SHNEAKO - May 30, 2026


Was Michael Jackson Innocent?


Episode Stats


Length

33 minutes

Words per minute

178.87373

Word count

5,924

Sentence count

400

Harmful content

Misogyny

7

sentences flagged

Toxicity

23

sentences flagged

Hate speech

20

sentences flagged


Summary

Summaries generated with gmurro/bart-large-finetuned-filtered-spotify-podcast-summ .

Transcript

Transcript generated with Whisper (turbo).
Misogyny classifications generated with MilaNLProc/bert-base-uncased-ear-misogyny .
Toxicity classifications generated with s-nlp/roberta_toxicity_classifier .
Hate speech classifications generated with facebook/roberta-hate-speech-dynabench-r4-target .
00:00:00.240 Latoya said that she stood by Michael 1,000% and that there was nothing unusual about his
00:00:05.200 relationships with the children. She also said that she had proof of his behavior and offered
00:00:09.680 to sell it to tabloids for a half million dollars. But that fell through when she didn't come up with
00:00:14.160 any proof. Years later, Latoya said she made it up because her physically abusive husband forced
00:00:18.960 her to. So you decide. Who was her husband? Wait a second. Who was Latoya married to?
00:00:27.140 Latoya Jackson ratted, had no proof, and then backtracked on it. 0.99
00:00:33.740 Wait a second.
00:00:37.060 Jack Gordon.
00:00:38.540 Jack Gordon was an entertainment manager.
00:00:40.700 Okay, okay.
00:00:42.240 Early life.
00:00:43.080 And there we go.
00:00:46.000 Oh.
00:00:48.280 He deserved all the joys of life.
00:00:50.320 And so it was that we.
00:00:52.100 What is this?
00:00:52.900 We came back to our meeting at Neverland with 12-year-old Gavin.
00:00:57.280 I'd found this easily the most disturbing moment of the past eight months.
00:01:02.080 You know, some have, and they say...
00:01:04.880 I've seen this, this is the worst, this is the worst clip of MJ.
00:01:10.000 Is that really appropriate?
00:01:11.920 When you're talking about children, we met Gavin.
00:01:15.000 And it was a great privilege to meet Gavin,
00:01:17.360 because he's had a lot of suffering in his life.
00:01:19.900 When Gavin was there, he talked about the fact that he shares your bedroom. 0.98
00:01:22.560 yes can you understand why people would worry about that because they're ignorant 0.50
00:01:30.080 but is it really appropriate for a 44 year old man to share a bedroom
00:01:36.480 with a child who is not related to him at all that's a beautiful thing that's that's not a
00:01:41.280 worrying thing i should be wearing who's the criminal who's who's jack the ripper in the room
00:01:45.920 this is a guy trying to help heal a child i'm sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor
00:01:52.620 i gave him the bed because he has a brother named star go to rabbi yosef lecture live class man it
00:01:58.260 would be so funny build freedom sighties now bed and i'm on the floor in the sleeping bag did you
00:02:03.020 ever sleep in the bed with them no but i have slept in the bed with many children i sleep in
00:02:07.880 the bed with all of them when mccully culkin were little kiri kieran culkin would sleep on this side
00:02:12.900 And Macaulay Cuck is on this side.
00:02:14.720 His sister's in there.
00:02:15.740 We're all just jamming the bit. 1.00
00:02:17.780 Holy shit, if I have to ask you to drop the bomb in India again, I might lose my mind. 0.99
00:02:22.100 TTS a 10. 1.00
00:02:23.080 Hold on.
00:02:24.340 You know, we have the footage.
00:02:26.100 I have all that footage.
00:02:27.420 But is that right, Michael?
00:02:28.900 It's very right.
00:02:30.480 It's very loving.
00:02:31.480 That's what the world needs now.
00:02:33.340 Maybe he was just loving.
00:02:34.420 Maybe he was...
00:02:35.420 More...
00:02:36.700 The world needs a heart. 0.99
00:02:38.560 The world needs a man who's 44.
00:02:39.660 You think MJ guilty?
00:02:40.900 Okay, the fact that he has footage of sleeping children that aren't his is a little bit weird, is pretty weird.
00:02:45.580 Or sleeping in a bed with children.
00:02:47.300 No, no, you're making it all wrong.
00:02:49.220 Bad optics.
00:02:49.860 Well, tell me, help me.
00:02:50.820 Because, what's wrong with sharing a love? You don't sleep with your kids or some other kid who needs love?
00:02:57.940 I think Nick Fuentes is watching. He mentioned you are a good streamer.
00:03:01.220 Yeah, he's a great streamer too. I don't know. Maybe he's gonna type in the chat.
00:03:04.420 He said, Citrus said I feel like he knew he didn't do anything wrong, but said it horribly, right?
00:03:07.940 the fact that he's so confident here makes me think that he didn't do anything wrong but just
00:03:13.240 the optics of sleeping with children that aren't yours is not good but he seems confident that
00:03:19.320 there was nobody slashed him be good ninja for master brother sneak toby huh who didn't have a
00:03:24.820 no no i don't i would never dream of i would i would never because you've never been where i've
00:03:30.320 been mentally what do you think people would say if i said well i've invited some of my daughter's
00:03:37.540 friends around or my son's friends around and they're going to sleep in the bed with me tonight
00:03:40.660 you should tell us what topics you want for content especially for iq maxing um well i do 0.74
00:03:47.040 want to learn more about the torah but it seems like you guys are jewed out but it's like everything
00:03:50.280 you that's the thing though you guys are saying but everything is jew like this guy had rabbi
00:03:55.840 shmueli as a spiritual leader do you think the parents would say who do you think was the ones
00:03:58.780 that pushed the propaganda the most that he was an evil person it's the same group if they're
00:04:03.540 Wacky, they would say, you can't, but if you're a close family, like your family, you know them well, and, um, and, uh...
00:04:12.620 But, Michael, I wouldn't like my children to sleep in anybody else's bed.
00:04:17.660 Well, I wouldn't mind if I knew the person well, and I, like, I'm very close to Barry Gibb.
00:04:24.460 Paris and Prince can stay with him any time. My children sleep with other people all the time.
00:04:29.620 And you're happy with that? 0.58
00:04:30.580 Fine with it. They're honest.
00:04:32.300 You really want to think that he just cared about kids
00:04:34.200 and didn't have the same boundaries
00:04:35.720 because his childhood was robbed from him.
00:04:38.000 Sweet people.
00:04:38.920 They're not Jack the Ripper.
00:04:40.320 I suppose the problem for many people
00:04:42.740 is what happened in 1993
00:04:44.700 or what didn't happen.
00:04:47.120 What didn't happen.
00:04:48.180 Citrus, be honest.
00:04:48.880 Am I allowed a brand risk?
00:04:51.460 Just cast your mind back.
00:04:52.760 Yeah, yeah.
00:04:53.980 What was that like when you first heard the allegations
00:04:56.200 that were being made against you?
00:04:58.120 It was shocking and I'm not allowed to talk about this.
00:05:00.540 How come you didn't invite me, dude?
00:05:03.080 How come I didn't get an invite?
00:05:04.540 We have law.
00:05:05.360 From you.
00:05:05.960 But how did you feel about what was being said?
00:05:08.380 I'm not asking you to talk about what was said.
00:05:11.260 Okay, what topics you want to get into?
00:05:13.400 I want to get more into geopolitics.
00:05:15.780 And to be honest, I'm trying to IQ Max more about Israel.
00:05:18.440 But let's take, we did you out a lot of the stream.
00:05:20.360 Was Michael Jackson guilty of crimes against children?
00:05:23.680 Is he guilty?
00:05:24.020 For a long time, it was the biggest story in America.
00:05:26.920 Multiple investigations, lawsuits, a massive criminal trial,
00:05:31.080 millions in payouts, and documentary after documentary.
00:05:34.700 And as I watched a few, it was clear that every single one of them had an agenda
00:05:39.520 to either paint them as innocent or guilty.
00:05:42.380 Not one tried to ask and answer the question in a fair way
00:05:46.160 and present evidence in a fair way.
00:05:48.380 I'm Ken LaCourt.
00:05:49.500 What are your thoughts of out-of-body experiences?
00:05:52.660 Have you ever heard of Robert Monroe?
00:05:54.080 I have not, but it's a lot of time demon possession.
00:05:56.640 All about.
00:05:57.360 So the elephant in the room is pretty straightforward.
00:06:00.020 Was Michael Jackson a pet?
00:06:01.660 Today, we'll start with a look at Michael himself.
00:06:03.960 What do you guys think?
00:06:04.720 Yes or no?
00:06:05.380 Was he a pet?
00:06:07.300 Parts of his fame and persona that give us important context.
00:06:11.340 Then we'll look at the civil case and accusations in the early 1990s.
00:06:15.680 The criminal case a decade later.
00:06:17.880 And finally, the post-death claims that arose nearly a decade later.
00:06:22.120 But first, let me go through a bit of the biases I brought into this video.
00:06:26.100 Someone said in the middle.
00:06:27.860 How is there a gray area about that?
00:06:31.240 How surprisingly difficult it was to put together.
00:06:33.780 I was curious about where you all stood on this,
00:06:36.020 so I put up a poll in the YouTube post tab, and 13,000 of you voted.
00:06:40.540 For those of you with an opinion on his guilt,
00:06:42.940 56% thought he was guilty, and 44% thought he was innocent.
00:06:47.460 And most people were undecided, with exactly half of you saying,
00:06:51.180 I really have no idea. That's pretty much where my head was when I started digging into this.
00:06:56.140 I'd obviously been aware of the case for decades, and with a gun to my head, I would have said that
00:07:00.680 he was probably guilty, but with a massive, I don't know, asterisk. And the fascinating thing
00:07:06.220 about this case, how ridiculously complex it was to research. It's the only topic I've tackled
00:07:12.180 where I actually changed my mind several times while putting it together. I mean, you'd think
00:07:16.540 it'd be straightforward. I used to believe it. There was a public trial, transcripts, but part
00:07:20.400 Part of the issue is there's almost too much information.
00:07:23.180 This video could have run for hours.
00:07:25.160 But the biggest problem is that virtually every person involved had a motivation to
00:07:29.840 lie.
00:07:30.840 Jackson, to protect his reputation and stay out of prison, families looking at multi-million
00:07:35.560 dollar payouts, lawyers, investigators, and a media obsessed with the controversy at all
00:07:40.520 cost.
00:07:41.520 And we need to investigate Citrus.
00:07:42.520 Did you ask Dana White why I'm banned from the UFC?
00:07:46.500 Even after it was over, we still get contradictory interviews, changed stories, books, websites.
00:07:52.220 Everyone's presenting a different reality.
00:07:54.780 And even the true facts of the case can lead reasonable people to opposite conclusions.
00:07:59.120 But there are two things everyone agrees on.
00:08:01.380 One, he was massively successful.
00:08:04.180 And two, he was weird as hell.
00:08:06.440 So for those of you who are a bit younger, Michael Jackson wasn't just famous.
00:08:10.360 He was literally a global phenomenon who transcended music, race, culture.
00:08:15.120 He was a star when he was six years old, outshining his big brothers in the Jackson 5.
00:08:19.980 In the 80s, 90s, and beyond, he was, no exaggeration, the biggest entertainer on the planet.
00:08:25.840 And no one else was close.
00:08:27.640 Thriller is still the best-selling album of all time, with 122 million copies worldwide.
00:08:32.920 His dancing style was groundbreaking.
00:08:35.360 When he would appear in public, at an event, or even just shopping, pandemonium would often break out.
00:08:40.760 He was huge.
00:08:42.320 And, as I mentioned, he was also bizarre.
00:08:45.580 Also, the allegation started right after he was going to release a song about freeing Palestine.
00:08:50.560 That's when the media turned on him.
00:08:52.640 Jackson's eccentricities went far beyond typical celebrity quirks.
00:08:56.360 He was next-level strange.
00:08:58.840 Take his appearance.
00:08:59.860 Jackson underwent multiple plastic surgeries that transformed his face into something almost unrecognizable from his childhood.
00:09:06.700 He bleached his skin, did weird things with his nose.
00:09:09.460 You could see pictures of the transition, which never got published in the media that much, but you could see his black skin literally fading away. 0.97
00:09:16.380 Formed his look into a different person. 0.83
00:09:18.600 In public, he'd wear surgical masks or disguises that made him look more like a patient than a performer.
00:09:23.740 His clothes were always quirky.
00:09:25.560 Military-style jackets covered in medals.
00:09:27.740 His signature sequined glove.
00:09:29.760 And then there were his animals.
00:09:31.520 Bubbles the chimpanzee.
00:09:32.820 We treated like a close friend.
00:09:35.100 The chimp traveled with Jackson, attending formal tea parties, and ate meals dressed as a human. 1.00
00:09:40.360 I mean, Bubbles had his own bedroom at Neverland, and they say he could even use the toilet and eat with utensils. 0.92
00:09:48.320 A recording session with Queen's Freddie Mercury even blew apart when Jackson insisted on bringing his pet llama Louie into the studio.
00:09:56.200 Jackson appeared to have it all, but he spoke publicly about the physical and emotional abuse from his father.
00:10:01.180 He also discussed his own loneliness and isolation, even filling his bedroom with life-size mannequins, talking to them like surrogate friends.
00:10:09.860 I mean, that's bizarre, but you can see a pattern of somebody needing connection in his life with people who just didn't see him only as a famous person.
00:10:18.340 And deep relationships with adults seem practically non-existent, especially romantic ones.
00:10:23.920 Despite being one of the most famous men on the planet, he had no serious adult romantic partnership that anyone could ever point to.
00:10:31.180 He was never living a normal life.
00:10:33.840 I saw you guys saying that he had to rent out a grocery store just feel normal.
00:10:37.140 He was the most famous man maybe in the history of the modern world.
00:10:42.280 It was incredible.
00:10:43.160 Like people were fainting in his presence.
00:10:45.140 Nobody believed when he would call them that it was actually him.
00:10:48.360 He was too famous to do anything.
00:10:49.980 And his brief marriages, well, they raised more questions than they answered.
00:10:53.960 His first marriage to Lisa Marie Presley lasted less than two years
00:10:57.000 and was widely viewed as a publicity stunt.
00:10:59.500 Why?
00:10:59.640 She said their relationship was mostly phone-based.
00:11:02.080 His second marriage to Debbie Rowe, his dermatologist nurse, was even stranger.
00:11:06.500 Rowe essentially served as a...
00:11:07.900 Was that his handler? Was that his Mossad handler?
00:11:11.000 Or was he just really into snow bunnies? 1.00
00:11:13.780 Because two white women back-to-back... 1.00
00:11:15.440 ...or get mother for his children. 1.00
00:11:17.060 She never lived with him, and she gave him full custody of the kids
00:11:19.840 who were raised by his Neverland staff.
00:11:22.000 In court testimony, staff members said they'd never seen him spend the night
00:11:26.260 with an adult in his bedroom.
00:11:27.620 Which brings us to that bedroom. 1.00
00:11:29.640 H1B is bad, but UK are terrible for not wanting Muslims, bias, and hypocrisy. 0.99
00:11:35.960 Okay, when did I say ICE was good? 1.00
00:11:37.600 I said you need to have law enforcement.
00:11:39.460 Obviously, the atrocities that ICE are committing is not good.
00:11:42.820 But we get liberals coming here, well, this is good, but this is...
00:11:45.980 Show me where I said ICE is objectively good. 1.00
00:11:49.160 Shut up, dork. 0.99
00:11:49.940 Neverland, a 2,700-acre ranch and essentially a symbol of arrested development. 1.00
00:11:54.900 Tel Aviv are the only people I wouldn't mind taking a shit on they faces. Disgusting looking. 1.00
00:12:00.600 Who asked, what does this have to do with what we're talking about, bro? Good for you. 0.99
00:12:04.960 Like playground with carnival rides, a railroad, a zoo, even a working fire station. It was his home
00:12:11.700 and it was also a magnet for young boys. Jackson publicly embraced the Peter Pan fantasy,
00:12:18.000 saying he was the boy who never grew up. He surrounded himself with children,
00:12:21.820 almost exclusively boys, between the ages of 7 and 14.
00:12:26.020 He wrote handwritten notes to him, gave him pet names,
00:12:28.740 and he showered them with gifts and attention.
00:12:31.220 Now, was that generosity, or was it grooming?
00:12:34.280 Because the world would certainly learn about Neverland,
00:12:36.740 starting with the sleepovers.
00:12:38.820 Jackson regularly had the boys sleep the night at Neverland in his bedroom,
00:12:42.760 sometimes even sharing his bed.
00:12:44.840 Now, he claimed it was all innocent,
00:12:46.400 just sleeping together like a big slumber party,
00:12:48.580 but it was a big step beyond having a merry-go-round in his front yard.
00:12:53.280 People saw that he was childlike, but that didn't necessarily mean that he was asexual.
00:12:57.720 Jackson had even installed an alarm system that would alert him when anyone approached the bedroom.
00:13:02.920 Now, wherever you come down on the criminal allegations,
00:13:05.960 to the average person, his lifestyle was beyond weird.
00:13:09.420 It was troubling.
00:13:10.360 A 35-year-old megastar writing gushy notes to 5th graders,
00:13:14.260 sleeping with them for weeks at a time in a bedroom with an early warning system.
00:13:17.640 In the shadow of that behavior, the allegations that would follow really don't seem all that surprising.
00:13:23.360 And it all started when Jackson's car broke down on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles.
00:13:28.080 In May of 1992, Michael Jackson needed a car, and the owner of the rental shop offered him a deal.
00:13:34.580 He'd give him a car for free if Michael would just call his stepson, who was a big fan.
00:13:38.940 Jackson said yes and got the phone number of a 12-year-old boy, Jordan Chandler.
00:13:43.220 They became phone friends. Again, bizarre.
00:13:45.840 and Michael soon invited Jordy and his mom and sister to Neverland Ranch. By
00:13:50.700 early 1993 they were staying there regularly as well as traveling the world
00:13:54.720 together. Vegas, Paris, Morocco, all first class. According to the Chandlers,
00:13:58.560 Michael and Jordy would often sleep in the same room together during these
00:14:01.960 trips and even at the Chandlers home with the mom always present. One person
00:14:07.160 who wasn't present though was Evan Chandler, Jordy's father, who didn't have
00:14:11.200 much of a presence in Jordy's life. He was a Beverly Hills dentist with
00:14:14.820 screenwriting ambitions and a bad relationship with his ex-wife. He didn't go to the police,
00:14:19.760 though. He went to lawyers. He floated ideas like filing for full custody or getting a restraining
00:14:25.040 order against Jackson. But soon, it became about money, and he was playing hardball.
00:14:30.300 This man is going to be humiliated beyond belief. He will not believe it. He will not believe what's
00:14:36.280 going to happen. It's beyond his worst nightmares. So one more record. Later in the transcript of
00:14:42.980 that recording, one that I'm reasonably sure is accurate. When Chandler is asked if he thinks
00:14:47.480 Jackson is having sex with his son, Chandler responds, quote, I don't know. I have no idea.
00:14:53.620 Pressed on that, he gives vague statements like, I know Michael's bad for him. And he said his
00:14:58.220 lawyers told him to be quiet about specifics. Much of the discussion on that tape is about how
00:15:03.400 Chandler can get back at his ex-wife, Geordie's mom. Then Evan Chandler said a month after that
00:15:10.000 tape recording, his son told him the truth. But he did it under sedation. Chandler, again a dentist,
00:15:17.160 claims he extracted a tooth from... You guys think Chandler was Jewish? Rabbi Shmueli, too,
00:15:21.440 a spiritual leader. I just peeped this guy in chat. He said, bro, do content. And then two days
00:15:26.540 ago, bro, do content. The day before, go IRL and... But also, three days before that, desktop,
00:15:34.960 you're better you're better at desktop you're a desktop streamer okay permaban for this guy get
00:15:41.360 out of here this is someone who needs to go gotta go jordy and under serious anesthesia
00:15:48.960 jordy admitted that jackson had molested him and not for nothing scientists say that drug
00:15:53.600 can actually contribute to creating false memories in any event the father now demanded 20 million
00:15:58.720 dollars from jackson to keep quiet jackson's attorneys reportedly countered up to a million
00:16:03.440 but there was no deal so chandler then arranged for his son to meet with a psychiatrist
00:16:08.240 and during that session geordie described in detail what he said had happened kissing 0.97
00:16:12.800 masturbation oral sex california law requires accusations like that to be reported to the 0.97
00:16:18.000 police and the next day the los angeles police department opened a criminal investigation
00:16:23.920 on august 24th the charges went worldwide and the press coverage was massive police interviewed
00:16:29.920 Geordie and they searched multiple Jackson properties. They interviewed dozens of kids as
00:16:34.280 well, some of whom said they had slept in bed with Jackson, but that nothing sexual had ever
00:16:38.980 happened. The next month, the Chandlers filed their $30 million lawsuit. Now, up until this time,
00:16:44.820 besides the Chandler accusations, there really weren't many reasons to believe that Jackson
00:16:49.100 was guilty. Although the whole, my kids started talking under anesthesia angle wasn't known until
00:16:53.980 later. But two people would quickly change a lot of minds. And the first one was Jackson's own
00:16:59.760 sister Latoya I must tell you that this is very difficult for me that Michael is my brother like
00:17:07.140 I love him a great deal but I cannot and I will not be a silent collaborator of his crimes against
00:17:15.700 small innocent children no you stop and you think for one second and you tell me what 35 year old
00:17:22.060 man it's gonna take a little boy and stay with him for 30 days some context on this though his
00:17:27.840 His sister ratted on him?
00:17:30.760 Bro.
00:17:31.820 Interviews shortly before that one,
00:17:33.560 Latoya said that she stood by Michael 1,000%
00:17:36.320 and that there was nothing unusual about his relationships with the children.
00:17:40.240 She also said that she had proof of his behavior
00:17:42.240 and offered to sell it to tabloids for a half million dollars.
00:17:44.920 Oh my God.
00:17:45.700 But that fell through when she didn't come up with any proof.
00:17:47.900 Years later, Latoya said she made it up
00:17:50.120 because her physically abusive husband forced her to.
00:17:52.780 So, you decide.
00:17:54.740 Who was her husband?
00:17:56.340 Wait a second. 1.00
00:17:57.120 Who was Latoya married to? 0.97
00:18:00.360 Latoya Jackson 0.54
00:18:01.380 Ratted
00:18:02.980 Had no proof
00:18:04.280 And then backtracked on it
00:18:06.360 Wait a second
00:18:07.720 Jack Gordon
00:18:11.240 Jack Gordon was an entertainment manager
00:18:15.040 Okay, okay
00:18:16.420 Early life
00:18:18.880 And there we go
00:18:20.660 Oh
00:18:22.440 Oh
00:18:27.120 The other person who increased belief in Jackson's guilt was Jason Francia,
00:18:34.180 a 13-year-old son of Michael Jackson's former maid.
00:18:37.380 Police had already interviewed Jason who, like the other boys, said nothing had happened.
00:18:41.620 But in a later interview, he changed his story,
00:18:44.380 saying Jackson had tickled him and touched his genitals multiple times,
00:18:47.940 sometimes for up to a few minutes, and stuffed $100 bills in his pants.
00:18:52.280 He would repeat that allegation under oath 12 years later
00:18:55.080 where some inconsistencies in his story would come out.
00:18:57.760 The next month, police strip-searched Jackson and photographed his genitals 0.99
00:19:01.800 because Jordy Chandler had described spots on Jackson's penis. 0.94
00:19:05.840 Now, to this day, people argue over whether that description was accurate or not, 0.92
00:19:10.540 and to be honest, I just don't know enough to where to come down on that one.
00:19:14.400 The month after that, Jackson bought his way out.
00:19:17.460 He paid $22 million to the Chandlers and an additional $22 million to Jason Franci and his mother.
00:19:24.800 Was that because Jackson was really guilty, or that he wanted to avoid a trial?
00:19:29.680 When I worked in corporate America, I saw payouts for bad behavior,
00:19:33.120 and I've seen big payouts just to avoid bad PR.
00:19:36.440 And similarly, I've seen true victims,
00:19:38.920 and I've seen people lie their rear ends off to get rich quick.
00:19:42.240 So it's just hard to know.
00:19:43.880 The criminal case against Jackson hadn't really progressed, though.
00:19:47.300 Two grand juries had been convened,
00:19:49.280 one in Los Angeles and the other in Santa Barbara, where Neverland Ranch is located.
00:19:54.040 They looked at the evidence and decided that at that time,
00:19:56.500 they didn't have enough proof to bring an indictment.
00:19:58.780 Yes.
00:19:59.320 Now, technically then, the case was still open.
00:20:01.840 But a few months later...
00:20:02.820 Wait, when he did the tickle fight, did he go, hee-hee?
00:20:05.720 Geordi told prosecutors he wouldn't testify in court.
00:20:09.020 So after 19 months of digging, the DAs in both counties had no case.
00:20:13.360 In the years that followed, the Chandler family fractured even further.
00:20:17.480 Geordi legally emancipated himself from both parents.
00:20:20.180 By the time his mom testified in Jackson's 2005 trial, she said she hadn't spoken to Geordi in more than a decade.
00:20:27.540 Geordi later accused his dad of trying to smash him with a doorbell, and his dad, Evan, closed his dental practice after his payout,
00:20:34.480 and a few months after Jackson died, shot himself to death in his New Jersey home.
00:20:38.960 So, that's no good.
00:20:40.500 Hey, on a totally unrelated note, some of you have wondered why my thumbnails and headlines sometimes change a few times after I publish these videos.
00:20:47.260 I do A-B testing on every video title.
00:20:50.400 If people don't click enough, literally no one's.
00:20:53.100 A big star, his spotlight had dimmed.
00:20:56.280 He still debuted number one albums and could still fill stadiums.
00:20:59.440 But he wasn't impacting the culture like he had been.
00:21:02.260 And he wanted his reputation back.
00:21:04.660 Enter Martin Bashir, a British journalist who'd made his name with big celebrity interviews.
00:21:09.880 Bashir pitched Living with Michael Jackson.
00:21:12.580 An intimate look at the real Michael Jackson that would rehabilitate his image
00:21:16.680 and show the world who he really was behind the tabloid headlines.
00:21:20.420 Jackson agreed and gave Bashir...
00:21:23.180 They set him up? Hold on, look at this journalist.
00:21:27.000 He... Oh, he's from Pakistan? Okay, from Muslim? 0.99
00:21:30.160 Unprecedented access over eight months. 1.00
00:21:33.080 Big mistake.
00:21:34.320 The final documentary showed Jackson as an eccentric, isolated, and deeply,
00:21:38.720 some would say bizarrely, childlike person.
00:21:41.220 It focused heavily on his bond with 13-year-old cancer survivor Gavin Arvizo.
00:21:45.380 And so it was that we came back to our meeting at...
00:21:48.280 Worst clip of all time. We just saw this. This is the most...
00:21:51.300 That's the... That's not...
00:21:52.600 Yes. Can you understand why people would worry about that?
00:21:57.440 Because they're ignorant. 0.92
00:21:59.460 But is it really appropriate for a 44-year-old man to share a bedroom with a child who is not related to him at all? 0.99
00:22:08.440 That's a beautiful thing.
00:22:09.960 That's... That's not a worrying thing?
00:22:11.540 Why should they be wearing? Who's the criminal? Who's Jack the Ripper in the room?
00:22:17.040 This is a guy trying to help heal a child. I'm sleeping in a sleeping bag on the floor.
00:22:21.980 I'll admit that this is not good, but I really do believe that he doesn't think there was anything wrong about that.
00:22:27.960 Floor. I gave him the bed, because he has a brother named Star.
00:22:32.080 So him and Star took the bed, and I'm on the floor in the sleeping bag.
00:22:35.480 Did you ever sleep in the bed with them?
00:22:37.060 No.
00:22:37.860 Okay.
00:22:38.240 But I have slept in the bed with many children.
00:22:40.060 Oh!
00:22:40.240 I sleep in the bed with all of them.
00:22:41.540 When Macaulay Culkin were little, Kieran Culkin would sleep on this side, Macaulay Culkin's on this side, his sister's in there. We're all just jamming the bed.
00:22:50.400 He looked like a man who couldn't understand appropriate boundaries with children.
00:22:54.520 After a decade since the last allegations, people were asking serious questions again.
00:22:59.300 I don't think he would have admitted that if he did anything wrong, but I can't justify sleeping in a bed with other children.
00:23:06.100 especially children that aren't yours you're not related to this is not really an excuse for that
00:23:12.740 but he wouldn't have said this in an interview if he thought there was anything wrong with it
00:23:18.200 and if he did anything wrong and some of those people work for the county where neverland was
00:23:24.400 located the santa barbara sheriff's department child welfare officials and the same district
00:23:29.440 attorney who had dropped the charges when jordy chandler wouldn't testify hey now's a good time
00:23:34.140 remind you if i made a significant error anywhere nothing inappropriate happened but the investigations
00:23:41.020 continued then over the next few months michael's relationship with the arvizo family changed
00:23:46.540 according to testimony from ranch employees the arvizo family became a problem the kids became
00:23:52.140 unruly damaging property and were eventually asked to leave neverland and then their stories changed
00:23:57.820 within months the family had gone from uniformly praising him to saying jackson started molesting
00:24:03.500 gavin shortly after the documentary deputies then raided neverland ranch with over 70 officers
00:24:08.940 they grabbed computers photographs and books they never found any child pornography there you go
00:24:13.500 if they found anything but they did find they find any if they found anything it would have
00:24:17.180 been released if they found anything damning and mj was guilty best believe would have already been
00:24:23.820 out like kind of standard pornography magazines some of which had the kids fingerprints on them
00:24:28.780 In any event, they arrested Jackson and filed 10 felony charges against him,
00:24:33.580 ranging from lewd acts with a child to abduction and extortion.
00:24:37.260 The trial was a circus.
00:24:38.760 Hundreds of fans and media outlets outside the courthouse,
00:24:41.960 wall-to-wall television coverage, Jackson impersonators, helicopters hovering,
00:24:46.280 testimony from Jay Leno and Macaulay Culkin,
00:24:48.560 who said Jackson never did anything inappropriate in front of him.
00:24:51.160 Gavin Arviso...
00:24:52.040 There you go. Good source right there.
00:24:53.500 And he said he even slept in the...
00:24:55.080 He was also part of that Neverland thing.
00:24:57.440 Macaulay Culkin's married now.
00:24:58.540 He's married to a London Tipton from Suite Life of Zack and Cody.
00:25:01.860 His brother, Starr, testified that Jackson showed them porn, gave them wine he called Jesus juice,
00:25:07.440 speaking graphically and acting lewdly.
00:25:10.100 There were 140 witnesses, mostly for the defense.
00:25:13.080 Now, there were some staff members who corroborated somewhat creepy Jackson behavior,
00:25:17.480 but no independent witness directly corroborated the Arvizo family's allegations.
00:25:22.320 Instead, the defense did a good job of portraying the Arvizo family as essentially grifters.
00:25:28.540 The mom had already pulled off a successful and fake lawsuit against J.C. Penney, a department
00:25:33.480 store. She claimed that mall security guards beat her and groped her. J.C. Penney. Now we know, 1.00
00:25:39.420 wait, hold on a second. J.C. Penney. Remember what the rabbi Mizrahi kept saying? Instead of
00:25:45.600 saying, Jesus, peace be upon him, it said, J.C., J.C. J.C. Penney. Is this a...
00:25:50.980 up jc penny penny who founded jc penny founded by james cash james cash of course
00:26:04.820 wait a second oh he founded jc penny i didn't jake wait a second let's see let's see let's see
00:26:13.600 is this james cash penny oh he's a baptist preacher okay okay okay okay jc penny a department
00:26:25.680 store she claimed that mall security guards beat her and groped her she won 152 000 but later
00:26:31.940 admitted under oath that her injuries had come from her husband instead whoa she also admitted
00:26:36.600 coaching her children to lie on the stand in that case and would later be convicted for welfare
00:26:41.460 fraud and perjury related to it. The defense proved that the family had lied about their
00:26:45.820 finances to get charity. And while the Arviso family claimed that Jackson's people held them
00:26:50.060 captive at Neverland, they were seen unescorted at restaurants and on shopping sprees during that
00:26:54.860 time. Multiple timelines didn't add up and the Arviso kids gave differing stories about key
00:27:00.100 events. And to believe their stories, you had to accept that Jackson hadn't touched Gavin in the
00:27:05.220 three years before the Bashir documentary, but started abusing him about a month later,
00:27:09.800 right in the midst of multiple government investigations.
00:27:13.140 The jury didn't buy it.
00:27:14.640 On June 14th, 0.93
00:27:16.060 Look how hard this outfit is.
00:27:17.280 they found Jackson not guilty on every count.
00:27:19.680 He never lived at Neverland again,
00:27:21.620 saying that the 2003 raid had stripped it of its home status.
00:27:25.620 He spent most of the next four years in Bahrain and Ireland,
00:27:28.920 then returned to Los Angeles.
00:27:30.420 Almost exactly four years after being acquitted,
00:27:33.460 Jackson died of cardiac arrest at age 50.
00:27:36.200 With a cocktail of prescription drugs in the system.
00:27:39.000 Who was the doctor?
00:27:39.800 I don't want to say what race, what religion doctor.
00:27:46.120 It wasn't something doctor.
00:27:47.860 Including propofol, a powerful surgical anesthetic that his personal doctor had given him for sleep.
00:27:53.720 That doctor was on site and later served two years in prison for malpractice.
00:27:57.840 Wow.
00:27:58.080 Then, even in death, Jackson got no peace.
00:28:01.280 I'm not going to spend a whole lot of time on the post-death accusations against Michael Jackson.
00:28:05.720 Because while they're easily the most horrific, they're also the very hardest to judge.
00:28:10.340 In 2019, the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland reignited the whole thing.
00:28:15.620 It featured four hours of two men, Wade Robson and James Safecheck, detailing graphic sexual abuse.
00:28:22.920 The film was well made, super emotional, and it convinced a whole lot of people that Jackson molested these men.
00:28:29.520 It got a standing ovation at the Sundance Festival, and critics loved it.
00:28:32.720 It aired during the height of the Me Too movement when Believe All Survivors was the prevailing attitude.
00:28:38.900 Anyone who questioned the accusers were labeled...
00:28:41.040 Remember Pokimane tweeted, believe victims? Believe all victims.
00:28:46.780 This was a real narrative at the time. Believe all victims.
00:28:50.420 Jackson fanboys. Oprah gave them a full hour of softball questions and emotional support.
00:28:55.420 But over my life, I've learned that documentaries are the easiest way to manipulate people.
00:28:59.700 You essentially own a person's brain for hours, controlling what they see and hear.
00:29:04.940 And if you do it right, they're emotions.
00:29:07.220 Leaving Neverland did just that.
00:29:09.280 And whether it was true or false...
00:29:10.420 Good example, that Diddy documentary produced by 50 Cent was so good, so detailed, so much information,
00:29:18.340 and really convinces you that Diddy is guilty of everything.
00:29:22.440 It was completely one-sided.
00:29:24.540 I mean, no one questioned their claims or presented any contradictory evidence.
00:29:28.440 No one cross-examined their stories at all. Wade Robson had been one of Jackson's most loyal
00:29:33.380 defenders for over two decades. As a 22-year-old man, he testified under oath at Jackson's criminal
00:29:38.760 trial, swearing that Jackson had never touched him inappropriately. Then life changed. Robson
00:29:44.740 was struggling financially and professionally, and at age 30, he filed a lawsuit against the
00:29:49.400 Jackson estate, saying that he had been molested for years and that the business entities should
00:29:54.380 protected him from Jackson because he can't sue individuals after they're dead. Safechuck's story
00:29:59.340 followed a similar pattern. He also defended Jackson for years, even after the singer's death,
00:30:04.300 and after Robson's case started getting media attention, filed the lawsuit of his own.
00:30:08.780 Even without a cross-examination, their stories have had some problems. Safechuck claimed that
00:30:13.980 Jackson abused him in a train station at Neverland. It wasn't built until two years later.
00:30:20.860 what eddie ceo of kick said what but again the documentary was powerful emotional and effective
00:30:30.300 i mean jackson's music got pulled from the airwaves the problem with the robson and safe
00:30:34.620 chucks allegations isn't just their credibility it's that they've never been properly challenged
00:30:39.980 they've essentially been presented by legal documents a carefully controlled documentary
00:30:44.620 and supportive interviewers who treated them like confirmed victims rather than accusers making
00:30:49.580 claims. In any event, both men still have outstanding legal cases against Jackson in
00:30:54.440 California since the state extended the statute of limitations for child sexual abuse claims.
00:30:59.940 So there's more to come on that. Look, when I started producing this piece, I had doubts.
00:31:04.240 But as I said, I thought Michael Jackson was guilty. I can't say that anymore. I mean,
00:31:09.480 I'm not confident he's innocent, but it seems the most likely scenario. To me,
00:31:14.360 the accusers look like people shaking down a weird rich guy for millions and the parents
00:31:19.660 whether jackson was interested or not they pretty much all deserve jail time and it's also hard to
00:31:24.820 get past the notion that a whole lot of kids testified that jackson was actually the childlike
00:31:30.320 man he portrayed himself to be i mean it's possible they were abused too and encouraged
00:31:35.040 to lie by jackson's team and what it is always left out is that this guy had no childhood he
00:31:39.840 He didn't get to experience that childlike wonder,
00:31:42.560 and so he wanted to make an estate called Neverland and be like a kid.
00:31:46.660 Kept their silence ever since, but that just doesn't seem likely.
00:31:50.340 And finally, there's never been one victim come out against Jackson
00:31:53.940 who wasn't seeking money and whose story was consistent and credible.
00:31:58.080 It seems like there would be over time.
00:32:00.620 Now look, don't get me wrong.
00:32:01.900 I wouldn't let the guy babysit my kids.
00:32:04.100 I mean, Peter Pan or not, he wasn't a child.
00:32:07.260 At best, he was a grown man acting like one.
00:32:10.820 Fame and money allowed him to act in wildly inappropriate ways,
00:32:14.540 and that's messed up in its own right.
00:32:16.240 Okay, now that you're possibly convinced that I'm not a nut,
00:32:19.220 you may want to check out this other video I produced
00:32:21.560 that kind of makes me look like one.
00:32:23.940 Does Barack Obama's official White House portrait 0.99
00:32:26.400 have a hidden sperm painted onto his face? 0.99
00:32:28.960 What? 1.00
00:32:29.740 I mean, yes, I know.
00:32:31.100 Huh?
00:32:31.480 It sounds crazy.
00:32:32.800 It does.
00:32:34.060 Michael Jackson, innocent!
00:32:35.100 MJ Innocent
00:32:37.060 He didn't do it
00:32:38.640 He didn't do it
00:32:40.420 I don't think there's anything super conclusive
00:32:43.780 Seemed a lot of liars
00:32:44.820 A lot of people trying to extort it
00:32:46.220 Make money and sue
00:32:47.560 But
00:32:49.440 Yeah, it seems like a media schmear campaign
00:32:54.320 All I want to say is that
00:32:56.220 They don't really care about us
00:32:58.060 He didn't do it
00:32:59.500 He didn't do it
00:33:05.100 Oh