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A biographer for Michael Jackson claims he has uncovered documents which disprove a number of allegations made against the artist in the controversial Leaving Neverland documentary.
For a few months now, there has been much said about the legacy of Michael Jackson thanks to the controversial Leaving Neverland documentary.
The documentary itself focuses around claims of child sex abuse made against Jackson, giving particular attention to the allegations made by Jimmy Safechuck and Brisbane-born Wade Robson.
While Jackson’s estate has called it nothing but a “tabloid character assassination”, it seems as though the allegations made have carried some weight, with radio stations around the world dropping Jackson’s music in response, and even his iconic episode of The Simpsons being pulled from streaming services.
However, in a new interview with The Mirror Online, Mike Smallcombe – who wrote the 2016 book Making Michael – claims he has uncovered documents which disprove claims made against Jackson within the film.
Smallcombe claims that in Leaving Neverland, Wade Robson alleges that incidents of abuse first occurred when his family went to the Grand Canyon, leaving Robson behind with Michael Jackson.
However, Smallcombe notes that Robson’s mother testified in court back in 1993 that her son did indeed accompany them to the Grand Canyon.
“In the documentary, Wade Robson described how he and his then 10-year-old sister stayed in Jackson’s bedroom the first two nights they were ever at Neverland in January 1990,” Smallcombe explained to The Mirror Online.
“Wade then claimed that his family left to go to the Grand Canyon, while he stayed behind with Jackson alone at Neverland for the next five days.”
“Wade claimed it was then when he was first abused by Jackson, going into graphic detail about what had allegedly happened over the course of several nights.”
First image: Joy Robson’s 1993 deposition, confirming her family went away to the Grand Canyon, and that Wade hadn’t been alone at Neverland until that year (1993)
Second image: Joy Robson’s 2016 deposition, she again confirms her ‘whole family’ including Wade went to the Canyon pic.twitter.com/fck6wE5yka
— Mike Smallcombe (@mikesmallcombe1) March 30, 2019
In the last couple of hours I’ve been given access to the Santa Barbara County construction permits for the Neverland train station by my source – approved Sept 2, 1993 pic.twitter.com/xjtfvEvsUu
— Mike Smallcombe (@mikesmallcombe1) March 30, 2019
“His mother, Joy Robson, testified under oath in a deposition in 1993/1994 in relation to the Jordie Chandler case that Wade had actually gone with them on that trip to the Grand Canyon, before the entire family returned to Neverland for the second time the following weekend,” Mike Smallcombe continued.
“Joy Robson had no reason to lie about this; she openly admitted that Wade stayed with Jackson alone on other occasions.”
Adding onto this, Smallcombe spoke to The Mirror again, this time noting that claims made by Jimmy Safechuck don’t add up either.
In Leaving Neverland, Safechuck claims that he was abused by Michael Jackson between 1988 until 1992, with the abuse in question allegedly occurring at Neverland’s train station.
However, Smallcombe notes that the train station in question was not built until years after the alleged abuse was supposed to have taken place.
“The deficiency in Safechuck’s story is this – construction on Neverland’s train station didn’t start until the latter part of 1993, and it didn’t open until the first part of 1994, when Safechuck was 16,” Smallcombe explained.
“So abuse in the train station wasn’t possible if the abuse stopped in 1992, as he claims in his testimony, as it didn’t even exist then. There’s a two year difference.”
From there, Mike Smallcombe notes that Michael Jackson spent most of 1993 on his Dangerous tour, and a large period of time thereafter living in New York.
“The latter point is, by the time Jackson was at Neverland and the train station was actually open, it was early 1995, three years after Safechuck said the abuse stopped.”
At this stage, neither the Jackson estate, or those involved with the production of Leaving Neverland have commented on these new claims.