Entertainment

Michael Jackson’s Estate Reacts To ‘Leaving Neverland’ Winning An Emmy

Published

5 years ago

September 16, 2019

Peter Dredd

Michael Jackson’s Estate Responds To ‘Leaving Neverland’ Emmy Win

HBO’s Leaving Neverland documentary presented the allegations that Michael Jackson sexually molested two men Wade Robson and James Safechuck when they were kids.

Although, Michael Jackson’s estate attempted to sue HBO both before and after the airing of the film and it has not been successful yet.

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According to the late rapper’s estate, these stories are defaming to Jackson’s legacy and that HBO breached a non-disparagement clause in a contract that they signed with Jackson when he was supposed to release a concert special with the network in 1992.

Leaving Neverland took home an Emmy Award for Outstanding Documentary or Nonfiction Special at the Creative Arts Emmys. The four-hour presentation focused on former child stars Wade Robson and James Safechuck’s sexual assault and molestation allegations against the late Michael Jackson.

Since airing on HBO in March, Leaving Neverland has been both celebrated for highlighting abuse and slammed for overlooking inaccuracies.

The deceased “King Of Pop” estate responded to the controversial doc being recognized by the Television Academy.

According to Spin.. A statement from the Estate reads, “For a film that is a complete fiction to be honored in a nonfiction Emmy category is a complete farce. Not one shred of proof supports this completely one-sided, so-called documentary which was made in secrecy and for which not one person outside of the two subjects and their families were interviewed.”

Michael Jackson’s 21-year-old daughter, Paris Jackson, also addressed the documentary and concerns it would tarnish her father’s legacy.

She told her Twitter followers, “Yeah they do that to everyone with a good heart and tries to make a [difference] but do you really think that it’s possible to tear his name down? Like do you truly believe they stand a chance? Relax and have peace.”

Leaving Neverland brought in good ratings for HBO. Dan Reed’s film earned the third-largest viewership for an HBO documentary this decade. It averaged around 1.29 million viewers for its initial broadcast.

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In total, Leaving Neverland collected five Emmy nominations, including a nod for Outstanding Directing For A Documentary/Nonfiction Program.