[chuff me dizzy]

Originally Posted by Cherie

Marlon says the family – and a team of attorneys, who put Robson on the stand to defend Jackson in 2005 – has been through all of this before. The surviving Jackson brothers don't know Safechuck, they say, but Taj did, and he calls Robson’s changed narrative the “ultimate betrayal.”

Family members have their own opinions about why Robson’s story has changed. The choreographer was grateful for an invitation to Jackson’s memorial – he attended with his family, Taj says – and danced “right behind” Janet Jackson for a tribute at MTV's Video Music Awards. He even “wanted to get close to MJ’s kids” in 2009, Taj says.


From left, Wade Robson, director Dan Reed and James Safechuck pose for a portrait to promote the film "Leaving Neverland." The Michael Jackson estate has sent a letter to the U.K.’s Channel 4 warning that the documentary on Robson and Safechuck, who accuse the singer of molesting them as boys, violates the network's programming guidelines.
Taylor Jewell/Invision/AP
But things soured, the family says. They say that when Robson was passed over to direct and choreograph Cirque du Soleil's "One" show spotlighting Michael in Las Vegas, his financial troubles began. That’s when they say Robson began selling off his Jackson memorabilia and pitching a book with allegations against the pop star before suing the family in 2013.

“It’s never been about justice for him," Taj says. "It’s always been about fame and money.”

The accusers' lawyer, Vince Finaldi, scoffs at the suggested timeline: "It's just another example of the Jackson press machine manipulating facts and telling half-truths in order to try and discredit a victim," he says.

Finaldi says Robson was hired to choreograph the "One" show but suffered a nervous breakdown and dropped out.

As described in "Leaving Neverland," "after the birth of his son, he started having visions of his son being abused by Michael Jackson and reflecting on the abuse that he suffered, and realizing how bad that was from a different perspective," Finaldi says. Robson pulled away from the entertainment industry, which he found triggering. "Did he suffer financial stresses because of it? Absolutely. But he's never been fired from a job in his life."

But the documentary, with graphic descriptions of alleged sexual abuse, prompts direct questions:

Was Michael Jackson ever sexually abused as a child? The brothers shake their heads. “Never,” Jackie says.

In “Leaving Neverland,” it’s alleged that the pop star would spend five or six hours at a time on the phone with young children. Doesn’t his family find this odd?

No, they say. “He would talk to me and my brothers for hours and hours,” Taj says. “My uncle didn’t have a (traditional) childhood, so he lived vicariously through children. He’d say to me: 'You’re so lucky you had a birthday party. What was it like?'... He was constantly trying to reclaim his childhood, and I don’t think people understand that, because people didn’t live though Michael Jackson’s life."

Do they acknowledge that their brother’s behavior was, at the very least, eccentric when it came to spending time with children, including nights in his bed?

Marlon Jackson calls it all innocent. “Taj is the same age as all these kids they used to spend nights (with) all the time. A bunch of kids would come over and have pillow fights, (watch) “Three Stooges,” swim, all this stuff. Watching movies, they’re tired, they’d fall asleep.”

“(Marlon’s) children were there,” Jackie says. “My kids were there. Tito’s children were there.”

After accusations of sexual misconduct, did the brothers ever suggest Michael change his behavior with children, whose hands he often held in public?

“We didn’t really have to,” Jackie says. “Because I knew my brother and what his mission was all about, was helping children, helping people around the world.”

The family calls Jackson an easy target, made easier now because under the American legal system, it's not possible to sue, shame or slander a dead man. The brothers point to Michael Jackson’s search to reclaim his childhood, international charity work, and how he’d open up Neverland to nearby hospitals and schools while he was touring.

https://eu.usatoday.com/story/life/t...ey/3005672002/

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