As if the multiple bomb threats targeting its premiere — impelling a pack of bomb-sniffing dogs, boosted security, and a SWAT team — weren’t enough, “Leaving Neverland,” Dan Reed’s devastating documentary examining Wade Robson and James Safechuck’s child sexual-abuse allegations against pop legend Michael Jackson, activated an online army of rabid MJ loyalists who flood the social media mentions of anyone who so much as alludes to the film.
“The evidence was that a lot of the Twitter accounts and emails where we were getting death threats and abuse had been created the day before and had a string of numbers and letters as their handle,” Reed told Variety. “It was clearly a bot operation. There were genuine fans who were emailing me and threatening me, but the bulk of them were fake.”
And sure enough, when Variety published my in-depth interview with Reed the other day, its social media mentions (and mine) were swarmed by Jackson truthers rushing to their hero’s defense. Amidst the miasma of name-calling and aimless projection, however, was a rather peculiar smear against Reed:
A number of pro-Jackson Twitter accounts shared a photo purportedly showing Reed and Jeffrey Epstein, the late pedophile, sex trafficker, and friend to the rich and powerful, in deep conversation on board Epstein’s private plane that he used to transport his victims, dubbed the “Lolita Express.” Only the photo is a fake. The real image, which was included in the Epstein Files released by the Justice Department, is of philosopher Noam Chomsky and Epstein:
It’s a commonly-employed tactic among the pro-Jackson horde: baselessly branding those who deign to interrogate the child sexual-abuse allegations against Jackson as sexual abusers themselves. But accusing Reed of conspiring with Epstein is an odd tact given what we know about Jackson and Epstein.
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This is a photo of Jackson posing with Epstein at the latter’s Palm Beach home that was released in 2024 as part of the Epstein Files:
The unearthing of the Jackson-Epstein photo prompted a fiery response from Matt Fiddes, a member of Jackson’s security team at the time, who denied any connection between the two.
“I was his bodyguard when the picture with Epstein would of been taken. We were just viewing houses as Michael wanted to live on Palm Beech [sic] so he can be close to his Barry Gibb. A real estate agent set up the viewings over the course of a week. We never even knew who Epstein was he was not famous then,” Fiddes wrote on Instagram. “He like the other house owners we viewed that week wanted a picture with Michael. “I was there with another bodyguard and Michaels then Dr. That’s it! In 2003! Epstein’s house was for sale so it was one of many lined up to view! Michael never had a clue who he was or the other property owners we met.”
He added, “Epstein was not in his financial circles. All nonsense!”
Also included in the files was an undated photo of Jackson, Bill Clinton, and Diana Ross posing together on what appears to be a boat:
There was also testimony from a pair of Epstein accusers alleging ties between Jackson and Epstein in the files. On Jan. 13, 2021, FBI documents contained in the release reveal that the Bureau interviewed an Epstein accuser who “started seeing Epstein when she was around 15 years old and stopped seeing Epstein when she was 16 going on 17 years old.” The accuser, whose name was redacted, alleged that for her 16th birthday, Epstein gifted her tickets to see Incubus before “asking who her favorite singer was,” leading her to responds, “Michael Jackson.” So, according to the FBI documents, “Epstein had Jackson call [redacted] on her birthday.” A witness interviewed by the FBI on June 22, 2021, corroborated the Epstein accuser’s story.
Unsealed court documents contained in the Epstein files show that another Epstein accuser, Johanna Sjöberg, who was interviewed as part of Virginia Giuffre’s 2015 lawsuit against Ghislaine Maxwell and claimed to be a victim of Prince Andrew, said, when asked whether she’d met anyone famous while she was with Epstein, “I met Michael Jackson… At Jeffrey’s house in Palm Beach.” When asked whether she “massaged him,” Sjöberg responded, “I did not.”
Lastly, as part of the tranche of Epstein files released by the DOJ, Jackson was named as being part of Epstein’s contact list — along with other celebrities like Mick Jagger, Alec Baldwin, and Bill Clinton. Although Epstein was known to inflate the truth when it came to his A-list ties.
Thus far, Jackson has not been accused of any wrongdoing related to Epstein. And the Jackson estate has yet to respond to Variety’s request for comment.
From Variety US