Yahoo News Leaving Neverland director reveals 'big question' his film had to answer
Note: The following article contains discussion of sexual misconduct allegations that some readers may find upsetting.
Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed has opened up about one of the big things he hoped to achieve with his four-hour documentary.
The series centres on the testimonies of two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who have spoken out as adults to accuse Michael Jackson of sexually abusing them when they were children. The Jackson estate has vehemently denied all claims against the late singer and condemned the documentary.
The series and the two men's accounts have been criticised by some, and one of the biggest points raised to undermine their testimonies came from Michael Jackson fans pointing out that Wade Robson once defended Jackson in a 2005 trial and denied that Jackson had ever molested him.
Related: The biggest revelations to come from the Leaving Neverland documentary
But according to director Dan Reed, that's a question he hoped people would find the answer to in his documentary.
"For me, that was one of the big questions that the film had to answer… why Wade and James didn’t say anything for so many years and why Wade took the witness stand in 2005 in May and said, 'Michael never touched me'," he told Deadline.
"The answer is, 'It's complicated', because you have to understand the psychology of child sexual abuse."
Reed also reflected on the wide-spread nature of Jackson's grooming of these two boys, adding that Jackson groomed their families to look the other way.
"[They] were all being hoodwinked by Jackson and had kind of aligned themselves with the narrative that whatever was happening behind those closed doors of the bedroom in Neverland was just innocent fun," Reed added.
"The mothers believed that. The sister believed it, the brother believed it. The dads believed it. They were all taken in."
The director also added that, despite receiving death threats from Jackson's fans and lawsuits being filed by Jackson's estate, he stands by "every second" of the film.
"It certainly hasn't cowed either me or HBO," he said. "I stand by every second of the film and so does HBO."
Meanwhile, speaking shortly after the documentary's UK premiere in March this year, Reed revealed that there are two further films he would like to make that centre on allegations made by other accusers.
For more information on the historical background of the Michael Jackson abuse allegations presented in Leaving Neverland, click here.
Leaving Neverland aired on Channel 4 in the UK and HBO in the US.
Readers who are affected by the issues raised in this story are encouraged to contact the NSPCC on 0808 800 5000 (www.nspcc.org.uk). Readers in the US are encouraged to contact the Childhelp National Child Abuse Hotline on (1-800-422-4453) or the American SPCC (www.americanspcc.org).
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