HBO Announces Release Date of Controversial Michael Jackson Doc 'Leaving Neverland'
After premiering to critical praise and the ire of the Michael Jackson estate at Sundance, Dan Reed's embattled Leaving Neverland documentary is finally hitting not-just-TV next month.
According to SPIN, HBO has announced the four-hour film that details allegations of sexual abuse from two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, will be released in two parts, with the first installment arriving on the March 3rd and the second on the following night of the 4th.
READ:Michael Jackson's Family Calls Leaving Neverland Documentary a "Public Lynching"
Ahead of the film's Sundance premiere (and well after,) the Michael Jackson estate has perpetually blasted Leaving Neverland as a "tabloid character assassination" and a "public lynching," claiming its subjects to be "perjurers." The Hollywood Reporter adds that Reed's been targeted by death threats since the film's Sundance unveiling, firing back with "They have a very precious asset to protect. Every time a song plays, a cash register goes 'ka-ching.' It doesn't surprise me that they've come out fighting in defense of their asset."
Suits filed by Robson and Safechuck against the estate were thrown out in 2017, following Jackson's 2005 verdict of not guilty in a case that accused him of molesting an underage boy. In 1993, Jackson settled yet another suit out of court that accused him of child molestation.