I only found out about it because they made a video of it and posted it on Twitter,” he says. “I wasn’t even there so it was a bit of a waste of time. the usual shit,” he says – and one day they parked a van outside his office and blasted Jackson’s music.

When Reed gave a talk at the Edinburgh festival, Jackson fans protested outside – “with signs saying ‘MJ Innocent’.

Nonetheless, he admits, he was “surprised at how unceasing the torrent of abuse was”, including reams of threats and emails to his film company, and especially the smearing of Robson and Safechuck. So, when I ask him how he coped with thousands – maybe even tens of thousands – of people telling him he was a dupe, a bad journalist, a liar and deserved to die, he replies: “I don’t want to sound blase, but I’ve received unwelcome attention from people I’m a lot more frightened of than Jackson fans – people from the criminal underworld and terrorist organisations. I couldn’t even imagine how Reed used the internet at all any more.ĭan Reed: ‘As soon as the movie was announced, people were denouncing the victims without even knowing who they were.’ Photograph: Channel 4īut Reed is a man with pride. On the day my interview with Reed, Safechuck and Robson went online, I had to block more than 100 Twitter accounts. Jackson’s most-dedicated fans, not known for their rationality, eagerly went after Reed especially, but really anyone who dared to express a sceptical opinion about St Michael. True to form, members of the Jackson family went on the attack, casting aspersions on Robson, in particular.

The documentary completely shredded what was left of Jackson’s reputation, but that didn’t stop plenty of people putting up a fight in his defence. Well, 10 months later, the innocence is truly gone. He was calm and expansive as he spoke about his film, Leaving Neverland – which was about to be broadcast – about James Safechuck and Wade Robson, who accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing them for years.Īs I looked at him leaning back, relaxed as you like, talking casually about “the Jackson fans”, I thought: “Sonny Jim, you have NO IDEA what you’re getting into.” It was like watching an innocent babe wander into a dark wood, the sounds of snarling animals in shadows all around him. I n February, when the documentary maker Dan Reed and I met in a near-empty bar, it felt very much like the lull before the typhoon.

Leaving neverland online