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CW: Sexual assault, abuse

Leaving Neverland is a documentary film from director Dan Reed, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival this year, and has since been showcased on HBO earlier this month. Ever since the film was slated to be screened at the festival it was met with criticism over the subject, and has received more backlash since the HBO release. The film focuses on the allegations of sexual abuse that Michael Jackson, The King of Pop, was accused of and is still being alleged today. There are two stories that are showcased in the documentary that reexamine the legacy of Michael Jackson in the face of these accusations after his death.  Wade Robson and  James Safechuck have come out with the accusations of sexual abuse that they suffered during their relationship with Jackson. At first both Robson and Safechuck kept the abuse to themselves, never telling anyone. This is a new era where survivors are becoming more comfortable with making their accusations public so that this might not happen again: a powerful moment in society, and the timing for this documentary highlights this zeitgeist. The Jackson estate, as well as his supporters, have been very vocal about not airing this documentary and discrediting the two accusers. This is highlighted at the end of part 2, and can also be seen on a daily basis on the internet. It’s a tough watch from start to end, HBO dividing the 4 hour documentary into two hour nights, as well as an after special with Oprah Winfrey. 

Part One: They were just kids (Late 70’s to 1992)

    The documentary commences with  Michael Jackson at the height of his solo career, for which he would later become known as The King of Pop.  Wade Robson was a child performer from Australia. His main act was a Michael Jackson impersonation: Jackson was his idol. When Jackson was visiting Australia on his tour he would have kids come up and join him on stage. Robson won a dance audition contest to dance when the tour came to Australia. On the other side of the country a young James Safechuck got one of his first big breaks starring in a commercial for Pepsi alongside Pepsi spokesperson, Michael Jackson. Reflecting on the experience, Jackson referred to it as the best commercial he has ever starred in, praising a young Safechuck for his performance. Media crew outlets interviewed both boys on their own experiences meeting The King of Pop. For Wade Robson it came easy to talk about being enthralled by his idol and doing the dance routines. The media embellished the interview with James Safechuck by redesigning his room with an abundance of Michael Jackson posters and memorabilia. Safechuck talked about what a great time he had working on the commercial with Jackson, and the camera also captured Safechuck dancing to some of Jackson’s songs. 

    Then came the contact with Michael: the film depicts both boys receiving calls and mail from Jackson. The parents found nothing wrong with this scenario and let the kids speak to Jackson for hours on end on the phone, because for them, Jackson had become another member of the family. Michael Jackson apparently never had a memorable childhood, so he sought to live out his childhood by having friends who were younger than him. There was never a question from the parents that this might be odd behaviour, because presumably Jackson was a genuine human being that would help the boys with their careers and invite them into his elegant lifestyle. The Neverland Ranch was a fantastical world for the boys that encapsulated Jackson’s youthful spirit. He would have both boys and their families come and visit him at his Neverland Ranch: a fun and care free space. This is also the place where the abuse started for both boys. What started as light gestures, say a hug or holding hands, progressed into sexually explicit gestures, with both Wade Robson and James Safechuck on separate occasions. Then the cover ups started, including the fact that Jackson kept on mentioning that he and the boys would go to jail if they even outed the abuse. He created the idea that they had special relationships and tried to separate them from their families by making them distrustful of the other people around them. During the day things would be normal at Neverland, and when night would roll around the abuse started all over again. Whether the boys were on vacation with him, visiting him or on tour with him this would be their life. They would be sleeping alongside Jackson, as their parents were in the other room, and this became normalized.

    Wade Robson and part of his family would leave Australia at Jackson’s request in order to help his career. His mother bought into Jackson’s demands even after the first time she said no to Jackson’s request to having Wade stay in America with him. There were times when Safechuck’s mother questioned some of the reasons why the rooms in Neverland were closed off or far apart when staying at hotels, but never distrusted Jackson. As the boys moved into their pre-teen teen phases of life there seemed to be a withdrawal of Jackson in their lives, as Jackson started having younger boys around him including child star Macaulay Culkin. Robson tells the incident where he was told to come on set to meet with Michael, only to find out the Culkin had become Jackson’s new protege. It was also the time that Robson described the sexual abuse getting more intense and intimate. Even though this was going on, the relationship with Robson and Safechuck was becoming less frequent, Jackson opting for younger “friends”. 

Part Two: Living in the Present (1993-Present)

    Part two opens on the 1993 child abuse allegations levelled against Michael Jackson, whose victim was 13 year old Jordan Neil Chandler. The accusations at the time were seen as the family looking for a money. Around the same time Jackson got back into contact with Wade Robson and James Safechuck, telling them that he needed their help for his defence. First with their own family, and then with investigators, both teens at the time denied the accusations that Jackson had ever sexually abused them. Finally this case was settled out of court for a larger sum of money than was perviously asked. Jackson stated as a defence for why he settled that his lawyers advised him, stating that it would cost him more in trial and legal fees. Following this, once again the boys’ contact with Jackson was lost. Then came Jackson’s marriages to both Lisa Marie Presley and later Debbie Rowe, which also seemed to discredit the accusations. Both Robson and Safechuck, at this point, wondered where their relationship with Jackson would be in the wake of his marriages. 

    Wade Robson went on to have a career as a famed choreographer with A-listers, including Britney Spears. Michael would try to get Robson to contact Britney for a collaboration. Both Robson and Safechuck started their adult lives, living in healthy relationships with their partners, yet remaining silent on their past abuse. They told their partners the bare minimum that they were friends with Jackson. There were some moments that their personal life were effected by the abuse, but it was never connected that it was because of the abuse. When the new 2003 sexual abuse accusations came out, the cycle of contact started again between both men and Jackson. Wade continually stood by Jackson even as a witness for the trial. James was finally done with the relationship and told Michael that he wanted nothing to do with the trail,  eventually confiding to his mom about the abuse he suffered at the hands of Jackson. 

    It was only after Michael Jackson’s death and having a child of his own that Wade Robinson  finally cmae out with the accusations (after some deep therapy sessions). There were many different reactions to Jackson’s death from the people who respected the man and his legacy. James Safechuck’s mother, now knowing the truth, thanked god that he is gone and can’t hurt any other children. There are still the defenders of Jackson’s legacy that discredit the accusations of Robson and Safechuck. They are also the ones who question why they didn’t come out sooner, or even why Robson defended Jackson for so long. The film shows how Safechuck and Robson are both coming to terms with the healing and grieving process, as well as having a personal life. 

After Neverland

    After Neverland is a one hour follow up special after the documentary where Oprah Winfrey sits down with Wade Robson, James Safechuck and director Dan Reed. Winfrey, herself being a survivor of child sexual abuse, held this post discussion alongside survivors of abuse in the audience. The one thing that is made clear, largely by Winfrey, is that abuse is covered up as a type of loving relationship that one has with the abuser. Dan Reed stated that he wanted to make this documentary not about Michael Jackson, but about child sexual abuse and the survivors. Wade Robson and James Safechuck go into details on how the abuse was constructed in terms of a normalized loving relationship, never seen as abuse. As both men put it, they would always come to Jackson’s defence in an attempt to continue his legacy and the fact that his character as an individual. One of the tactics that Jackson employed was the constant pattern of keeping the relationship a secret, and making threats of the consequences of leaking the secret.  Oprah then reads a letter from the Jackson estate discrediting the documentary and both men’s allegations. Robson describes that the only way that he could seek justice or tell his story where the Jackson estate would have to listen was to go through the court of law. This was the same court of law where he previously defended Jackson back in 1993 and 2003. In the final moments, Winfrey asks the hard questions about forgiveness and moving on from the experience. Most importantly, this documentary special outlines the definition of abuse, and how sometimes it comes disguised in the form of loving relationship.

    In this new era where the survivors are now being heard more than ever before, it is the perfect time for the documentary to be put out. It is both factual and personal, based on Wade Robson and James Safechuck’s experience with the king of pop, Michael Jackson. It is a hard documentary to watch, not only for the content, but also as it takes aim at Jackson’s personal life and his legacy after his death.  I feel that Safechuck and Robson presented claims that people may not want to hear because the truth hurts lives and legacies. However, in this era where survivors are coming forward it is an important step in the healing and grieving process. To make sure that this never happens again, no matter if the person is an influential celebrity,  or a regular citizen to society, the documentary is an important step in giving voice to the survivors of sexual abuse.  

Hosted by Erdene Batzorig

Stories by Erdene Batzorig

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LOCAL:

Chez Doris is set to open an emergency building to offer permanent residence to vulnerable women.

In an effort to reduce the amount of women on the streets, the women’s shelter is preparing to open 26 unit apartments. The project is set to launch in 2020.

According to the Link, Chez Doris was able to acquire a new building for the project back in November after retired Montreal businessman Andrew Harper donated $1 million dollars to the organization.  

In the an interview with the Link, the director of Chez Doris Marina Boulous-Winton said, “women organizations are less supported. She added the City of Montreal has 900 beds for homeless men, compared to the 70 - 110 for homeless women.

NAT:

Nunavut’s recently launched program aims to address and prevent sexual abuse of children.

According to CBC Indigenous, Our Children, Our Responsibility is a workshop designed by residents and stakeholders in Nunavut to educate adults on what to do if a child discloses sexual abuse, how to recognize the signs, and how to prevent abuse.

Participants of the program, shared their stories as well, learning new skills on how to tackle sexual abuse. ”When I was growing up there was no resources, no help, and I kept it silent. We have to protect our children,” said Diane Sammurtok, a survivor of sexual abuse.

The program is part of Nunavut's National Prevention Strategy Action Plan, Inuusivut Anninaqtuq. It was developed by Embrace Life Council, and it took nearly three to design the workshops.

INT:

That was the sound of the Haka tribute performance in New Zealand.

The outpouring support continues as the Muslim community in New Zealand reels from the loss due to a terrorist attack on two mosques.

According to CTV news, various groups around New Zealand are paying tribute to the 50 victims of Christchurch by performing the traditional haka dance.

One instance is the performance by Black Power, a prominent biker gang in the country.  Crowds surrounded the members with candles lit, as they mourned the victims from Friday’s attack.

The haka is a ceremonial dance in the Maori culture often performed at celebrations, sports events, and occasionally during funerals.

If there’s a band that embodies the DIY spirit, Montreal trio Men I Trust could certainly claim it.  For example, until this year, the group would even ship their merch to fans while traveling between tour stops.

“That was chaos, total chaos,” remarks keyboardist Dragos Chiriac with a laugh (the band’s two other members being vocalist/guitarist Emma Proulx and bassist/guitarist Jessy Caron).  “We had vinyl and T-shirts and stuff like that with us in the van because we’d have merch tables after the show, but we’d also prepare postage packaging and go to local post offices to have everyone’s shipment shipped.”

Along with their explicit warning to labels and PR folk not to bother inundating them with offers, Men I Trust’s DIY approach allows them to control what they want to do and when they want to do it.  If that means a few delays in finishing up their anticipated third album, Oncle Jazz, so be it!

The group have been patient with the follow-up to their 2015 sophomore album Headroom.  Scheduled for release last month, the group decided to push back the album’s release date, posting on their social media pages a few weeks ago that “We want it to be the best it can be. Love takes time.”

According to Chiriac, the group’s Oncle Jazz will be a lengthy affair.  The album will include most of the band’s singles released since their last album, wonderful expressions of indie-pop bliss like “Tailwhip” and “Show Me How,” as well as brand-new material that mixes their recent style and their more electronic-based origins.

It was after releasing their first two albums in back-to-back years that Men I Trust decided it might be best to build up an audience before putting out another record.  Not to mention that dumping albums onto the world doesn’t play well in the age of infinite consumption and attention deficit. “When you release an album after two weeks it’s not even news anymore and people kind of forget it,” admits Chiriac, though the artist professes that the group “still loves albums a lot.”

For Chiriac, there’s also an artistically cathartic quality to releasing singles that isn’t as easy to achieve with the long gestation period an album goes through.  “It’s fun releasing singles,” the artist explains, “because you just write a song and you release it three weeks after, so it’s still fresh to your ears; you’re still in that mood when it comes out.”

“For a starting artist especially, it’s a very good idea to start with singles,” Chiriac believes, “because it’s easier to get discouraged.  You put so much effort into an album, you almost go crazy over it, because you’ll work your ass off [laughs].”

“It can even be mentally distressing,” Chiriac further adds, “and then when it’s out if you feel it’s not [getting] the attention it should have, and that people don’t care that much, it’s probably because you just need more time to build an audience.”

Men I Trust certainly speak from their own experience.  The trio spent a great deal of 2018 playing shows across North America to ever-enlarging audiences.  That growing fanbase can even claim to include luminaries like Tyler, The Creator, who personally reached out to the group to play at his Camp Flog Gnaw festival last fall.  The group has also played local mainstay Osheaga and will be visiting the California desert for Coachella next month.

Chiriac admits that playing more and more shows has influenced Men I Trust’s recent singles like “Seven” and “Say Can You Hear,” despite noting that the group doesn’t write much while on tour.  “They’re a bit more upbeat than what we usually do,” Chiriac says about the tracks. “We wanted to have songs that were really fun to perform as well, and I’d say generally speaking when you’re doing your show people appreciate uplifting songs and uplifting music, so I think that’s reflected on the album.”

While the group looks to expand their horizons even further by planning shows in much of Asia for the near future, there really is no place like home, and the members of Men I Trust are keen to come back to Montreal to play amongst friends and family.  “Playing Montreal is always like a big party, it’s probably gonna be really fun,” Chiriac says, also adding to expect a few guest performers to share the stage with the band.

That modest summation by Chiriac is keeping in line with Men I Trust’s humble ambitions.  The group have achieved their goal of being able to live off their work and to do it independently without compromise.  “Just being autonomous is the best thing ever,” Chiriac remarks. “You don’t want to depend too much on people. Being autonomous, you’re free to decide whatever you want to do and just do it, no pressure.”

“We’re very happy with what we have already.  If it were to be like that for the rest of my life, I’d be happy.”

Men I Trust perform with opener Michael Seyer at Théâtre Corona (2490 Notre-Dame Ouest) on Saturday, March 16, 8:00 p.m., $23/$28

Alex Viger-Collins is the host of Ashes to Ashes, your weekly dose of modern pop, every Tuesday at 1:00 p.m.

Since their single “Knocking At The Door” blew up in 2017, the Arkells have been making waves in Canada and abroad. The track and video had them nominated for best single and best video of the year at the 2018 Juno Awards and Nielsen Music announced Arkells were the second most popular Canadian rock band on Canadian radio that year, behind the Tragically Hip, of course. Keeping with the momentum of “Knocking At The Door,” the Arkells released their album Rally Cry, in October 2018 to an excited fan base and stellar reviews. The album is high energy, down to earth and full of heart. The albums political undertones (I mean, it’s called Rally Cry),  lead to the adoption of the album's track, Relentless by Ontario’s autism community as their battle cry in the fight against Premier Ford’s austerity measures which impact funding for families who have children with autism.

On February 19th, the Arkells ended the Canadian leg of their North American tour with a knock-out show at Montreal’s MTELUS. The groups frontman, Max Kerman started the show by holding up a sign reading “I’m in Montreal, still going strong,” and announced to fans that they were in a crisis. The concert was on a Tuesday night, and the Arkells wanted to end their tour with Saturday night energy. Mid way into their opening number, Kerman hopped off stage and wrote sick notes to star-struck fans and insisted we all rock out like we don’t have work in the morning. Once he returned to the stage, Kerman took a moment to remind us all that $1 from each ticket sale was being donated to the Canadian Council for Refugees, he described his own struggle trying to navigate Montreal without knowing French, specifically a story of how some local kids were making fun of him in French while he was playing basketball at the YMCA earlier that day. He used the light hearted story to emphasize that he “couldn’t even imagine” how difficult the language barrier must be for a new refugee.

The Arkells followed this high energy and heartfelt intro by playing crowd favourites like “Leather Jacket” and “Knocking At The Door”. Then, a pay phone was rolled on stage and started ringing. Kerman revealed they had set up a song request hotline The audience heard long time fan, Lorenzo request, “Bloodlines,” an old song he’d never heard live. Lorenzo was invited on stage for the set and went all out on singing along with Kerman and the rest of the band. There’s no doubt the Arkells achieved that Saturday night energy. Background singers belted out notes through megaphones while Kerman jumped off stage again singing and dancing through the crowd before hopping on a bar and high fiving fans while singing.

When the band finally walked off, the crowd was able to call them back on stage by singing a melody Kerman had taught them earlier. The band came back on and played Dancing Queen a woman from the audience wearing a rainbow fringe jacket came on stage and started dancing, soon her partner followed and they swing danced, the girl was being flipped in the air and flung around while Kerman shot looks for surprise to the crowd. What a way to end a tour. The Arkells really were still going strong in Montreal.