Since the release of Leaving Neverland, many have switched sides on Michael Jackson but there's been an equal amount of people who've cast doubt on the allegations made by James Safechuck and Wade Robson. Dan Reed, the director of the docuseries, has now admitted that there may have been a few holes in the allegations made by James Safechuck.
Michael Jackson's biographer Mike Smallcombe shared some evidence that proves James Safechuck's timeline about when Jackson abused him was off. Safechuck claimed the pop icon abused him in an upstairs room at Neverland's train station but Smallcombe shut down those claims, revealing the station was built two years after Safechuck said the abuse stopped.
Smallcombe backed his claims with photos of the construction permits. The permits reveal that the train station was opened in 1994 but received permits in 1993. Safechuck claimed that he was abused from 1988 until 1992.
Dan Reed responded to Smallcombe's post, saying, "Yeah, there seems to be no doubt about the station date. The date they have wrong is the end of the abuse."
Smallcombe told The Mirror that Reed's comments were "embarrassing."
"Because the story has been debunked, it appears Reed is now suddenly wanting to change Safechuck’s timeline himself,” he said. “Firstly, I’m shocked that he’s spoken on Safechuck’s behalf. And secondly, it’s embarrassing that he feels he has to now change the narrative of the film – which is that the alleged abuse stopped in 1992 – all because part of it has been disproved."
"That’s what happens when you take allegations like that at face value, and make no attempts to scrutinize and investigate whether they are true," he added.
He later spoke to NME about the allegations, saying, "These are two extremely detailed and key stories in the documentary – especially in the case of Wade Robson – which have been provably fabricated... And while this doesn’t categorically rule out that Jackson abused them, it does make you wonder, if they’ve fabricated these stories, what about the rest?”