To think it's tragic if Michael Jackson was indeed innocent

[pregahes]

It's a real shame for someone who created incredible music to have their legacy at risk. It’s just tragic, considering the impact his music had on so many. It's tragic either way, if he's guilty for the victims and if he's innocent for himself.

I'm a huge fan and at one point t thought he was guilty but kore recently change of heart. I think there would be more victims if he weee in fact guilty. Somethings doesnt add up.

It's tragic

Well, the boys say he did, and when did we stop believing victims?

So would I.

But, to be honest, any man who is so stupid (best case) as to sleep in the same bed as children should accept that - innocent or guilty - they're likely to need to wear the label "paedo" forever more.

The right of men to share a bed with kids and not get called a paedo is not a right that I am willing to fight for even if he was provably innocent.

I do agree, but I've also thought what kind of parent accepts PAYMENT for their child being abused. If I honestly thought my child had been sexually abused I'd want to see that fucker rot in jail. Not pay off my mortgage.

By "throwing him in jail" you are putting your child in the witness stand to be cross examined by expensive and agressive lawyers. It's difficult enough for an adult let alone a child. I wouldn't do that unless my child really wanted to. Better to use the money for therapy than expose the child to more trauma.

@Lambiriyani

The safety of children would always be my priority over some wacko Jacko fan apologist, who is prepared to disbelieve a child because it did not fit her narrative.

I was not going to risk her applying her skewed thinking to my service users.

the issue is that the MJ’s and the IDK brigade really don’t understand firstly how child abusers operate (even the not famous ones)

I had over the years dealt with many disclosures by children, and mothers in denial. They were always things that we could do to safeguard. But there was rarely enough evidence (to meet the beyond all reasonable doubt test) to prosecute these people.

The general public really don’t understand how safeguarding works. An enhanced DBS will throw up any suspected crimes and the police chief can disclose assessed risks of individuals to other adults and children.

And it is up to the safeguarding lead to make a determination as to wether to employ such a person.

Guilt and innocence is always the wrong test when it comes to safeguarding, it is the assessed risk that matters.

I very much doubt any of the parents involved, who willingly let their children sleep in bed with a stranger, used the money for therapy.

WHat the ‘documentary’ commissioned by his family and company in an effort to protect their interests that proved absolutely nothing?

You REALLY think he never touched a little boy? That 8 men are telling big fat whoppers?

No, it doesn’t.

”Innocent until proven guilty l is not the same as “If you are not proven guilty it means you are legally innocent”. That’s not how the legal system works

As are the vast majority of sexual abuse verdicts.

So you think 8 children and men with compelling stories are telling outright lies? All because he had good song lyrics?

Good for you! People with no adverse knowledge of child protection should not work in a child protection charity

What if you lived in a country where you had to pay for healthcare, where you sexually abused child doesn’t get anonymity and is receiving death threats, and you need to move far away change your identity and spend an absolute fortune on therapy for your abused child?

Why do you think that?

It certainly didn’t make them happy. Jordy Chandler’s dad committed suicide

What if you lived in a country where you had to pay for healthcare, where you sexually abused child doesn’t get anonymity and is receiving death threats, and you need to move far away change your identity and spend an absolute fortune on therapy for your abused child?

Even then. I don't live my life in fear. Being paid off, is not justice.

Well of course you're not unreasonable to think it's tragic if he was innocent. Surely anyone being the subject of a miscarriage of justice is tragic? (I know he was never found guilty in court, but you know what I mean). Equally it's tragic that if he was guilty, he never paid for his crimes. Not sure what the point of this thread is if you don't want to debate his guilt/innocence 🤔

It would be your child, though, not you.

And their word against, in this case, a powerful and rich abuser. There’d be no proof - no DNA, no pictures, no video. Your child would be vilified. It’s not like a movie where justice prevails - money and power protect the abusers.

What does UK libel law say about this?

Anyone know?

You would if people were threatening to murder your 12yo.

It is absolutely a form of justice. What kind of innocent man pays £16m to someone he didn’t abuse

About stating he’s a pedophile you mean?

It's a tragedy if young boys were abused.

The way some people carry on you'd think being accused of abuse was far worse than being subjected to it.

Wrong. The damage it does is irreversible, as is society's invariable propensity to protect adult males to the cost of all else.

He is dead so he cannot “sue”. Libel laws allow a person to make a claim against something someone else has said, but, that someone else, can state that they think or believe something about a person as long as they dont state it as a fact.

MJ didn’t sue anyone because the defence to liable is that a statement is true. It would be on MJ victim to prove on the balance of probabilities that what they said about him was true.

MJ didn’t sue anyone because the risk was too high for him.

Well good new for you! He was a pedophile so you don’t have to feel bad for him.

Finding that on the balance of probabilities what a victim says was true, would been a disaster for him

‘What does UK libel law say about this?’

he’d have to be alive for starters, but I would have loved for him to have his day in court - rather than buying everyone off- because he deserved to rot in prison, like every other child sex offender and rapist.

‘I very much doubt any of the parents involved, who willingly let their children sleep in bed with a stranger, used the money for therapy.’

For me this is the most mind boggling bit. I can’t think of a world in which my parents - who financially struggled my entire childhood - thought it would be okay for me to go off and stay with a rich stranger, alone, and sleep in his bed when I was a child. For what? So they got some cash, nice trips, to ride in a limo, claim their 11/12 year old was ‘friends’ with MJ? Utterly bizarre.