Filmmaker Dan Reed, the director of ‘Leaving Neverland,’ has admitted that key aspect of one of the alleged victims of abuse by Michael Jackson may be wrong.
In the documentary, James Safechuck described how he was allegedly sexually assaulted in Michael Jackson’s Neverland train station.
James Safechuck claimed in interviews and in his lawsuit against the Jackson estate that he was abused for four years until the age of 14 – between 1988 and 1992.
Jackson biographer Mike Smallcombe dug up part of a construction permit issued by Santa Barbara County in September 2, 1993, appearing to state the building of the Neverland station began after that date and opened in 1994 — that’s a full two years after James Safechuck claims his abuse stopped.
via Mail Online:
British director Reed responded on Twitter, not by questioning the date of the station construction, but by stating Safechuck got the date his abuse finished wrong.
He wrote in response to Smallcombe’s post: ‘Yeah there seems to be no doubt about the station date. The date they have wrong is the end of the abuse.’
The British biographer also accused the director of not properly investigating the claims made by Robson and Safechuck and told the Mirror Reed’s response was ’embarrassing’.
He wrote: ‘So @danreed1000 is now saying because the story has been debunked, suddenly the end of Safechuck’s abuse was when he was 16/17 rather than 14. It’s a three year discrepancy. Just hold your hands up, don’t change the story. This is what happens when you don’t investigate properly.’
Dan Reed said in response to Smallcombe’s claims: ‘James Safechuck was present at Michael Jackson’s Neverland Valley Ranch both before and after the construction of the train station there.
‘The two still photographs of the train station shown in the documentary were taken by Safechuck and provided to the film-maker by him.
‘Safechuck’s testimony in the film is that he was abused by Jackson in multiple places over several years, into his teens.’
Smallcombe also accused second Jacko accuser, Wade Robson, of lying because in the film he stated he was left on his own with Jackson while his family went to the Grand Canyon.
But signed testimony by his mother, Joy, stated in 1993 and 2016 depositions that the ‘whole family’ went on the trip.
He tweeted: ‘Wade Robson told a detailed story of how he claimed he was abused for the first time. How his family left him at Neverland alone, and went to the Grand Canyon. This can now be proven as false. Yet he was able to tell it to the world, without any scrutiny.’
In an earlier TV interview Reed insisted the two men are not after payouts from the singer’s estate, but said the pair merely want justice.
He described Robson and Safechuck as ‘very credible witnesses’ and insisted there was strong corroborating evidence backing up their harrowing claims.
He told Good Morning Britain’s Piers Morgan and Susanna Reid last month: ‘They want justice, they are not fussed about the money. I don’t know what they would do with the money when they get it.’
Leaving Neverland sees the two former child actors accuse the late singer of repeatedly raping them at his Californian ranch in the 1990s.
Robson, now 36, says he was abused from the ages of seven to 14, and Safechuck, now 40, from 10 to 14. They both give graphic details of what allegedly happened.
Thoughts?
So @danreed1000 is now saying because the story has been debunked, suddenly the end of Safechuck’s abuse was when he was 16/17 rather than 14. It’s a three year discrepancy. Just hold your hands up, don’t change the story. This is what happens when you don’t investigate properly. https://t.co/EydUEztVJJ
— Mike Smallcombe (@mikesmallcombe1) March 31, 2019
In the last couple of hours I’ve been given access to the Santa Barbara County construction permits for the Neverland train station by my source – approved Sept 2, 1993 pic.twitter.com/xjtfvEvsUu
— Mike Smallcombe (@mikesmallcombe1) March 30, 2019
