Director Of ‘Leaving Neverland’ Responds To New Evidence Against The Documentary’s Story

The controversial documentary aired in early March

The documentary Leaving Neverland, which documents alleged child abuse by the late singer Michael Jackson, has caused a great deal of controversy since it aired a few weeks ago. Judging by the social media reaction, it seems that the vast majority of people are split into one of two camps – either they take the alleged survivors at their word, or they believe the whole thing to be a sham, and that Jackson should be allowed to rest in peace.

Dan Reed, the director of documentary Leaving Neverland, has come in for some serious criticism from those in the latter camp, and now, he has responded to claims that the allegations made against the late singer Michael Jackson in the film were inaccurate.

The singer’s biographer Mike Smallcombe said that claims made by James Safechuck – that he was abused in Neverland’s train station – were false.

In the film, Safechuck alleges that he was a victim of sexual assault which occurred in an upstairs room in the station, famous for its floral clock. However, according to Smallcombe this would have been impossible, as the assaults are alleged to have taken place between 1988 and 1992, ending when Safechuck was 14.

Taking to Twitter, the author shared building permits for the train station, showing they were in fact approved on 2 September 1993, with the building opening a year later. Although this doesn’t necessarily disprove Safechuck’s story, it certainly generates an element of doubt.

Smallcombe said: “In the last couple of hours I’ve been given access to the Santa Barbara County construction permits for the Neverland train station by my source – approved Sept 2, 1993.”

Director Reed replied, saying: “Yeah there seems to be no doubt about the station date. The date they have wrong is the end of the abuse.”

Speaking to Mirror Online, Smallcombe hit out at the film’s director, calling him ’embarrassing’.

He said: “Because the story has been debunked, it appears Reed is now suddenly wanting to change Safechuck’s timeline himself.”

Protesters at the Leaving Neverland premiere at Sundance Film Festival (Getty Images)

“Firstly, I’m shocked that he’s spoken on Safechuck’s behalf. And secondly, it’s embarrassing that he feels he has to now change the narrative of the film – which is that the alleged abuse stopped in 1992 – all because part of it has been disproved.”

“That’s what happens when you take allegations like that at face value and make no attempts to scrutinise and investigate whether they are true.”

He continued: “By acknowledging the build date, Reed is essentially confirming that Safechuck’s claim of being abused in Neverland’s train station between 1988 and 1992 is impossible.”

“To seemingly now claim on Safechuck’s behalf that the abuse went on as Safechuck approached adulthood, all to preserve the timeline of his film is astonishing.”

This isn’t the first time that Smallcombe has come out to defend Jackson, who died in 2009. Last month, he claimed that court documents prove that some of Wade Robson’s allegations of sexual abuse by the singer are false.

Referencing the testimony from Robson’s mother Joy, made back in 1993, the biographer said it proves at least some of the alleged victim’s claims in Leaving Neverland are not true.

No one knows what the conclusion of the Leaving Neverland controversy will be, but one thing we can be sure of is that this story isn’t going away any time soon. AAx

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