Corey Feldman has decided he can no longer defend Michael Jackson.
Feldman was close friends with Jackson up until the singer’s death in 2009, and initially hit out at shocking new documentary Leaving Neverland, which details the sexual abuse James Safechuck and Wade Robson allegedly suffered at the hands of Jackson as children.
But in the days since viewing the first part of the four-hour expose, Feldman has changed his stance on the matter.
“I don’t want to be perceived as I’m here to defend Michael, because I can no longer do that. I can not in good consciousness defend anyone who is being accused of such horrendous crimes,” Feldman said to U.S. news network HLN.
“But at the same time, I’m also not here to judge him because, again, he didn’t do those things to me and that was not my experience.”
Rather than judge or defend Jackson, who in 2005 was cleared of molesting another boy, Feldman wants to use his voice to change the statutes of limitations in America, to make sure more paedophiles are brought to justice.
The 47-year-old actor was himself molested at 14 by someone he considered a friend, a fact he says makes him “not the best judge” on the Jackson matter.
“I think it’s extremely important that we all take a pause and listen to all victims right now, and I certainly want to apologise if anyone took anything that I said out of context in those tweets, because it certainly wasn’t meant in any way to question the validity of the victims,” Feldman continued, referencing the tweets he posted after first watching Leaving Neverland.
“Both of these guys (Safechuck and Robson) sound very believable. The grooming process certainly fits the mould and that is why this case must be taken seriously.”
He added that the film was too painful and emotional for him to watch in full, but points out that it “was not a well-rounded conversation” as Jackson is not here to share his version of events.
“I wish it had happened when Michael was alive so he could have faced trial and defended himself,” he stated.
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