Wade Robson and James Safechuck, the two men interviewed in the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, spoke with Gayle King on CBS This Morning and described why they decided to speak out about their claim that Michael Jackson sexually abused them children. “If I never had a son, I might still be in silence,” Wade Robson said. “I had become so disconnected from myself as a little boy that I had no relationship with little Wade, I had no concept or care for, in my mind, of little Wade.” After having a children, Robson said, “I saw images of Michael doing it to my son,” and that was the first time, he said, that was the first time those thoughts in relation to Jackson “had an extremely negative, scary emotional reaction to me.”
Robson and Safechuck both previously supported the singer when others accused Jackson of crimes – Robson testified on behalf of Jackson at trial in 2005 – but have since recanted those stories, and unsuccessfully sued the Jackson estate. Jackson settled one case stemming from an allegation of child sexual abuse in 1993, and was acquitted after a trial in 2005. His estate and family maintain that the documentary is full of lies, and that Robson and Safechuck, who are attempting to appeal their cases, are admitted liars who only want money. “It’s an old argument that they’ve used, they say it’s just about the money,” Safechuck said of the Estate’s position. “For me the lawsuit was about fighting back, for little James. Nobody fought for me as a kid, but I’m old enough to fight for myself.”
