Radio Stations Around The World Stop Playing Michael Jackson Records After ‘Leaving Neverland’ Documentary

Although it’s been nearly 10 years since his death, Michael Jackson has been in the news this week just as much as when he was alive, and for all the wrong reasons.

The world has been left reeling by the ‘Leaving Neverland’ documentary, which paints the late singer as a manipulative child abuser, with harrowing testimony from men, now in their 30s and 40s, who allege that Jackson sexually abused them when they were children.

The HBO documentary aired at the start of this week, but has been the subject of discussion in the media for many weeks already, as disturbing details from the documentary were released to the public.

The response has been powerful on social media, and has sparked great debate among those who want to defend Jackson, and those who think that we should stop looking past his dark side and start believing the survivors.

As a result of the controversy, some radio stations around the world have decided to stop playing his hits.

Three stations in Canada have made the decision to pull songs like ‘Wanna Be Starting Something’, ‘Thriller’ and ‘Billie Jean’ from their repertoire, as well as the UK’s BBC Radio 2, who have played Jackson’s records for decades.

A similar decision has been made in New Zealand, with any station owned by MediaWorks and New Zealand Media Entertainment now banned from busting out tracks from the King of Pop.

MediaWorks Group content director Leon Wratt said: “We aren’t deciding whether Michael Jackson is guilty of paedophilia, we’re just making sure our radio stations are going to play the music people want to hear.”

He was interviewed by radio station Magic Talk, where he added: “You’ve got 500 songs on a playlist and you have to make the decisions which 500 are the ones people will want to listen to.”

Although Mr Wratt says that the decision to pull Jackson’s songs is not based on the allegations around his conduct, it is hard to believe that the demand for hearing Michael Jackson’s music has gone away. After all, he is one  of the highest-selling artists of all time, having sold around 350 million records worldwide.

Although Jackson’s reputation as the ‘King of Pop’ was entirely justified by his music and performances, his legacy has been thrown into question by allegations of child abuse, which have resurfaced in much greater detail as ‘Leaving Neverland’ aired on Sunday.

The documentary detailed the alleged sexual abuse that took place in graphic detail, from the alleged victims themselves, who are effectively the narrators of the documentary, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in January.

The decision of radio stations around the world raises the question of whether or not we can enjoy the music of dubious celebrities in good conscience. There are a number of other prominent figures in music who, like Jackson, have been accused of abuse, but never convicted of a crime.

I’d love to hear your thoughts on this, folks. Can we still enjoy Michael’s music after all the allegations that have come out? Do you think that the radio stations did the right thing? Let us know your thoughts in the comments.

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