‘Leaving Neverland’ Director Dan Reed on Making a Sequel About Michael Jackson Allegations: ‘My Goal Is Not to Knock Him Off His Pedestal — It Never Has Been’

variety.com:

Ellise Shafer For director Dan Reed, “Leaving Neverland” was never about Michael Jackson. “It was their story,” Reed says over Zoom from London about Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who in his bombshell 2019 documentary alleged that Jackson, the iconic late pop star, had sexually abused them as children. “A lot of people see it as a story about Michael Jackson, but it is literally the story of these two guys.

And this film is just what happened next.” Reed is referring to “Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson,” his long-gestating follow-up that’s finally debuting on Tuesday — via Channel 4 in the U.K.

and on YouTube in the U.S. — after six years. Featuring exclusive access to court hearings, the 50-minute documentary primarily focuses on Robson and Safechuck’s fight for justice after suing Jackson’s companies, which are governed by his estate, for neglecting to protect them from the alleged abuse.

Jackson consistently denied the allegations before his death in 2009, and his estate has continued to do so. This is not the first time such claims have arisen against Jackson — he was first accused in 1993 by 13-year-old Jordan Chandler, and the case was settled out of court for $23 million.