Ahead of the controversial Michael Jackson documentary Leaving Neverland airing on Channel 4 and HBO next week, the BBC have announced a rival documentary, Michael Jackson: The Rise and Fall, which aims to “reappraise” the global pop star’s legacy a decade on from his death.
The BBC film will be fronted by investigative reporter and Jackson expert Jacques Peretti, and will air on BBC Two later this year. It will be the fourth documentary Peretti has made about the singer, after Michael Jackson: What Really Happened, Michael Jackson’s Last Days: What Really Happened and Michael Jackson’s Secret Hollywood.
According to the BBC, the one-off film will speak to “the individuals who shaped him and were close to him”, and cover vast ground, from his childhood in Gary, Indiana, to the Jackson 5 and his Studio 54 days, the creation of Jackson’s Neverland Ranch and preparations for the This Is It tour, which he was rehearsing for in the lead-up to his death in 2009.
BBC Two controller Patrick Holland said: “Peretti has been one of the foremost critical commentators of Michael Jackson and his troubled life and legacy. When he came to us with the idea of reappraising him 10 years after his death, we were immediately taken with the project. We knew it would not shy away from the controversies that surround MJ …”
The news comes as Jackson’s family and fans have roundly condemned Leaving Neverland, in which two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, describe how they met and were allegedly sexually abused by Jackson when they were as young as seven. The film debuted at Sundance film festival to a shocked audience, who declared it “devastating” and “disturbing”, addingthat “it would only take two minutes to realise Jackson’s legacy is never going to be the same”. The four-hour, two-part film outlines in graphic detail how Jackson allegedly groomed the boys. In it, Robson discusses an alleged mock wedding ceremony the two had, and says: “He told me if they ever found out what we were doing, he and I would go to jail,” and that “you and I were brought together by God.”
The singer’s estate are suing HBO over the film, for allegedly violating a clause in a 1992 contract over the rights to air Michael Jackson in Concert in Bucharest: The Dangerous Tour. The contract allegedly stipulated that the US network was unable to disparage the singer in any future works. The case could cost the company up to $100m.
HBO has responded to the lawsuit, claiming that “despite the desperate lengths taken to undermine the film, our plans remain unchanged.” The documentary will air as planned.
Leaving Neverland airs on HBO on 3 and 4 March in the US; it airs on Channel 4 on 6 and 7 March in the UK.
The Guardian
