Michael Jackson’s nephew, Taj Jackson, is fighting back against the sex abuse allegations made in HBO’s Leaving Neverland documentary. Taj, who is the son of Tito Jackson, has reportedly launched a GoFundMe account to help finance his own documentary series about his uncle in hopes of telling his “truth.”
In a new interview with Billboard, Jackson spoke about his hopes for the docuseries.
“I knew I had to be someone out in front fighting for my uncle,” Taj told Billboard. He said he believes that it is his duty to defend his family’s name and protect Michael’s legacy amid director Dan Reed’s documentary.
In the interview, Taj said that he participated in more than 200 sleepovers with his uncle at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. During his time spent at the ranch (he also lived there for one year), he said he never witnessed any sexual misconduct. He also protested the accounts of sexual abuse made by alleged victims Wade Robson and James Safechuck.
Taj said the new docuseries will prove the discrepancies in Leaving Neverland’s narrative. “I’m not combating Leaving Neverland,” he said. “I’m doing a documentary about the media’s relationship with my uncle and how they’ve reported certain things as factual that were lies. I’m going to go back all the way to 1993 with the first allegation and uncover that along with the 2005 allegations. I’m obviously going to make it entertaining because I don’t want people to fall asleep, but it’s going to be about facts, court documents, depositions, and interviews. It’s going to be about debunking what you heard and sharing what really happened. I want to get the truth out there.”
Jackson has adamantly denied the allegations made against his uncle in Leaving Neverland. Shortly before the doc premiere on HBO in early Mar. 2019, Taj, his father Tito, and uncles, Jackie and Marlon Jackson hit various news channels to defend Michael. While Taj said that he is sure of his uncle’s innocence, he said that if he found evidence supporting Robson and Safechuck’s claims, he would document it.
“I’m all about justice. Integrity is everything for me,” he said. “But here’s the thing: What I can tell you is that—in 10 years of [multiple] investigations, hundreds of documents, a trial and a tip line that prosecutor Tom Sneddon kept open for [people claiming to be] victims of Michael Jackson for years— there’s still nothing.”
Jackson’s GoFundMe for the docuseries has raised more than $114,000 of its $777,000 goal so far. Read Billboard’s full interview with Taj Jackson here. To donate to the GoFundMe, click the link.
