James Safechuck, one of two men whose allegations of childhood sexual abuse by Michael Jackson anchored HBO’s 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, has released a video message to other survivors of childhood sexual abuse, timed to the renewed publicity surrounding the upcoming Jackson biopic Michael.
Distributed by Safechuck’s attorney John Carpenter of the Los Angeles plaintiffs’ firm Carpenter & Zuckerman, the video addresses other survivors of childhood sexual abuse.
“The Michael movie’s coming out and it’s getting a lot of promotion,” says Safechuck, 48. “There’s billboards and commercials and just people praising Michael and it can be triggering for survivors who have their own Michael in their lives, whether it’s the priest who’s close to God or the sports coach who’s just helping the kids or the step-parent who’s supporting the family.
“Our abusers are praised sometimes, even after we come out and tell the truth,” he continues. “And I just wanted to let you know that you’re not alone and that there’s other survivors out there that understand what you’re going through and that are there with you. And that if you’re feeling all the feels, then lean into people that are close to you, lean into people that support you and that give you love and know that you’re not alone. … [T]elling the truth and telling what happened is a good thing and that it’s part of your healing.”
Safechuck is a plaintiff in an ongoing civil suit against Jackson’s corporate entities, MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, which a California appeals court revived in 2023 after years of dismissals.
Michael, directed by Antoine Fuqua and starring Jaafar Jackson — Michael Jackson‘s nephew — as the late singer, is already breaking box office records as it heads into its opening weekend. Michael earned a huge $12.6 million in Wednesday and Thursday previews, putting it on course to open to $70 million-plus domestically, the top start ever for a music biopic.
Dan Reed, the director of Leaving Neverland, told The Hollywood Reporter in an interview that “people don’t care that [Jackson] was a child molester. Literally, people just don’t care.”
The Jackson estate has consistently denied the allegations made by Safechuck and fellow Leaving Neverland subject Wade Robson, saying after the project’s 2019 Emmy win, “The film takes uncorroborated allegations that supposedly happened 20 years ago and treats them as fact.”
Safechuck’s attorney Carpenter tells THR his client was “struggling with everybody celebrating his abuser,” leading him to make the video. “The most successful abusers, be they Jeffrey Epstein, Harvey Weinstein, priests, coaches, relatives, or Caesar Chavez, tend to have inordinate power and/or influence, which translated into misplaced trust,” Carpenter says. “It’s very powerful. It’s powerfully hurtful when people are celebrating their abuser. And so I think that’s what’s happening right now.”
Carpenter says he does not expect Robson to put out a statement regarding Michael. As for the pending trial, Carpenter says the date is currently “in flux” but expects it to happen “sometime in 2027.”
