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Oprah Already Knows Her After Neverland Interview Will Get Hate
Oprah Winfrey already knows that she’s going to be sparking some controversy with her new special After Neverland, an interview with the two men who have accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing them when they were young.
“I’m gonna get it,” the talk show host predicted during a taping of the broadcast on Wednesday. But, Oprah argued, the issue of sexual abuse is too important to remain silent no matter how much her program angers the “gloved one’s” fans. “This movie transcends Michael Jackson,” she told an audience of over 100 abuse survivors. “It allows us to see societal corruption.”
The program is set to air on March 4, which comes after the second and final episode of the upcoming HBO documentary. Leaving Neverland is a four-hour investigation into the claims of Jackson accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck and Winfrey was joined on stage by the two men along with the director Dan Reed for a talk that was filled mixed emotions.
Winfrey made it clear that she finds the men’s allegations credible, but the Jackson estate has continued to push back against Robson and Safechuck. Before going public with his abuse claims in 2013, Robson was known for being one of Jackson’s most avid defenders, denying the pop star had ever behaved inappropriately while serving as a key defense witness in the pop star’s 2005 child molestation trial.
Safechuck also testified that he was never abused as part of the singer’s 1993 molestation trial, but declined to testify on his behalf in the follow-up trial. Both men say they were groomed by Jackson to stay quiet as he repeatedly told them that their lives would be ruined if they broke their silence.