March 9, 2019

Leaving Neverland

I finished watching Leaving Neverland this evening. I started it earlier in the week and watched it while having lunch over a couple of days. I watched all of part two today. It was pretty disturbing. When it’s all laid out like this, you can’t not that Michael Jackson was a predator. While I was never a huge fan — not even a passing one, really — I remember his ubiquity in the 1980s, and I certainly had a copy of the Thriller album. Like many viewers, I was pretty indignant with the mothers of both abused boys — Wade Robson and James Safechuck: how could they not see what was going on?! There’s an interesting dynamic here, I guess, with Jackson’s celebrity. I think it was Oprah who said — paraphrasing a journalist — “it’s hard to see when you’re staring into the sun.” Still. It seemed like both Robson and Safechuck still had a way to go to reconcile with their respective mothers.

The music and cinematography were both excellent in the documentary. I recommend it.