The director of the controversial Leaving Neverland documentary has reflected on alleged errors recounted by James Safechuck.
Safechuck and Wade Robson claim they were sexually abused by Michael Jackson when they were children.
But a biographer of the late pop star has asserted Safechuck’s timeline of events cannot be correct due to one particular claim he believes does not check out.
Mike Smallcombe shared construction plans on social media which apparently show the train station Jacko had installed on his ranch was approved on 2 September 1993 before opening for use in 1994.
Yeah there seems to be no doubt about the station date. The date they have wrong is the end of the abuse.
— Dan Reed (@danreed1000) March 31, 2019
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However, Safechuck – who alleges in a lawsuit against Jackson’s estate he was abused by the singer from 1988 until 1992 – claims he was assaulted in an upstairs room of the train station.
Responding to Smallcombe’s tweet, director Dan Reed conceded the detail about dates was inaccurate.
However, he did go on to indicate the mistake concerned how long Safechuck was a victim.
He wrote: “Yeah there seems to be no doubt about the station date. The date they have wrong is the end of the abuse.”
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Smallcombe later insisted Reed should admit to bungling his research.
He tweeted: “So @danreed1000 is now saying because the story has been debunked, suddenly the end of Safechuck’s abuse was when he was 16/17 rather than 14.
“It’s a three year discrepancy. Just hold your hands up, don’t change the story. This is what happens when you don’t investigate properly.”
Reed previously told reporters he had been rigorous in checking the alleged victims’ accounts.
He said: “I listened very carefully to days and days and days of interviews, then we went and did about 18 months of research and checked everything we could and tried to poke holes in Wade and James’ accounts.
“I interviewed the police investigators and the sheriff’s department investigators who were part of looking into Michael Jackson’s background, and none of them had any doubts at all about his guilt.”
The film left die-hard fans convinced the late King of Pop was a paedophile after it aired early last month.
Fans revealed on social media they had been left nauseous over the claims and media personalities such as Piers Morgan have questioned whether he may have been a serial abuser.
Jackson always denied the claims and his family fiercely denounced the documentary, saying in part: “Michael Jackson was and always will be 100% innocent of these false allegations.”
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