Recommendations of the Editorial team
Michael Jackson’s story ends in the 1988 biopic “Michael” – the box office hit that which is currently number one in the US box office charts again. Now a new, three-part Netflix documentary series continues the story of the King of Pop.
“Michael Jackson: The Verdict,” premiering June 3, revisits Jackson’s 2005 child molestation trial. The interviewees in the documentary series include jurors, eyewitnesses, plaintiffs and defense attorneys for Jackson. The film, directed by Nick Green, examines both sides of the trial – prosecution and defense – right up to the acquittal. The trailer begins with shots of Jackson’s estate. “We were convinced that he was a criminal and that he got away with it thanks to his fame and prominence,” says one of the interviewees.
ROLLING STONE has published a chronicle of the allegations against Jackson. In 1993, the Los Angeles Police Department opened an investigation into Jackson based on statements from Jordan Chandler, who met Jackson when she was 13. Although grand juries declined to indict the following year, the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department opened a new investigation in 2003, which ultimately led to the 2005 trial.
Director about the process
“It has been 20 years since Michael Jackson stood trial and was found not guilty. And yet tempers remain at odds to this day,” director Green and producer Fiona Stourton said in a statement published on Netflix’s Tudum. “No cameras were allowed in the courtroom, so the public’s perception of the facts at the time was filtered and conveyed in fragments by commentators. It was time to take a closer look at the trial as a whole.”
Prosecution witnesses included several boys who claimed Jackson abused them. The defense, however, called Macaulay Culkin, Jay Leno, George Lopez and Chris Tucker, among others, to testify about his character. On June 13, 2005, the jury reached its verdict.
The documentary could fill a void left by “Leaving Neverland,” the documentary that focused on two men who accused Jackson of molesting them as children and is no longer available on HBO. It also revisits Chandler’s story, which was left out of “Michael” because the filmmakers realized its inclusion would have violated a $20 million settlement Jackson reached in 1994. Jackson, who died in 2009, always vehemently denied Chandler’s allegations, as well as those of other boys.
