it is terrifying to come out. it can take well into adulthood. i ve had clients in nare their and 60s telling their stories of child sexual abuse for the first time. unfortunately, that s how this progresses. let me follow up on that e k documentary testified they weren t abused. to what extent does that undercut what we re learning from them today? it is a factor. listen, anybody who tells an inconsistent story, especially as an adult, that has to be taken into account, just in the interest of fairness. we also have a mountain of psychological research now. we know that people who are victims tend to protect their accuser, especially when asked to do so. that s what they say happened here, that they were asked to do so. listen, i ve been representing victims of discrimination, harassment, and abuse for over three decades. i see this in almost every one of my cases. anyone who is a survivor will tell you that they have done this. let me read you what michael
it is very controversial. there s been a lot of pushback. do the allegations that you ve heard though from those who say they were abused by michael jackson square with what you know? i m very pleased that the documentary is out, it s telling the story of these two young men who say they were victims. of course, it s not just these two. it s jordy chandler who, as you point out, i represented briefly in the 1990s. he was the first accuser. i will never forget him. there were others in 2005 and since then. what everybody was up against all the time is what we re seeing now, the celebrity culture and the real worship of michael jackson and the people who just do not want to believe that this icon could ever do something wrong. even though after he was accused multiple times of molesting little boys, he would still bring them to neverland and sleep with them in the same bed. i mean, i thought it was appalling at the time, and i still do. i m glad other people are now seeing that. lisa
get your reaction on the other side. let s take a look. taking showers together and, you know, fondling and kissing. he would run drills with me where we d be in the hotel room, and he d pretend like somebody was getting in. you d have to get dressed as fast as possible. do those accusations, those stories comport with, line up with what your client told you so many years ago? well, you know, i can t reveal what he told me because confidentiality stays with me, even decades later. what i can say is based on many public reports of a lot of different boys from the 1990s and the 2000s, all of this is very consistent. it is also consistent with what we know about sexual abuse of children. you know, someone in the documentary told something different at the trial. we know when children are sexually abused, they often protect their abuser for years and years, even into adulthood, especially when the accused abuser is a celebrity.
abused them for years beginning when they were 7 and 10. take a listen. he s already larger than life. i mean, he likes you. he helped me with creativity, with all those sorts of things. he also sexually abused me. for ser for seven years. michael jackson died in june of 2009, but his estate has already sued hbo for $100 million in damages. joining me now to discuss this, civil rights attorney and author of suspicion nation lisa bloom. she represented michael jackson s first accuser, jordan chandler, briefly in the 1990s. in the 2005 trial, jackson was acquitted on ten felony counts, including counts of child molestation and one count of attempted child molestation. lisa, thank you for joining me. appreciate it. thank you. i want to know what your takeaway is from this documentary so far, as we ve been discussing.
bruising, bleeding, or paleness. don t start enbrel if you have an infection like the flu. since enbrel. my mom s back to being. my mom. visit enbrel.com. and use the joint damage simulator to see how joint damage could progress. ask about embrel. enbrel.com fda approved for over 19 years. an explosive new documentary detailing sexual abuse allegations against michael jackson is getting a strong response not even 24 hours after its release. it s the first part of the controversial film leaving neverland which includes firsthand accounts of two men who claim the pop star sexually