"Our abusers are praised sometimes, even after we come out and tell the truth," James Safechuck says in statement to Rolling Stone

Leaving Neverland accuser James Safechuck has offered a statement in support of survivors of childhood sexual abuse amid the release of the Michael Jackson biopic.

Safechuck was one of the two men who came forward with allegations of childhood sexual abuse against the singer in the 2019 documentary. (Jackson denied the allegations throughout his life.) In a video statement sent to Rolling Stone, Safechuck said he wanted to connect with other survivors during what could be a difficult time for victims.

“The Michael movie is coming out and it’s getting a lot of promotion and there’s billboards and commercials and people praising Michael. It can be triggering for survivors who have their own Michael in their lives, whether it’s the priest who’s close to God or the sports coach who’s just helping the kids or the step-parent who’s supporting the family,” Safechuck said. “Our abusers are praised sometimes, even after we come out and tell the truth.”

In Leaving Neverland, Safechuck claimed that Jackson sexually abused him when he was a boy from 1988 to 1992. While Safechuck has been involved in a decade-long legal battle with the Jackson estate, he previously told Rolling Stone that his participation in Leaving Neverland was to give hope to other child sex abuse survivors, and not tear down Jackson’s legacy.

“I didn’t want it to be a film about Michael or just a sensationalist kind of story using his fame. I didn’t want to be part of a film like that. I wanted to be part of telling an abuse survivor story and what’s that like,” Safechuck told Rolling Stone in 2019. “So for the movie, my audience, who I was trying to reach out to, was other survivors. So that was my goal.”

Safechuck reiterated that in his video statement to Rolling Stone, “I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone and that there are other survivors out there that understand what you’re going through and that are there with you. And that if you’re feeling all the feels, then lean into people that are close to you, lean into people that support you and that give you love, and know that you’re not alone.”

A $400 million lawsuit filed by Safechuck and Wade Robson, who also levied accusations against Jackson in Leaving Neverland, will finally head to trial in November. 

Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed also spoke to Rolling Stone about the release of Michael and the efforts to cleanse the singer’s legacy. “Clearly with this movie, a lot more young people are going to discover Michael Jackson and they will come away from this picture probably with the image that he was a very talented performer who was rather nice to children and that is a travesty of the truth,” Reed told Rolling Stone. 

“Would these people be part of a movie that glorified the films of Harvey Weinstein without ever mentioning that he raped women? Would these people be part of a great promotional film about the charitable works of Jeffrey Epstein?”

Read Safechuck’s entire statement below:

“Hi there. I wanted to connect with other survivors of childhood sexual abuse. The Michael movie is coming out and it’s getting a lot of promotion and there’s billboards and commercials and people praising Michael. It can be triggering for survivors who have their own Michael in their lives, whether it’s the priest who’s close to God or the sports coach who’s just helping the kids or the step-parent who’s supporting the family. Our abusers are praised sometimes, even after we come out and tell the truth. And I just wanted to let you know that you are not alone and that there are other survivors out there that understand what you’re going through and that are there with you. And that if you’re feeling all the feels, then lean into people that are close to you, lean into people that support you and that give you love, and know that you’re not alone. And that telling the truth and telling what happened is a good thing, and that it’s a part of your healing. Alright, I love you, bye.”