The family of former superstar Michael Jackson has some issues with a new documentary about the singer that recently debuted at the Sundance Film Festival.
“Leaving Neverland” is set to air on HBO in the spring.
It brings renewed attention to allegations of abuse by the late singer.
Two men who claim Jackson abused them as kids — Wade Robson and James Safechuck — are a focus of the documentary.
“Michael always turned the other cheek, and we have always turned the other cheek when people have gone after members of our family — that is the Jackson way,” the public statement from the Jackson family says.
“But we can’t just stand by while this public lynching goes on … Michael is not here to defend himself, otherwise these allegations would not have been made.”
The statement, released Monday, says Jackson went through an investigation in 2005 — and that both Robson and Safechuck admitted to investigators that they were not abused by the singer.
Both men later filed a lawsuit in 2013 and said that stress over the years brought them to admit they were abused.
Related: Here Are the Three Michael Jackson Songs That Sony Released — and Now Says Are Fake
Both men’s suits were thrown out but are still under appeal.
“We are proud of what Michael Jackson stands for,” the public statement reads.
It also calls the two men in the documentary “perjurers.”
Jackson passed away in 2009.
Born in 1958 in Gary, Indiana, he was 50 years old when he died; multiple drugs were found in his body after his passing.
For more on the “Leaving Neverland” documentary, check out the video below:
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