After the debut of a new documentary detailing accusations against Michael Jackson at the Sundance Film Festival, the late pop star’s family has come forward against the allegations made by the film. The family states that the abuse depicted in the film is completely untrue and the testimonies given in the documentary are biased and falsified. The movie, titled Leaving Neverland, details the interactions between Michael Jackson and two men who say that West sexuality abused them as children. The two men, named Wade Robson and James Safechuck, state that while they were kids Michael Jackson sexually abused them and trained them not to tell anybody about the instances. These men were brought up to testify in court in the early 2000s in regards to another case, but both accusers testified under oath that the allegations were untrue and that Jackson was nothing but good to them.

Now, however, both of these men are stating that they were coerced to testify that Jackson was innocent after the now deceased musician threatened them. Both accusers are asserting that while they were children, Michael Jackson molested them on many of occasions, in a series of abuse both say lasted years. These accusations came forward in 2013 and 2014 when the men originally changed their stories in regards to their relationships with Jackson. Now that the documentary has been released, the Jackson estate and family has come forward to condemn the film as a “kind of tabloid character assassination.” They state that the film is completely unfair to the late superstar and is merely an attempt to profit off of his fame.

The statement released by the Jackson estate goes on to say that the film is biased due to the fact that it only interviews members of the Robson and Safechuck families, completely ignoring any other point of view. The statement also reads that “for 20 years Wade Robson denied in court and in numerous interviews, including after Michael passed, that he was a victim and stated he was grateful for everything Michael had done for him.” This showing that Robson strongly denied anything malicious had been done by Jackson for many years after the alleged abuse, until out of the blue stating that he lied under oath years ago and was abused. The Jackson estate stated that it is truly sympathetic to any victims of abuse, but that the accusations made against Michael Jackson are merely a money grab. The Jackson family released another statement in addition to that of Michael’s estate, stating that they are appalled by the path taken by the creators of the film and that Jackson had always been found completely innocent of any wrong doings. The Leaving Neverland film is sure to gain attention from the media, especially after the recent success of the Surviving R. Kelly series created by Lifetime.