Michael Jackson Movie at Sundance Draws Protesters: 2 to Start With

PARK CITY, Utah — Amid breathless reports of protests, disruptions and personal threats, news outlets swarmed to the Sundance Film Festival premiere of “Leaving Neverland,” a new documentary mini-series detailing accusations of sexual abuse against the pop star Michael Jackson. But the protesters outside the Egyptian Theater found themselves vastly outnumbered by reporters, photographers and camera crews, as teams from Variety, “Extra,” and, yes, The Times waited patiently for their turns to interview the poster-carrying Michael Jackson defenders. All two of them.

Brenda Jenkyns and Catherine Van Tighem said they drove 13 hours from Alberta, Canada, to protest the debut of the docu-series, which HBO will broadcast this spring. Though three more protesters showed up after the screening, the two friends said they felt compelled to speak out. “I’ve never actually heard of Sundance before that,” Jenkyns said. “I just know about Michael Jackson, and we also know about the two people who are featured in this film. So we knew that it would be not true, basically.”

Van Tighem added that the film was “not a voice for victims,” saying, “There’s another side to the story. The information is there for people, if they want to take the time to look at it.” She carried a cardboard poster featuring a photo of Jackson, as well as copies of a pamphlet titled “Protect Michael,” with a storybook-style illustration of the pop singer leading a group of children through a garden of flowers.

“Leaving Neverland,” directed by Dan Reed, paints quite a different picture of Jackson’s interactions with young people. In two parts running nearly four hours, it details the singer’s history with Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who both spent time with Jackson in the late 1980s, at the height of his post-“Thriller” fame.

Under 10 at the time they began their “friendships” with the pop star, they say that they were showered with gifts, trips, and backstage passes; slowly isolated from their families; and “groomed” for sexual abuse that lasted several years. The now-adult Robson and Safechuck describe their sexual interactions with Jackson in graphic detail — far more explicit than the euphemisms typical of earlier news reports and documentary accounts.

In 2003, Jackson was indicted on child molestation charges when a young cancer patient accused the singer of groping him at the Neverland estate in California. Jackson was acquitted of all charges. He died six years later at the age of 50.