Macaulay Culkin defended his friendship with Michael Jackon during an appearance on the “Inside Of You” podcast.
He was asked by host Michael Rosenbaum about MJ, but Culkin admitted feeling a little “ambushed," adding, “He reached out to me because a lot of things were happening big and fast with me, and I think he identified with that,” Culkin said about Jackson. “I mean at the end of the day, it’s almost easy to say it was weird or whatever, but it wasn’t because it made sense. Here’s the thing at the end of the day: We were friends. It’s one of my friendships that people question only because of the fact that he was the most famous person in the world.”
Culkin didn’t see anything wrong with what he and MJ had, calling it a “normal friendship,” adding “For me it’s so normal and mundane.”
“I really didn’t give a shit about famous people. I was thoroughly unimpressed by them,” Culkin said. “So when I first met him I was like, ‘Oh cool, you’re that guy who sings songs. I sing songs in school. That’s great. So anyway.’ I think that’s also one of the reasons why we got along. Everyone was always thoroughly impressed by him, so the fact that there was somebody treating him like a normal person, it really was that simple.”
I wrote this yesterday:
"I am not sure if I will be able to catch Dan Reed‘s Michael Jackson-Pedophilia doc "Leaving Neverland" in a few weeks at Sundance, mostly because it's a four-hour doc and it's a risk cramming that lengthy a film into a day's schedule, but also because I was never completely on-board with the mob that claimed Michael Jackson was a sexual predator. There was just something about the guy that felt asexual rather than sexual. He was all but robbed of a childhood when becoming the lead singer of the Jackson 5 at the age of 9, his father was also physically and verbally abusive towards him; My theory is that he was had an affinity for children for the pure and simple reason that he never had the chance to live through a normal adolescence. The doc will relive the experiences of two men — James Safechuck and Wade Robson — who are claiming to have been molested by Jackson when they were minors."
"Jackson’s Santa Barbara sexual molestation trial of ’04 and ’05 didn’t involve Safechuck and Robson, but Gavin Arvizo. These are new victims, never heard of before until they came forward for the Reed doc."
"The Jackson estate quickly rebutted the presence of the doc at Sundance: “This is yet another lurid production in an outrageous and pathetic attempt to exploit and cash in on Michael Jackson. This so-called ‘documentary’ is just another rehash of dated and discredited allegations. It’s baffling why any credible filmmaker would involve himself with this project.”"
"Statement from Reed: “If there’s anything we’ve learned during this time in our history, it’s that sexual abuse is complicated, and survivors’ voices need to be listened to. It took great courage for these two men to tell their stories, and I have no question about their validity. I believe anyone who watches this film will see and feel the emotional toll on the men and their families and will appreciate the strength it takes to confront long-held secrets.”
Jackson has now been gone for almost 10 years, but that hasn't stopped his fans from furiously condemning Sundance for the doc's appearance in their program. So much so, that Sundance had to release a statement defending the inclusion of the doc in their slate:
“Sundance Institute supports artists in enabling them to fully tell bold, independent stories, stories on topics which can be provocative or challenging,” the statement reads. “We look forward to audiences at the Festival seeing these films and judging the work for themselves, and discussing it afterwards..We plan to proceed with the screening as announced.”
"Reed could very well be an opportunity-hungry filmmaker; did he screen these new victims and their claims before embarking on this film? With a 240 minute length, I would presume there has to be a lot of fact-based evidence in his film. After all, you are targeting someone who cannot defend himself and that has been put to the ringer numerous times by Californian authorities with no evidence to show for as of now."
“Leaving Neverland” will premiere on HBO this spring.
It’s now been 13 years since "The Grandmaster,” and it doesn’t sound like Wong Kar-wai will be making another film in the near future. His future seems to be on the small screen.