Shares

By: Stacy M. Brown / NNPA

Wade Robson and James Safechuck, two former close friends of the late Michael Jackson and subjects of an incredible documentary about the King of Pop, are set to face off against the singer’s companies once again after a California appeals court permitted their long-standing sexual abuse lawsuits to resume.

In 2013 and 2014, respectively, Robson and Safechuck filed lawsuits against Jackson’s estate and two corporations owned solely by Jackson – MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures – alleging that the late pop icon sexually abused them during their childhood.

However, a judge dismissed both cases in 2017 due to the state’s statute of limitations.
Three years later, after California lawmakers extended the state’s statute of limitations for sexual abuse claims, the cases received new life.

The new statute allowed Robson and Safechuck to return their allegations to court.
Still, their hopes were short-lived, as a judge dismissed their cases again in 2021.

Judge Mark Young ruled that neither the corporations nor their employees were legally obligated to protect Robson and Safechuck from Jackson’s alleged actions.

However, after the California 2nd District Court of Appeals reversed Young’s decision last month, and panel of judges ruled that the lawsuits may proceed.

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The decision provided Robson and Safechuck another opportunity to present their claims.

The attorneys representing Jackson’s estate have consistently denied all allegations against the late singer throughout the legal proceedings. This week, they tried again to convince a panel of judges to strike down the latest attempts by Robson and Safechuck. However, the panel appeared poise to give a green light to a trial.

One of the most iconic and influential figures in the history of pop music, Jackson, died in June 2009 after overdosing on the hospital anesthesia drug, Propofol.

While his image has enjoyed a makeover since his death and allowed his estate to rake in billions of dollars, there remains the specter of child abuse allegations that dogged him for the last two decades.

“Every American deserves to have their day in court, and Wade Robson and Jimmy Safechuck are no exception,” said syndicated columnist and journalist Diane Dimond, the first journalist to break and chronicle Jackson’s alleged behavior with young boys decades ago.

The author of “Be Careful Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case,” Dimond told the Black Press that she believes an impartial court should hear complaints from Robson and Safechuck and not simply dismiss and be “slandered by a legion of fanatics who know none of the facts about their cases.”

“Not only were they, as Michael Jackson called them, ‘his special friends,’ both of them as children also worked for Mr. Jackson and his entertainment company,” Dimond noted.

“If the Catholic Church was held legally responsible for sex crimes committed by their priests if Michigan State University was held responsible for the sex crimes of their employee Dr. Larry Nassar, doesn’t it follow that Jackson’s MJJ Productions company be held responsible as well?”

Dimond added, “Having been seeped in the Michael Jackson story for decades, I can unequivocally say the Robson and Safechuck complaints don’t come in a vacuum.”

“There have been multiple similar allegations of child sexual abuse by Michael Jackson in the past. Some the public has heard of, some they haven’t.”

She said the world witnessed some of Robson and Safechuck’s evidence as presented in the HBO documentary “Leaving Neverland,” a film acclaimed by many, including Oprah Winfrey, who interviewed the men after the film’s 2019 debut.

“Now it’s time for a court of law to see all the evidence and decide what is justice in this case,” Dimond said.

She insisted that Jackson’s 2005 acquittal on 13 counts of child sex charges shouldn’t sway judges, juries, or the court of public opinion in the case brought by Robson and Safechuck.

“Yes, Jackson’s 2005 criminal case ended in an acquittal on charges of child sex abuse, but that, in no way, suggests there is a lack of credibility in these allegations,” Dimond said.
“I, for one, believe these two young men.”