The trailer for the controversial Michael Jackson documentary, Leaving Neverland, has arrived, just weeks ahead of its widespread release.
Back in January, the Dan Reed-directed Leaving Neverland premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, to positive responses from those in attendance.
The documentary, which focuses on sexual abuse allegations against the artist, saw Wade Robson and Jimmy Safechuck come forward to discuss their claims that they were targeted by Michael Jackson during their childhood.
While the men claim that they received death threats in the wake of the documentary’s premiere, the estate of Michael Jackson have been less than impressed with its content, calling it a “tabloid character assassination”.
“The film takes uncorroborated allegations that supposedly happened 20 years ago and treats them as fact,” Jackson’s estate explained. “We are extremely sympathetic to any legitimate victim of child abuse. This film, however, does those victims a disservice.”
One of the men at the centre of the film, Brisbane-born Wade Robson, testified on behalf of the King of Pop at his 2005 trial in Santa Maria, California, claiming that while he’d slept in Jackson’s room many times, the star had never molested him.
Now in his 30s, Robson claims he was indeed abused by Jackson from the ages of seven to 14, and has said he was the victim of “complete manipulation and brainwashing.”
Directed by Dan Reed of @amospictures1, #LeavingNeverland premieres 3/3 and 3/4 at 8PM on HBO. pic.twitter.com/VaWJw36wFJ
— HBO (@HBO) February 19, 2019
With the official trailer for the documentary dropping today ahead of its March release date, it offers a haunting look into what Wade Robson and Jimmy Safechuck claim happened to them at the late musician’s Neverland Ranch.
“I was seven years old. Michael asked, ‘Do you and the family want to come to Neverland?'” Robson recalls in the trailer.
“We drive in and you forget about all your problems. You’re in Neverland. It was a fantasy,” added his mother, Joy Robson. “He just came across as a loving, caring, kind soul.”
“He told me if they ever found out what we were doing, he and I would go to jail for the rest of our lives,” Robson claims. “I want to be able to speak the truth as loud as I had to speak the lie for so long.”
HBO will air Leaving Neverland in two parts, on March 3rd and 4th.
Check out the trailer for Leaving Neverland:
