackson machine\u201d.<\/p>\n

\u201cThe estate and the fan base has always ensured that the price of criticising Michael is years of invective and smears and what have you,\u201d Reed said, adding that there\u2019s \u201ca ton of money to be made by any kind of association with the Jackson IP.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can get on board and be part of the success of this movie, then that\u2019s going to be good for you,\u201d Reed added.<\/p>\n

\u201cSo a lot of people, I think, will kind of swallow any misgivings they may have and just sort of say, \u2018Oh well, it\u2019s a great jukebox movie\u2019 and just completely ignore the fact that this guy was worse than Jeffrey Epstein,\u201d Reed said.<\/p>\n

The Jackson estate has adamantly and repeatedly denied that he abused either of the boys, and has emphasised that Robson testified at Jackson\u2019s 2005 criminal trial that he had not been abused, and Safechuck said the same to authorities.<\/p>\n

NME\u00a0gave Michael\u00a0three stars in a review that read<\/a>: \u201cMichael feels like a job well done: it\u2019s a slick, accessible advert for Jackson\u2019s incredible imperial phase. But if the singer\u2019s estate wanna be startin\u2019 somethin\u2019 bigger like a film franchise, they\u2019ll have their work cut out.\u201d<\/p>\n

For more help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the\u00a0Rape Crisis charity website<\/a>. In the US, visit\u00a0RAINN.<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed has criticised the new Michael Jackson biopic and claimed that the musician was…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":627771,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[8],"tags":[49,48,75,39],"class_list":["post-627770","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-entertainment","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-entertainment","tag-top-stories"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627770","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=627770"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/627770\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/627771"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=627770"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=627770"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=627770"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}