After initially coming to Michael Jackson’s defense amid outrage over the accusations presented in the documentary “Leaving Neverland,” actor Corey Feldman says he can “no longer” defend the man he befriended when he was just 13 years old.
Feldman, who says he was molested as a child — something he describes as part of a larger trend of pedophilia targeting child stars in Hollywood — initially took to Twitter to defend the deceased pop star with whom Feldman had formed a friendship decades ago.
“OK I watched it all I know is what I experienced, and yes every experience was the same….right up two the sex part! That is where it becomes LaLa Land, instead of Neverland for me, ” Feldman tweeted Monday in a series of posts (tweets below, text revised for clarity). “We never spoke about sex other than a few warnings about how sex was scary, and dangerous. MJ.”
“Never once swore in my presence, never touched me inappropriately, and never ever suggested we should be lovers in any way! I feel like if people could hear our convos they would hear the innocence in them. No hint of perversion. I have a tape, I’m thinking about releasing, which could give people a real look at what a 30-year-old man/child and a 13-year-old boy would discuss, so everyone could hear the innocence of our relationship. Again I wasn’t there when those boys were. But I was there around the same time as Jimmy, and I saw many kids around (girls included) who I am still friends with to this day, and none of us were ever approached by him in a sexual way at all! So as much as those two men deserve to have their voices heard, so do the thousands of kids who hung around him, that don’t agree! Most pedophiles are serial offenders. They don’t have self-control.”
He continued: “So given the opportunity which he certainly had with me and others, being alone, with no parents around, how did he control those urges so well, while so blatantly sexual with those two boys? It doesn’t really fit the profile. But what motive besides money do they have? Abandonment is a strong one! However, I do take issue with the fact this this whole thing is one-sided with no chance of a defense from a dead man, and no evidence other than the word of two men who as adults defended him in court! But as we will never really know, I only have my memories. And thank God for me, my memories of MJ were monstly fond, aside from our one and only fight because he incorrectly feared I would turn on him, and make up lies. I never did. I never would! I pray those boys can sleep with that same clarity of consciousness! Let God be thy judge!”
On Wednesday, Feldman appeared on HLN to address the issue and walk back some of his comments, stating he could “no longer” defend Jackson after watching and processing “Leaving Neverland.”
“I don’t want to be perceived as I’m here to defend Michael Jackson, because I can no longer do that. I cannot in good consciousness defend anyone who’s being accused of such horrendous crimes,” Feldman told the network. “I’m also not here to judge him, because again, he did not do those things to me and that was not my experience.”
Feldman tweeted out coverage of the interview Thursday, describing it as “the hardest interview I have ever done outside the day Corey Haim passed.”
Video and posts below: