The first part of a horrifying Michael Jackson documentary called “Leaving Neverland” aired on HBO last night. It details, quite graphically, Jackson’s alleged abuse of Wade Robson and Jimmy Safechuck. The most unsettling parts of the film are the lurid — and, we should note, extremely similar — descriptions of child rape that both men offer, but the most shocking part, especially for someone like myself who didn’t follow Jackson’s career very closely, was all the ample and extensive footage of Jackson publicly grooming his victims.
Jackson gallivanted around in public with young male companions for years. After several months, one “friend” would be swapped for another. Never adults, never females. Only prepubescent boys. He may as well have worn a sign announcing: “I abuse children.” Yet he escaped justice and, for the most part, public scrutiny. Jackson was certainly never a pariah like Bill Cosby or Harvey Weinstein. If anything, his predation was treated like a punchline. But there was nothing remotely funny about it, as the documentary makes painfully clear.
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