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Leaving Neverland director responds to claims one clip was used out of context

Photo credit: Jerod Harris / Stringer - Getty Images
Photo credit: Jerod Harris / Stringer - Getty Images

From Digital Spy

Leaving Neverland's director has responded to claims that the documentary featured a clip used out of context.

The HBO and Channel 4 show, in which Wade Robson and James Safechuck claimed Michael Jackson sexually abused them as young boys, caused controversy when it was released last month – with Jackson's family, as Jackson himself did, denying all allegations of child sex abuse levelled at the singer.

However, another claim has since been made against the film's director Dan Reed by lawyer Mark Geragos, who represented Jackson in his child sex abuse trial against Gavin Arvizo.

Photo credit: Pool/Pool - Getty Images
Photo credit: Pool/Pool - Getty Images

Related: The biggest revelations to come from the Leaving Neverland documentary

Geragos posted a tweet over the weekend claiming that the clip of a press conference featuring him in Leaving Neverland "had nothing to do with" Jackson's child sex abuse case.

Instead, Geragos claims the clip was "specifically directed" towards men who were found guilty of wire-tapping Jackson's phone as part of the popstar's lawsuit against private plane company XtraJet, and was thus used out of context in the documentary.

Reed has now dismissed Geragos' claims, stating that "his remarks at the press conference have everything to do with Jackson's accusers".

He told NME: "The press conference in question was on November 25, 2003.

Photo credit: Getty Images
Photo credit: Getty Images

Related: Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed dismantles theories that say Wade Robson and James Safechuck are lying

"Mark Geragos is talking about the allegations against Michael Jackson. Later on in the press conference, he talks about 'accusations' in the same vein.

"These 'accusations' and 'allegations' he's protesting about are not the ones he's making against Xtrajet but the ones 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo made against Michael Jackson, resulting in Jackson's arrest five days earlier."

Reed also responded to Geragos on Twitter, writing: "Nothing to do?

"So exactly what 'allegations' were you referring to in that very same press conference on 25 Nov 2003, five days after [Michael Jackson's] arrest?"

The director has also previously dismantled theories that say Robson and Safechuck are lying.

Leaving Neverland aired on HBO in the US and on Channel 4 in the UK.


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