By Michael Schacht
14 years after his death, the “King of Pop” is being sued again.
A California court has now allowed the lawsuits of two men who claim to have been sexually abused for years as children of Michael Jackson (1958-2009). Wade Robson (40) and James Safechuck (45) first made their experiences public in the documentary “Leaving Neverland” (2019). Robson has been suing since 2013 and Safechuck since 2014.
Robson, now a choreographer, met Michael Jackson when he was five and acted in three of his music videos. In his lawsuit, he alleges Jackson sexually harassed him on and off for seven years.
Safechuck met Michael Jackson when he was nine years old when he starred alongside him in a commercial for Pepsi. Jackson then called him again and again, showered him with gifts and finally abused him.
Wade Robson (left) first filed a lawsuit in 2013. He says he was molested by Michael Jackson for seven years. James Safechuck (right) met Michael Jackson while filming a “Pepsi” commercial. He too is said to have been abused by the megastar
Photo: picture alliance/AP Photo | Taylor Jewell
The lawsuits of the two men, which a judge dismissed in the first instance in 2021, are directed against two companies: “MJJ Productions” and “MJJ Ventures”. Jackson was the sole owner of the companies. In his reasoning, the judge said at the time that children in the care of the companies could not be expected to be protected as in other organizations such as the Boy Scouts or the Church.
This argument has now been dismissed by the next instance, the California 2nd Circuit Court of Appeals. Judges there ruled that “a company that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not relieved of its duty to protect those children just because it is wholly owned by the perpetrator.”
Attorneys for Michael Jackson’s estate said they were “disappointed” with the court’s decision. “Two respected judges have repeatedly dismissed these cases over the last decade because the law required it,” Jonathan Steinsapir told The Associated Press in an email.
He continued: “We remain fully convinced that Michael is innocent of these allegations, which contradict all credible evidence and independent confirmation and were first made years after Michael’s death by money-seeking men .”