James Safechuck and Wade Robson, who alleged that they were sexually abused as children by Michael Jackson, have been given a new trial date for 2028.
Safechuck and Robson appeared in Leaving Neverland, the Dan Reed-directed two-part documentary, back in 2019, where they detailed their alleged abuse by Jackson.
Both men alleged that they were befriended by the singer and abused at his Neverland ranch in Santa Barbara, California, between the ages of 7 and 10. They also accused employees of his companies, MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, of helping enable and conceal the alleged abuse.
Robson, a choreographer and director, and Safechuck, a writer, actor, and director, sued MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures for negligence, breach of duty, and intentional infliction of emotional distress in separate lawsuits in 2013 and 2014, respectively.
They won the right to consolidate their cases in 2024 after their previously dismissed complaints were revived on appeal. The appellate court found that companies can owe their own separate duty to protect victims even if they’re “solely owned” by an alleged perpetrator of abuse.
The two men and their lawyer, John Carpenter, previously wanted their case heard before the release of the Michael biopic released earlier this year, but the case faced a series of delays and was previously set for trial in October 2027.
On Friday (June 12), a judge in California agreed to set a new trial date in the sexual abuse case brought by the men, per Rolling Stone.
Lawyers on both sides agreed to waive deadlines that would otherwise require the case to proceed to trial sooner. They told the court Safechuck’s deposition was delayed by his lawyer’s trial schedule and that the discovery referee assigned to oversee several depositions had limited availability.
Judge Michael E. Whitaker set the new trial date for February 14, 2028, but he ordered everyone back for another hearing in September to keep the case on track.
Safechuck recently shared a statement in support of child sex abuse survivors amid the release of Michael. The documentary’s director Dan Reed has spoken out against Michael, claiming the singer was “worse than Jeffrey Epstein”, while also questioning why the film fails to address the abuse allegations.
Michael charts the singer’s life from childhood up until the peak of his popularity in the late ‘80s, stopping short of featuring the allegations made against him, which he and his estate have continually denied.
The film concludes in 1988, and Jackson didn’t face his first accusation until 1993, which many of the film’s critics have taken issue with. Michael was meant to feature the allegations as part of the storyline, but a clause in a legal settlement meant that the production spent $15million on reshoots, ending the film at a different point in his life and shifting the narrative tension onto his relationship with his father, Joe (Colman Domingo).
Despite its contentious approach to the allegations, the film has been a box office success, breaking records for the music biopic genre with a $217million (£160million) global opening, surpassing the record set by Bohemian Rhapsody in 2019.
Jackson, one of the best-selling artists of all time, reached an out-of-court settlement of $25 million in 1994 with the family of Jordan Chandler, who had accused Jackson of molesting him.
A case file was closed several months later after prosecutors cited a lack of evidence to proceed without testimony from the Chandler Family.
In December 2003, Jackson was also charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of intoxicating a minor with alcoholic drinks, with the charges related to 13-year-old Gavin Arvizo.
Jackson denied the charges and was acquitted in 2005 after a lengthy four-and-a-half-month trial.
The Jackson estate has adamantly and repeatedly denied that he abused either of the boys, and has emphasised that Robson testified at Jackson’s 2005 criminal trial that he had not been abused, and Safechuck said the same to authorities.
NME gave Michael three stars in a review that read: “Michael feels like a job well done: it’s a slick, accessible advert for Jackson’s incredible imperial phase. But if the singer’s estate wanna be startin’ somethin’ bigger like a film franchise, they’ll have their work cut out.”
For more help, advice or more information regarding sexual harassment, assault and rape in the UK, visit the Rape Crisis charity website. In the US, visit RAINN...