tv

After Neverland: Oprah sat down with Michael Jackson's accusers.

Oprah Winfrey will host a special show with Michael Jackson’s accusers, Wade Robson and James Safechuck. It will air straight after the Michael Jackson documentary that reportedly left critics feeling “sick to their stomachs”.

Leaving Neverland features the testimonies of Robson and Safechuck, who both allege Michael Jackson sexually assaulted them as children at his Neverland Ranch property.

Watch the official trailer for the four-hour film below. Post continues after.

Oprah interviews both men, along with the documentary’s director Dan Reed, in Oprah Winfrey Presents: After Neverland. They will appear “before an audience of survivors of sexual abuse and others whose lives have been impacted by it,” according to HBO and Winfrey’s OWN network.

In the trailer below, she makes an emotional introduction about the prevalence of childhood sexual abuse in society. Oprah is a sexual assault survivor  – she revealed she was raped at the age of nine.

 

The veteran TV host opens up about her own experiences, as she stresses the importance of giving survivors a platform to speak out.

“Here’s the reason why I’m here. Twenty five years of The Oprah Winfrey Show I taped 217 episodes about sexual abuse,” she says.

ADVERTISEMENT

“I tried and tried and tried to get the message across that sexual abuse was not just abuse, that it was sexual seduction. But for me, this moment transcends Michael Jackson, it is much bigger than any one person. It is a moment in time that allows us to see this societal corruption. It is a scourge on humanity.”

“It’s happening right now it’s happening in families, we know it’s happening in churches, and it’s happening in schools and sports teams everywhere.

“So if it gets you, our audience, to see how it happens, then some good would have come of it.”

When Oprah first interviewed the controversial king of pop in 1993, she says she walked away feeling like he was someone she could “be friends with”.

“I can tell you I really, really liked him,” she recalled. “After this interview, I thought I could be his friend, because I felt that he was really honest.”

michael jackson
Jackson passed away in 2009. Image: Getty.
ADVERTISEMENT

Oprah is well aware the interview is going to be controversial. "I’m gonna get it,” she predicted. But she argues the issue of sexual abuse is too important to remain silent.

She hopes to continue the conversation about the role seduction plays in sexual abuse.

After Neverland will air in the US on March 4, at 10pm on both HBO and OWN after the finale of the documentary.

Leaving Neverland will air in Australia on Channel 10 Friday, 8 March at 9.00pm and Saturday, 9 March at 9.30pm.

Read more on this topic:

Without us noticing, it looks like Michael Jackson groomed us for decades.

The signs Michael Jackson was grooming the children he was close to that so many missed.

"It wasn't going to mean anything": Why Michael Jackson married Lisa Marie Presley.

'Blanket' Jackson was just seven when his father died. This week he stopped talking.

The two boys who followed Wade Robson into Michael Jackson's bed insist they weren't abused.

Debbie Rowe says she gifted Michael Jackson two children because he was a 'wonderful man'.