Mark Ronson has spoken about the seismic impact of Michael Jackson‘s work being “tarred” in the wake of recent controversy surrounding the child sex allegations in Leaving Neverland.
Recent documentary Leaving Neverland focuses on testimony by Wade Robson, 36, and James Safechuck, 41, who both claim that Michael Jackson sexually abused them when they were children.
The two-part film divided opinion when it premiered in the UK last week, with fans taking to the streets of London to protest it being broadcast while radio stations around the world have since banned Jackson’s songs. Controversial adverts have also appeared on London buses in defence of Jackson, and there has also been a surge for his music in the charts since the film aired.
Ronson, who worked on the tribute album ‘Man in the Mirror’ and last year released the mash-up track ‘Diamonds Are Invincible‘ to mark what would have been Jackson’s 60th birthday, told NME that he was yet to see Leaving Neverland but felt that “a lot of people around me are very conflicted”.
“I don’t want to say anything until I see the documentary but, yeah, it’s a fucking giant part of music,” Ronson told NME. “It’s perhaps one of the biggest influences, between the work and the production and everything, it’s one of the biggest – it looms largest over modern R&B and soul and pop music than anything else.
“So if that becomes tarred, it’s kind of like in those movies where they’re like the space-the continuum has collapsed.”
Ronson will release new album ‘Late Night Feelings’ later in 2019.
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Last week, Jackson’s nephew Taj confirmed to NME that he was working on a counter-documentary to dispute the claims made in Leaving Neverland.
“There’s loads of those already,” Taj explained. “This is not going to be a puff piece. It’s not going to be, ‘Oh, let’s show Michael Jackson the humanitarian.’ This is about exposing all the things that have been mustering for 20, 30 years, you know?
“It’s going to start off with the 1993 allegations because I think that’s where everything started,” he continued, referring to the first public sexual abuse accusations made against Michael Jackson by Evan Chandler, the father of 13-year-old Jordan “Jordy” Chandler.
Read our full interview with Taj Jackson here.
This weekend also saw Drake drop a Michael Jackson song from his live set.
Jackson denied any wrongdoing before he died in 2009.