The director of Leaving Neverland and its upcoming sequel — both about the men who accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing them as children — says he’s received thousands of death threats from fans of the late King of Pop.
British filmmaker Dan Reed says he has “kept company with very violent people for a very long time,” as he told The Guardian in an interview at his office, the location of which had to be kept secret.
“I’ve had murderers try to find me. I’ve had people threaten to shoot me who are armed. I’ve been threatened many, many times,” Reed said.
Though these threats have come in many forms, the director says he only gives credence to the ones that have been “delivered face to face” or have come from people trying to track down his home address.
“People in China sending me emails? I don’t take so seriously. They’re going to have to get on a plane,” said Reed, who has also helmed documentaries on the Oct 7 Hamas attack on Israel, the court case against Sandy Hook conspiracy theorist Alex Jones and President Donald Trump’s attempt to overturn the results of the 2020 election.
But, as The Guardian makes clear, the threats against his life have only really come from Jackson fans, following 2019’s Leaving Neverland, which earned Reed an Emmy Award.
The two-part HBO documentary centres on the sexual abuse allegations levied by James Safechuck and Wade Robson, who were children when they say Jackson leveraged his star power to groom them.
Jackson, who died in 2009 at age 50, was first accused of sexual abuse in 1993 by then 13-year-old Jordan Chandler. Jackson reportedly settled the suit the following year for more than US$20mil, and prosecutors declined to file charges in a subsequent criminal investigation.
In a separate case in 2003, Jackson was charged with child molestation, only to be acquitted in 2005. His estate continues to deny all allegations against the late Thriller singer.
“Jackson got away with it for so long because he normalised the presence of little boys in his life,” Reed told the Daily News in 2019.
Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson traces the years since the release of its controversial predecessor — over which Jackson’s estate sued HBO for US$100mil — and the intense public scrutiny Safechuck and Robson have faced as they’ve pursued their case.
The second instalment, which premiered March 18 on YouTube’s Real Stories, also sees Safechuck and Robson preparing for the 2026 trial against Jackson’s companies. Reed is also planning on a third instalment to cover the trial itself. – New York Daily News/Tribune News Service
