Rabbi Shmuley Boteach: ‘I believe Michael Jackson’s accusers’

Michael Jackson’s longtime friend Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has defended the late star’s sexual abuse accusers, insisting it’s time for all fans of the King of Pop to reassess the singer’s legacy.
The popular religious leader, who was often seen by the Thriller star’s side at the height of his fame, has seen director Dan Reed’s damning Leaving Neverland documentary and admits he believes the two men who allege Jackson molested them when they were kids.
“I don’t believe these men are lying, and I don’t believe that the shame and guilt being experienced by their parents in general, maybe their mothers, in particular, is feigned,” Boteach tells Australian TV host Tracy Grimshaw.
“There will have to now be a fundamental reassessment of the legacy of Michael Jackson.”
The new documentary, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival in Utah and has since aired on TV in the U.S. and U.K., shocked him to the core: “Because we’ve never heard allegations that were this explicit,” he says. “We’ve never really seen the faces of the accusers as they make these allegations, and we’ve never really heard the family members who had to shoulder that pain.”
The film, which revolves around Wade Robson and James Safechuck’s claims, also made the rabbi rethink his take on Jordy Chandler’s allegations against Jackson in the 1990s. The King of Pop reached a settlement with his young accuser and his family.
“I didn’t know if to believe it or not. We didn’t know,” Boteach says. “What I did know was, that regardless of whether it was true or not, Michael could never again really be around children.”
Meanwhile, the Jackson family continues to try to discredit Reed and his film and the King of Pop’s nephew, Taj Jackson, has confirmed he is working on a counter-documentary to dispute the claims made by Robson and Safechuck in Leaving Neverland.