Michael Jackson accuser says singer once filmed a sexual encounter
James Safechuck, one of the men accusing Michael Jackson of sexual abuse in documentary film Leaving Neverland, has said that the singer once filmed one of the their encounters.
In an interview with USA Today, both men say that he would often ply them with alcohol and pornography before molesting them, and ‘never wore condoms’ during their sex acts.
They also say that he would try to turn them against their families and would describe women as being ‘evil’.
Speaking about the recording of one encounter, Safechuck said: “He immediately freaked out when he realised what he just did and taped over it.
“It was fun at the time, and when you’re having fun, (Jackson) isn’t thinking about it. But later, he’s like, ‘Wait a minute. I just documented this.’ He was very careful, but that was his one sort of slip.”
Wade Robson, who also appears in the the film, and was a nine-year-old aspiring dancer when he met Jackson, said that he felt as if he had to perform when he was invited to Jackson’s Neverland estate.
“There was an unsaid feeling to be impressive and make it worth his while – get back into that favourite position in his life,” Robson says. “So the sex became, in the craziest way, the safe zone, as the rest of the relationship really changed.”
Safechuck goes on to say that Jackson once overheard his mother making a phone call while at Neverland, and then used it to try to turn him against women.
“My mom was on a call with her sister talking trash about my dad, and then he was like, ‘Look how evil women are. Your dad is a sweet guy. Women are conniving,’” he says. “It was a consistent theme with him.”
In a separate interview with Vanity Fair, Robson claims that Jackson would instil fear in him that both he and the singer would both be jailed for the rest of their lives if details of the abuse came out.
“There was no repressed memory. I never forgot any of it,” Robson says.
“A lot of what was going on when I was 11, was the direct fear that Michael put into me that if anybody was to find out about this, both of us would go to jail for the rest of our lives.
“I absolutely believed that. I was terrified of that. And I was terrified for Michael. I loved Michael and I was trying to save him. So many things were going on at the same time: fear, shame, confusion, and love. I knew I was telling a lie but I knew I had to. I felt like I had no choice.”
The documentary, directed by BAFTA winning British filmmaker Dan Reed, debuted at the Sundance Film Festival last month, and left viewers ‘shell-shocked’.
Safechuck has now said that the pair are ‘not used to people believing us’.
“My mother believes me – I’m used to that – but I’m not used to other people believing me,” he says.
“It’s still really hard for me. And I don’t think a day goes by where I don’t hear a song. You go out to have a drink with your friend, you’re trying to relax and let everything go, and he’ll come on. Every time. It’s hard. It gets easier, but it’s still hard.”
Robson adds that he also had visceral reactions when he heard Jackson’s songs.
“In the beginning, I was extremely sensitive to it,” he says. “I would be at a lunch or a dinner with my wife, my child, and something would come on, and it would take over my whole body and I would have to leave the place.
“It’s rarely that physically intense now, unless I’m in a place for children, a playground, an inside gym. In those types of situations, a Michael song will come on and it’s a place that is supposed to protect children. That’s really difficult.
“My son came home from school one day, a few years ago, and he said, check out this thing my friend taught me: and he did some version of the Moonwalk.
“It was extremely triggering to me but then, as a parent, I’m trying to stop myself, because I don’t want to put my issues on him. But Michael is everywhere. It’s challenging.”
In a statement, the Jackson estate called the film a ‘character assassination’ and a ‘lurid production in an outrageous and pathetic attempt to exploit and cash in on Michael Jackson’.
The film will air in two parts on Channel 4 on March 6 and March 7 at 9pm.
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