Corey Feldman has said he can “no longer defend” Michael Jackson following the broadcast of the Leaving Neverland documentary.
The four-hour film features extensive interviews with Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who accuse the singer of molesting them when they were younger. The Jackson family have vehemently denied the allegations.
Feldman became friends with Jackson after spending time with him at his Neverland ranch as a child.
The Lost Boys actor, who maintains that “nothing inappropriate” happened between him and Jackson, has now backtracked on previous comments he made defending the Billie Jean singer.
He told CNN: “It comes to a point where as an advocate for victims, as an advocate for changing the statutes of limitations to make sure that victims’ voices are heard, it becomes impossible for me to remain virtuous and not at least consider what’s being said and not listen to what the victims are saying — this is very important.
“We must give them their voice. We must allow them to speak. And therefore, we also must consider all sides of this, even as uncomfortable as that may be.”
He then added: “I don’t want to be perceived as I’m here to defend Michael because I can no longer do that.
“I cannot in good consciousness defend anyone who’s being accused of such horrendous crimes, but at the same time, I’m also not here to judge him because he did not do those things to me and that was not my experience.
“So, therefore, my place is not to be the judge and not to be the accuser and not to be the defender, my job in this is to focus on what’s most important, which is helping to reform the statutes of limitations in every state because if we can reform the statutes of limitations, we can prevent things from ever getting to this point.”
Channel 4 aired Leaving Neverland in the UK on Wednesday and Thursday this week.
Following the broadcast, Robson and Safechuck spoke with Oprah Winfrey about the documentary.
“Michael drilled in you, ‘If you’re caught, we’re caught, your life is over, my life is over,’” Safechuck claimed. “It’s repeated over and over again, it’s drilled into your nervous system. It takes a lot of work to sort through that.”
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