In the book he also goes into a lengthy apology for NAMBLA and pedophilia using the made up “romance” between Jackson, Jordan Chandler and other boys as justification. He quotes a NAMBLA magazine stating “The North American Men Boy Love Association (“NAMBLA”) is a group that approves of consentual (sic) sexual relations between men and boys. NAMBLA is pleased that the topic of pedophilia has attracted so much attention through such a famous personage as Michael Jackson”. [17; page 210]
Gutierrez then goes into a lengthy, historical apology for pedophilia stating that “[h]istorians report that the topic of pedophilia is not new” and then listing examples of societies in history where pedophilia supposedly was considered normal. He then also lists a number of important historical figures and artists who were or suspected of being pedophiles [17; page 211].
Gutierrez did not only write an obscure fiction book about Jackson. He was actually very active in the media behind the scenes over the years and fed articles, as well as documentaries about the star with this narrative (including, but not limited to, documentaries on Channel 4 and NBC). In 1998, he was also court ordered to pay Jackson $2.7 million in damages for making up slanderous lies about him
Gutierrez cited as a “consulting producer” on NBC Dateline’s “Inside the Jackson Case” program:
Gutierrez cited as an “investigative journalist” in Jacques Peretti’s slanderous 2007 documentary entitled “Michael Jackson: What Really Happened”, broadcast by Channel 4. The same Channel 4 is one of the television channels that commissioned “Leaving Neverland” (the other is HBO).
He can also be connected to all those disgruntles ex-employees of Jackson who went to tabloids to sell stories about him and children. According to a journalist, Ken Wells, Gutierrez once told him that he had many connections in the tabloid business, and “that he had sold many stories, “some of which had been “B.S.” and simply made up” [31] . Gutierrez further said to him “that money in the tabloid business was easy, even for false stories” [31].
Many of the witnesses who testified for the prosecution at Jackson’s 2005 trial, and on whom the prosecution’s “prior bad acts” case was mostly built, were people who had contact with Victor Gutierrez prior to selling their stories to the tabloids for money. Former security guard, Ralph Chacon testified he and other ex-employees of Jackson (whom the media often called the “Neverland 5”) spoke to Gutierrez before they went to sell their story to The Star magazine [32]. Former security guard, Kassim Abdool testified that he met Gutierrez once and they had a two, three hours conversation [33]. Former maid, Adrian McManus testified that Gutierrez “was going to try to help us in our lawsuit” [34]. Another prosecution witness Blanca Francia was likewise in connection with Gutierrez (more about her further down).
Victor Gutierrez with Blanca Francia:
Other people whom Gutierrez befriended, such as as Orietta Murdock or the Chandlers’ El Salvadorean maid, Norma Salinas also made their rounds in the media selling salacious lies about Jackson to tabloids.
Amazingly, the mainstream media did not seem to be bothered by the NAMBLA propaganda in Gutierrez’s book, nor by the fact that this was a man who was court ordered to pay Jackson $2.7 million for lying about him, they continued to hire him as a Jackson “expert”. We can see his influence in many articles and documentaries. A lot of myths surrounding the Jackson cases originate from this man. His role in shaping the allegations against Michael Jackson and the mythology surrounding it cannot be underestimated.
At times Gutierrez was blatantly obvious in the media about his agenda, yet everyone turned a blind eye.
In April 2005, while Jackson was on trial, he gave an interview to a German newspaper called Die Tageszeitung. A newspaper that according to a 2010 article in the reputable German magazine Der Spiegel had a shady history in advocating pedophilia [21].
Tageszeitung’s Gutierrez interview is entitled “Es war Liebe!” (“It Was Love!”) [22], referring to the alleged “relationship” between Michael Jackson and Jordan Chandler, and describes it as a love story while giving a platform to Gutierrez to state his opinions about pedophilia, like:
“There are different type of pedophiles, pedophilia is as old as the human race, not every game they play is a horrible crime. Victor Gutierrez says: “In the five months of their relationship Michael Jackson and Jordie Chandler were happy. It was love.” [22]
“In a hundred years maybe such relationships will be accepted by society”, says Gutierrez. The story reminds him of Oscar Wild and his young lover, Bosi.” [22]
The article also refers to Gutierrez as someone who “glamorizes pedophiles”. Meanwhile the journalist never challenges Gutierrez’s portrayal of pedophilia as some kind of consensual love relationship.
In the same article Gutierrez also claimed that in 1986 he participated in a NAMBLA conference which is only possible if he is either a member or very close to the organization.
In the September 2006 issue of the British version of GQ Magazine we find an article about plans to make a movie out of Gutierrez’s book [23]. The producers would have been Randy Barbato and Fenton Bailey, founders of the World of Wonder production company.
Based on what is said by the two producers in the article, like the book, the film would have also served the agenda of portraying supposed child molestation as a consensual, romantic relationship.
Barbato also acknowledges that their movie “goes outside of any of the acceptable norms”:
Mind you, these are well respected mainstream media producers, who have produced content for Channel 4, HBO or the Oprah Winfrey Network, among others. And this article was published in a well respected mainstream publication.
Gutierrez’s movie never materialized, however, the mythology this pedophilia apologist created around the Jackson cases still shapes the allegations against him, as we can see in Leaving Neverland.
Whether Robson and Safechuck directly read Gutierrez’s book or not, Gutierrez laid the foundation for certain narratives about Jackson and his relationship with children more than 20 years ago and those narratives – through Gutierrez’s wide ranging media connections and activities – entered collective consciousness through tabloids, documentaries and various websites and blogs, where they were often presented as true stories.
Robson and Safechuck’s goal might be different than Gutierrez’s. They do not want to promote pedophilia, they simply needed an explanation to why they defended Jackson all these years and they found that fitting explanation in the “in love” narrative Gutierrez offers, just like they apparently lifted from his graphic, sexual, child pornographic stories.
Here we have to note that both Robson and Safechuck are heterosexual. In actuality, Robson dated two of Jackson’s nieces (one of them, Brandi Jackson, for 7 years) during the period he now claims he was “in love” with Michael Jackson, which would create a very strange dynamic.
Jackson in his own words
In an interview with Rolling Stone magazine Reed and his interviewer psychoanalyze Jackson based on the “in love” narrative Robson, Safechuck and Reed attempt to sell in the film, and they try to represent Jackson as someone who probably did not understand that a sexual relationship with a child would be hurtful to the child and abnormal.
It’s interesting going back and re-evaluating Michael Jackson’s statement about how he would never hurt a child.
He’s telling the truth — to himself.
Because he really thinks so. Even the kids would say, “We weren’t hurt. We were in love.”
Yeah. And that’s why Wade says, “I didn’t consider this to be abuse. I loved Michael and Michael loved me.” That persisted for many years, because that was embedded in his psyche when he was seven. And when we’re that age, we’re so malleable and we form our ideas of normality, right? So, for them, this was a normal, healthy thing. And it’s not until many years later — this is so typical of child sexual abuse — that that structure falls apart and they can no longer hold it together. [3]
This is nothing, but their own fantasy. There is absolutely no evidence of Jackson considering child sexual abuse as “love”, romanticizing it or that he did not understand it as hurting children, but there is plenty of evidence to the contrary.
A handwritten note that he wrote to his sister-in-law, Dee Dee Jackson, as his nephew, Taj was molested by an uncle on his mother’s side.
Dee Dee please read this article about child molestation and please read it to Taj, TJ and Taryll, it brings out how even your own relatives can be molesters of children, or even uncles or aunts molesting nephew or nieces. Please read. Love MJ”
He also wrote songs which make it very clear that he knew that having sex with a child was wrong and hurtful to the child.
A song that remained unreleased during Jackson’s lifetime in which he addresses the topic of child sexual abuse. (It was written by Jackson some time in the late 1980s.)
Jackson also said in an interview: “I am not going to do anything sexual to a child. That’s not where my heart is. I would slit my wrists first. I would never do anything like that. That’s not Michael Jackson, I’m sorry… That’s someone else.” [5]
Even in Robson and Safechuck’s own allegations there are stories which contradict their claim that they never realized it was abuse until they became fathers, because Jackson had brainwashed them into thinking it was an expression of love.
Take for example the story of Robson’s alleged coaching by Jackson on the phone. In his complaint Robson alleged that the reason why he denied abuse under oath in 2005 was because Jackson supposedly coached him on the phone in the form of a “role play” which went like this: “They are making up all these lies about you and me, saying that we did all this disgusting sexual stuff. They are just trying to take us down, take away my power and my money, take away our careers. We can’t let them do this. We have to fight them together.” [24; paragraph 40]
Now, that this is a “role play” is Robson’s hindsight claim. On face value, it actually looks like something that an innocent man would say, not an abuser to his victim. Jackson calls the allegations “made up” and “lies”, and calls them “disgusting sexual stuff”. Not love. Not romance. Not a beautiful thing.
It defies Wade’s claim of him believing it was love until 2012, because he was allegedly brainwashed into that by Jackson. Here he quotes Jackson himself telling him that such acts would be “disgusting sexual stuff”, so how would that not, at least, ring a bell to an adult man, like Wade was in 2005, that something was wrong with the “love” angle, after all?
Same with Safechuck. In his declaration he talks about how Jackson asked him to testify at the 2005 trial: “He asked me if I would be willing to testify at the trial, and said that the charges against him, were a “scam” and that his accusers were lying and just wanted money. He then went into a speech saying things like “you believe me” and asking if I “would be there to help testify” on his behalf.” [11; paragraph 14]
Again, Jackson here does not say he was just expressing his “love” to Gavin Arvizo. He calls the allegations lies and a “scam” and pleads Safechuck to believe him. Likewise Safechuck also quotes Jackson telling him in 1993 that Jordan Chandler’s allegations were lies. This makes a lot more sense if he is innocent of Safechuck’s allegations than if he is guilty. After all, if Jackson had really molested Safechuck, they would both know that it happened, so it makes little sense for Jackson to swear up and down about his innocence to a man he had previously abused and expect him to believe him.
Claim 3: It is not about money
That Robson and Safechuck’s allegations have nothing to do with money is another blatantly dishonest claim. They may not get directly paid for Reed’s film, but they use it to assist their lawsuits that they have filed against Jackson’s companies for big monetary compensations, and that is currently in front of the appeals court. (Not long after the announcement of Leaving Neverland, Robson also started to advertise a foundation he had launched.)
If it is not about money, then why did they demonstrably lie in their court papers?
They claim that the lawsuit has been tossed just based on a technicality, but that is a half truth. While it was tossed because of statutes of limitations, but the ruling does include implicit judgements about the truthfulness of some of their claims.
For example, to get around statutes of limitations, Robson claimed that he did not know about the administration of the Michael Jackson Estate before March 4, 2013.
“Prior to March 4, I did not understand or was even aware that an Estate had been opened for administration or that I could seek to make a claim.” [15; paragraph 27]
He made that claim under oath, and it was a lie. Evidence showed he not only knew about the Estate’s administration before 2013, but he even negotiated with them in 2011 as he was trying to get a leading creative job on Cirque du Soleil’s MJ-themed Las Vegas show ONE.
Judge Mitchell L. Beckloff’s ruling on May 26, 2015 in the Probate Court case stated [36; page 2]:
An e-mail by Robson’s agent, Julie McDonald to him in February 2011, where the MJ Estate is clearly mentioned:
He had some negotiations with Cirque and the Estate about the job – here, in a May 2011 e-mail he is almost begging for it -, but eventually he was not selected.
Then in May 2012 he “realized” that he had been sexually abused by Jackson as a child and then used that allegation to sue Jackson’s entities for money. According to his mother’s deposition, Wade was also in financial difficulties. [25; page 218-219]
(Shane is Wade’s older brother. The “he” referring to Wade in the first question.)
For all the melodramatic burning scene at the end of Leaving Neverland where Robson burns his Michael Jackson memorabilia, the fact is that he sold his really valuable Jackson items in the past years. In October 2011, so just months before he supposedly “realized” he was “abused” by Jackson, he sold these items through Julien’s Auctions.
Julien’s Auctions stated that Wade wanted to remain anonymous, but they did not agree to that [31].
Part 3 continues in the next post
