Justin M. Howard | February 9, 2022
Two years later the Square One Michael Jackson documentary still holds up without any new evidence coming out to contradict it. The documentary makes a convincing defense for Michael Jackson against the child sexual abuse allegations that haunted the entertainer in 1993 up until his sudden death in 2009. Wade Robson, an accuser in the film Leaving Neverland, listed key individuals from the 93 allegations in his lawsuit against the Michael Jackson Estate. Jordan Chandler, Brett Barnes, and Macaulay Culkin were also brought up in Leaving Neverland as possible victims. Jordan Chandler has never spoken about the allegations through the media, but Barnes and Culkin have publicly defended Michael Jackson. By debunking the first allegations, Square One leaves the viewer to determine if later sexual abuse claims against Jackson are valid.
Square One Film Synopsis
The film focuses on the domino effect of the Chandler case and how it triggered the 2003 (Arvizo) and 2013 (Wade Robson) allegations. Director Danny Wu, assisted by Investigative journalist Charles Thomson, reconstructed the events and timeline of what took place before and after the allegations were launched. The documentary assembles a number of never-before-aired statements from witnesses, court transcripts, interviews from Jackson and his accusers camp, tape recordings, and includes Jackson’s nephew Taj Jackson.
Evidence of Extortion
Evan Chandler, with his lawyer Barry Rothman, planned and launched a fail-safe extortion plot. Before Jordan Chandler accused Jackson of any wrongdoing, Evan Chandler, the boy’s father, was secretly recorded saying: “This man [Michael Jackson] is going to be humiliated beyond belief. He will not believe what’s going to happen to him, beyond his worst nightmares. He will not sell one more record. If I go through with this, I win big-time. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever… Michael’s career will be over.”
What’s also revealing is that Evan Chandler demanded $20 million in exchange for not accusing Jackson of molesting his son publicly. Jackson repeatedly declined, so Chandler in desperation was willing to accept $1 million. If guilty, wouldn’t Jackson use this opportunity to protect his secret, considering that the price of silence was so low?
The Settlement, Judicial Prejudice – Michael Jackson
An indirect history lesson on the issues of systematic racism is shown through the struggles Jackson experiences while seeking justice. The allegations went public only because Jackson denied Evan Chandler’s monetary request – and it was Jackson, not Chandler who made contact with an outside legal entity first. Once the allegations became public and the police were involved, Jackson’s camp pursued a criminal trial, filing motion after motion to make the judge pause the civil lawsuit. However, the family’s camp filed motions requesting the complete opposite, pursuing Jackson’s finances. Ultimately, because of judicial prejudice Jackson was ultimately coerced into paying the family 15 million, missing his chance to pay only 1 million in secret. The media would tell the world that Jackson paid the settlement because he was guilty, but legally, no one can pay two grand juries to not indict them.
The Neverland Ranch had been raided by police twice in Jackson’s lifetime. Once in 1993 and again for molestation allegations connected with Gavin Arvizo in 2003. Jackson spoke about the findings and absurdity of the 1993 raid in his 1995 interview with Diane Sawyer. “The idea is it just wasn’t fair…what they put me through. Because there wasn’t one piece of information that says I did that in any way. They turned my room upside-down, went through all my books, all my videotapes, all my private things and they found nothing, nothing, nothing, nothing that could say Michael Jackson did this. Nothing. To this day nothing. Still, nothing…” This statement would be valid 10 years later while he was tried with the 93 and 2003 molestation allegations in a court of law. A jury found Michael Jackson “Not Guilty” on all 14 counts. There was never any proof or evidence depicting Jackson as a pedophile, everything police found in Jackson’s home proved the contrary.
Check out Square One Michael Jackson on Amazon Prime.