Wade Robson was videotaped for a 2016 deposition as part of his lawsuit against Michael Jackson's companies, and pieces of it have just been released in a video pointing out all the alleged flaws and issues with Robson and James Safechuck's accusations against the singer.
The video, which has been posted online under the title "Lies of Leaving Neverland," is a direct attack on the validity of "Leaving Neverland," the documentary about Robson and Safechuck's claims they were abused by Michael Jackson.
The video says "Leaving Neverland" is filled with "provable lies, conflicting accounts, contradictions, staged reshoots, faked scenes, reconstructed memories, critical information omissions, manipulated news clips, discredited source material" and that "key motives" are ignored.
The video is around 30 minutes long and lays out what its makers believe are key holes in the accusers' stories.
The first point of contention centers around Safechuck's story that he was molested in the train station at MJ's Neverland Ranch sometime between 1988-89. But, as previously reported, the blueprints for the train station cleary show it was built years later.
The video also uses footage of both Wade Robson and his mother's depositions to poke holes in Robson's abuse claims. In the documentary, Robson says while his family went on vacation to The Grand Canyon, he was assaulted by Jackson. But in the deposition video, his mother testifies that her whole family was on the trip.
The anti-"Leaving Neverland" video also takes issue with alleged "staged reshoots" of key interviews with Safechuck. In the documentary, Safechuck claims he received jewelry from MJ including a wedding ring. But the new video claims the interview was actually filmed as a reshoot "a year and a half" after the first one.
A major moment in the documentary comes when Wade Robson lights on fire to a bunch of Jackson memorabilia he owned. But, as The Blast previously reported, Robson had already sold all items that were worth money through Julian's Auctions in 2011. The auction house said at the time Robson wanted to be anonymous in the sale, but they refused.
During the deposition video, Robson was asked to confirm his testimony from Jackson's 2005 molestation trial where he said MJ never molested him. The lawyer who conducted the deposition repeatedly asked Robson, "That was a lie, correct?" Wade answers several times with, "That was not the truth, correct."
"Finding Neverland" has been nominated for an Emmy and it seems the timing of the release of this video is to remind Emmy voters the issues with the documentary.
Jackson Estate attorney, Bryan Freedman, tells The Blast,
"The consideration of 'Leaving Neverland' for an Emmy in any category other than one based on fiction is preposterous. A documentary is commonly defined as a film or video examining an event or person based on facts."
He adds,
"This new video, entitled 'Lies of Leaving Neverland' and many others like it actually provide real and truthful facts. These same facts and other indisputable evidence were intentionally ignored by Dan Reed in an effort to disparage Michael Jackson who is not here to defend himself. Anyone who furthered this travesty of justice will be held accountable."
