Michael Jackson’s family released a statement Monday condemning the documentary Leaving Neverland that alleges the singer molested and raped underage boys. The two-part, HBO-bound film premiered Friday at the Sundance Film Festival and left the audience shell-shocked with its accusations against Jackson.
“Michael always turned the other cheek, and we have always turned the other cheek when people have gone after members of our family — that is the Jackson way,” the Jackson family statement said (via the Associated Press).
“But we can’t just stand by while this public lynching goes on… Michael is not here to defend himself, otherwise these allegations would not have been made.”
Like the statement released by the Jackson estate – which labeled Leaving Neverland as “tabloid character assassination” – the family noted that the two accusers featured in the documentary, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, both told investigators that Jackson hadn’t molested them at Jackson’s 2005 molestation trial. Their own accusations against Jackson didn’t come to light until both men filed a lawsuit against the Jackson estate in 2013. Those lawsuits were dismissed.
The Jackson family was also “furious” with unnamed media outlets because they “believe the word of two admitted liars over the word of hundreds of families and friends around the world who spent time with Michael,” adding that Safechuck and Robson are “perjurers.”
The Jackson family statement concluded, “We are proud of what Michael Jackson stands for.”
Jackson’s nephew Taj Jackson also slammed Leaving Neverland and Robson in a tweet Sunday, “My family and I have known Wade and his family since he came to America. Don’t tell me a 4-hour one-sided hit job that you watched is more reputable than people who actually knew him and saw his interactions. This is all about money and the desperate need to be relevant again.”