Corey Feldman wants to 'stay away' from Michael Jackson discourse: 'It's just a giant trapdoor for me'

"The times that I had with Michael were incredible," he tells EW. "And unfortunately, it seems like some people had other experiences."

Corey Feldman's time defending Michael Jackson is over, and now he just wants to stay out of it.

"Honestly, I'd rather stay away from that whole topic. It's just a giant trapdoor for me," the Stand by Me and Goonies actor tells Entertainment Weekly when asked for his thoughts on the controversy around an upcoming biopic on the late King of Pop, which a lawyer for Jackson accusers has called "propaganda."

"I wasn't there. I didn't experience it," Feldman explains during an interview about his recent stint on The Masked Singer. "The times that I had with Michael were incredible. And unfortunately, it seems like some people had other experiences, and I can't go into reflecting on something that I wasn't there for. It doesn't really behoove me to get into that topic other than to say I support all real victims of sexual assault."

The former child star is a longtime outspoken advocate for survivors of sexual abuse, but things got complicated when it came to accusations levied against Jackson, someone Feldman counted as an old friend and had only positive experiences with. After sticking up for Jackson for years, things changed after Feldman watched HBO's 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, which detailed the stories of two men, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who allege that the singer sexually abused them as children.

An emotional Feldman appeared on CNN Headline News after the doc aired and said he could no longer defend the singer. "I cannot in good consciousness defend anyone who's being accused of such horrendous crimes. But at the same time, I'm also not here to judge him because he did not do those things to me and that was not my experience."

Jackson consistently denied all allegations of sexual abuse during his lifetime. His estate slammed Leaving Neverland and filed a suit against HBO over it.

Antoine Fuqua's Michael will follow Jackson's early days as a member of the Jackson 5 through to his mega success as a solo artist. The Thriller singer's nephew Jaafar Jackson portrays him in the biopic, which also stars an impressive cast, including Colman Domingo, Nia Long, Miles Teller, Lorenz Tate, and Kat Graham.

Leaving Neverland director Dan Reed recently blasted the movie as a "complete whitewash," saying he'd read the draft script for Michael, and called it "an out-and-out attempt to completely rewrite the allegations and dismiss them out of hand." The biopic's producer later promised the movie will "get into all of it, including over 30 songs, recreating some of the most iconic performances on stage as well as his life out of the public eye."

As for Feldman, he'd probably prefer you discuss a different film, one that does shine a light on sexual abuse claims: his 2020 documentary, (My) Truth: The Rape of Two Coreys, which exposes the men he says sexually assaulted him and his late friend Corey Haim when they were child stars. Meanwhile, he's still fighting for his longtime cause.

"Every person, every human being, has a right to their privacy, has a right to their body, has a right to be only touched and engaged when they choose to," he says. "I fight for human rights across the board. Women, children, animals, everybody has the right to be an independent and have their own voice and their own body and not be threatened by others who can't keep their hands on themselves."

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Related content:

• Corey Feldman recalls 'shocking' exchange with Barbara Walters on The View: 'Like a knife in the heart'

• Janet Jackson felt 'guilty by association' after molestation allegations against brother Michael

• Can we still listen to Michael Jackson's music after HBO doc Leaving Neverland?
  

Read the original article on Entertainment Weekly.