Radio stations around the world are pulling Michael Jackson’s music from their playlists in light of the harrowing HBO documentary Leaving Neverland. The four-hour documentary explores the testimony of two men —Wade Robson and James Safechuck— who allege that Jackson sexually abused them for years when they were children.
Australian radio network Nova Entertainment Group, whose assets include Nova 96.9 and smoothfm, have joined the ranks of those international networks in pulling Michael Jackson’s music from their playlists.
“The decisions we make about the music we play on any of our stations are dependent on the relevance to the audience and the current context,” shared Paul Jackson, Nova Entertainment’s Group Programme Director, via SMH. “In light of what is happening at the moment, smoothfm is not currently playing any Michael Jackson songs.”
New Zealand broadcasting giants MediaWorks have also made the decision to barre all Jackson’s music. In an interview, MediaWorks’ group content director for radio shared that radio stations have not been playing Jackson for “a little while now”
“We’re always guided by the audience. The audience, for years, has been pretty split. With something as controversial as what [Leaving Neverland] was going to be, we’re certainly going to err on the side of caution here.” He shared.
The ARN, which hosts WSFM is yet to pull Jackson’s music from their catalogue. “At this stage, ARN stations with music formats that play Michael Jackson won’t be removing his music,” an ARN spokesperson said. “However, as always, we will continue to regularly review our playlists based on what audiences want to hear.”
Leaving Neverland made its U.S. debut on HBO earlier this week. The Jackson estate has filed a $100 million lawsuit against the network. The documentary will make it’s Australia premiere on Channel Ten this Friday and Saturday.
Watch: Leaving Neverland – Official Trailer
