Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed says he stands by ‘every second’ of doc’s claims that Michael Jackson was a paedo
The British documentary maker has been subject to legal threats and hate mail
LEAVING Neverland director Dan Reed has said legal action from Michael Jackson’s estate and death threats from fans has not “cowed him”.
The filmmaker says he stands by the explosive documentary which alleges the singer was a predatory paedophile who groomed and sexually abused boys.
The two-part documentary centres around two accusers Wade Robson, 36, and James Safechuck, 40, who claimed the King of Pop abused them.
They have alleged Jackson abused them from the ages of 10 and seven respectively.
The Jackson family have hit back at the allegations and compared the hounding of Michael to a "public lynching", especially as the late singer is unable to defend himself.
Meanwhile fans of the late singer, who died of an overdose in 2009 aged 50, have made death threats to Reed.
But the British director has stood by the film which graphically lays bare new claims that Jackson was a serial child molester.
Speaking to Deadline, Reed said: "What’s puzzling about the case of Michael Jackson is the ferocity of the disbelief, if you like, in the stories of these two young men.
“At the beginning we had a ton of emails that were very hostile, hostile death threats, and people saying awful things about me and my family.
"It certainly hasn't cowed either me or HBO. I stand by every second of the film and so does HBO."
'MANIPULATIVE AND ORGANISED PAEDOPHILE'
In the controversial documentary Robson and Safechuck claim the superstar entertainer horribly abused them while they were small boys and they have revealed harrowing details of their alleged ordeal.
Reed said: “What they both experienced was a gradual psychological and physical seduction.
"Jackson was a very manipulative and thorough, well-prepared, organised paedophile.
“He took his time, and he seduced them, in the way that an adult would seduce another adult, but — and this is the most horrifying thing — he treated these little children as you would a sexualised adult.”
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Jackson always denied all child abuse allegations and was acquitted of molestation charges in 2005.
His estate has also slammed Leaving Neverland, dubbing it as a "tabloid character assassination" that the singer had "endured in life and now in death".
Meanwhile a counter documentary will play on Amazon Prime Video next month.
It picks holes in the stories of Robson and Safechuck, who claimed Jackson sexually abused them.
Barbra Streisand and Boy George have spoken out in defence of him.
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