Michael Jackson‘s estate strikes! The late musician’s estate filed a $100 million lawsuit against HBO for its upcoming Leaving Neverland sex abuse documentary, according to legal documents obtained by The National ENQUIRER. The highly-anticipated flick is set to premiere on March 3 and 4.
“The Jackson Estate will seek all damages proximately caused by HBO’s reprehensible disparagement of Michael Jackson, which could exceed $100 million should HBO succeed in the damage it is intending to cause to the legacy of Michael Jackson,” said the Thursday, February 21 document.
Attorney Howard Weitzman also told The ENQUIRER in a statement, “HBO breached its agreement not to disparage Michael Jackson by producing and selling to the public a one-sided marathon of unvetted propaganda to shamelessly exploit an innocent man no longer here to defend himself. HBO could have and should have ensured that Leaving Neverland was properly sourced, fact checked and a fair and balanced representation. Instead they chose to fund and produce a film where they knew the two subjects had for many years testified under oath and told family, friends and law enforcement that Mr. Jackson did nothing inappropriate to either of them.”
The documentary features Wade Robson and James Safechuck, now two adult men who claimed the King of Pop sexually abused them when they were children.
As ENQUIRER readers know, Jackson tragically died in June 2009 at age 50, but prior to his death, he was accused of molesting two other boys, one in which he settled out of court in 1994 and the other in which he was found not guilty in court in 2005.
That said, the lawsuit has claimed that “Michael Jackson is innocent. Period.” Weitzman continued, “Nearly four years after Michael died they suddenly changed their recollections, sued the Estate of Michael Jackson for hundreds of millions of dollars and had all of their lawsuits dismissed. Yet they are still seeking money, having appealed. HBO and the director were well aware of their financial motives and that ample opposing facts are available from numerous sources, but made the unconscionable decision to bury any evidence casting doubt on their chosen narrative.
It concluded, “Had they made an objective film it would have allowed viewers to make up their own minds about these allegations, instead of having a television network dictate to them that they must accept these false claims about Michael Jackson.”
