The fallout from the explosive HBO documentary, “Leaving Neverland,” has led three major radio stations in Montreal, Canada to entirely blacklist pop icon Michael Jackson’s music due to the documentary having raised serious allegations of pedophilia.
According to Variety, Cogeco Media, which owns the three radio stations — CKOI, Rythme, and The Beat — announced this week that Michael Jackson’s music will no longer be available due to sensitivity to their listeners.
“We are attentive to the comments of our listeners, and the documentary released on Sunday evening created reactions,” a spokesperson for Cogeco Media told Variety on Tuesday. “We prefer to observe the situation by removing the songs from our stations, for the time being.”
The spokesperson told Variety the decision extends to smaller markets in Quebec that Cogeco also services. No other Quebec station has made any such announcement to ban Michael Jackson from the airwaves.
A spokesperson for Corus Radio said in an email to The Canadian Press on Sunday that the station will be “monitoring” the situation. “We currently have no plans to pull the songs but are monitoring the situation closely,” said the email.
Upon the documentary’s release, rumors swirled that England’s BBC2 “quietly” blacklisted Jackson’s music — but a BBC representative disputed that in a statement to Variety. “The BBC does not ban artists,” the representative said. “We consider each piece of music on its merits and decisions on what we play on different networks are always made with relevant audiences and context in mind.”
The second largest radio network in the United States, Cumulus, said that decisions to blacklist Michael Jackson’s music will be at the discretion of local markets.
“Cumulus Media is never in favor of censorship,” a rep told Variety. “This is a local market decision where the company is allowing local Program Directors to make the right decision regarding airplay for their communities.”
iHeartRadio, Spotify, and Apple Music all issued no comment to Variety on the matter of banning Jackson’s music.
As reported by The Daily Wire’s Hank Berrien on Monday, the two-part documentary “Leaving Neverland” accuses the “Thriller” singer of sexually abusing young boys, often in his own home.
As The Daily Mail reports, James Safechuck, who claims he was 10 years old when the alleged abuse began, and Wade Robson, who claims he was seven when he was abused, have come forth with allegations that Jackson abused them.
Safechuck was nine years old when he worked with Jackson on a Pepsi commercial, prompting trips around the world with Jackson. He said he and Jackson had a marriage ceremony in a hotel room when he was 10; Safechuck’s mother said that she had no qualms at the time about the trips because she also traveled with them.
In the film, Safechuck, who stated that he kept the brochure about Neverland from when Jackson was debating whether to buy it, said that before Jackson purchased the estate he told the boy the purchase was for him. Safechuck stated, “He said I am going to purchase this house. It’s gonna be yours, like this place is for you.” He added, “Me and Michael would be there a lot together, we would go for like a week at a time.”
On Monday, the documentary sent a shockwave across social media, dividing people into two camps: Fierce defenders of Jackson and ex-fans too sickened by the allegations to hear him sing again.
“He is properly dead to me now,” said Suzanne Moore of The Guardian.