Email from MJ Estate Alicia Yaffe regarding The Estates strategy to combat Leaving Neverland

Lightbringer

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3 days ago I sent an email to the MJ ESTATE encouraging them to get out in the public eye defending MJ against Dan Reed & company in the media.

I have received a response now. Below is both my original email and the response from MJ Esatate Alicia Yaffe:

I am putting this in its own thread, because if I put in the sundance thread it will vanish immediately and many board members will mis it. Since almost everyone is questioning the estates actions or lack of actions, I think its useful for the everyone to at least get a statement from them in generals terms of whats going!


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First, Alicias response:


Alicia Yaffe
Feb 27, 2019, 10:41 PM

Hi Leif:

Thanks so much for taking the time to write in with your suggestions. We appreciate your passion and that of all of the fans who are sharing their thoughts and suggestions as well. While much of the Estate’s activity is not visible to the public, the members of the Estate team, which include lawyers, PR professionals, and other specialists are all working in concert to execute the strategy that they have determined will be best in light of the litigation file and their other on-going efforts to protect Michael’s legacy. While the strategy employed is not always emotionally satisfying to the fan community, the Estate is best positioned to synthesize all of the available information both public and proprietary and execute a strategy using that information.

That being said, the efforts of the fan community to combat the lies in Leaving Neverland have been important and helpful in spreading the message.


Alicia

MJOnline
The Official Online Team of The Michael Jackson Estate™
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Original email to Alicia from me:

Hi Alicia.

My name is Leif Bjorling and I am a lifetime MJ fan from sweden.

Now I understand you receive tons of emails and probably you already have a plan, but I just feel I need to share a suggestion on how further defend Michael against Leaving Neverland and its backslash.

I believe strongly that the MJ estate need to represent MJ in the media the coming weeks when Leaving Neverland will reach its peak in publicity. Dan Reed and his crew are doing major promotion and will probably step it up even more! Of course they are aided by the worldwide media who prints 25 year old lies as NEWS on a daily basis - everything about money, forget about the facts or truth.

Regardless, to my point:

The MJ estate must have PR-lawyer - better yet - SEVERAL of them that are representing Michaels side of the story in the media. And these people should embark on a media tour all over the united states, traveling to most of the biggest citys to appear on radio, TV and local newspapers in the coming weeks.

Tom Mesereau is NOT even GOOD ENOUGH for the job.

I absolutely love Mesereau and all he has done for Michael - to defend Michael to this day its amazing! I will be forever grateful for that,

However, Mesereau is NOT UP TO DATE with the Robson & Safechuck claims at all. If you listed to his work defending Michael since the Robson case broke - he repeats time after time he has not followed the legal cases and therefore can not go into ANY details at all. But we need someone with special knowledge of Robson & Safechuck.

Mesereau is awesome to explain the scheme of exploiting MJ and debunking the 2005 trial.

But as regards to Leaving Neverland, I feel the laweyers who handled the Safechuck & Robson civil suits are much better equipped representing MJ in the media. They know the facts, have studied the documents, know what Wade & Safechuck is all about.

If the the lawyers who handled the litigation can not do it, have someone else thats EQUIPPED with all the facts handle it.
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I am on facebook, twitter and youtube defending MJ with facts. When the Leaving Neverland trailer was posted by HBO and Channel 4, I spent 12 hours straight on facebook to get the facts out and balance out the "hate" coming from regular people who knows the medias agenda as the truth.

We already seen it and heard, and I believe that as Leaving Neverland airs, ther will be a media frenzy like NEVER BEFORE - and more and more people will start asking for MJ to be muted.

Any other person thats in trouble has lawyers representing them if they can not be there themselves - I sincerely hope that you will make sure to the same for Michael Jackson.
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Simply put, it would even be better to have me on the TV-shows, than not having anyone there AT ALL - most shows would welcome someone to speak for MJ!

We need the lawyers who handled the litigation to defend MJ in public - these persons can PICK APART Robson & Safechuck from the top of their heads IN DETAILS! Not many people have read up on all the facts.


The Estate need to launch a full scale attack and GET THE FACTS OUT IN THE PUBLIC EYE! Where general people will see it! Lets face it, nobody but fans will read the estates 53 page letter, or even 10 page letter!

IMPORTANT:

Dont get me wrong. I LOVED these letters, they are brilliant, and I am thankful for them, but they wont reach the masses.

The fanbase are doing everything possible, but we need your help to get the truth out on TV, radio and newspapers in this critical time.

Lets fight together to preserve Michaels legacy!

Thank you so much in advance and take care :)

Best wishes
Leif Bjorling
 
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Okay, so we're on the front line, right? The Estate are doing the behind the scenes work and we have to push and fight on the front line. Let's do it!

P.S. I really appreciate you emailing them! :)
 
Well they better act fast or have a bombshell because the last nail in the coffin is in place and ready to be hammered.
 
Well they better act fast or have a bombshell because the last nail in the coffin is in place and ready to be hammered.

You got it. Maybe not kind the BOMBSHELL action you wanted of course....


MJ Online Team
11:07 PM 28th february

"Earlier today, the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote a letter to HBO, Time Warner, and AT&T decrying the decision to broadcast Leaving Neverland.

Click HERE to read the letter in full.. Please share with your networks and keep the pressure up." #MJTruthSquad.

Sincerely,
Alicia




https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b10cd...Michael_Jackson_Documentary_All_Addresses.pdf
 
You got it. Maybe not kind the BOMBSHELL action you wanted of course....


MJ Online Team
11:07 PM 28th february

"Earlier today, the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote a letter to HBO, Time Warner, and AT&T decrying the decision to broadcast Leaving Neverland.

Click HERE to read the letter in full.. Please share with your networks and keep the pressure up." #MJTruthSquad.

Sincerely,
Alicia




https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b10cd...Michael_Jackson_Documentary_All_Addresses.pdf

Kudos to the SCLC
 
Sending peace and support to the Estate.

I know there's not much they can realistically do to combat the documentary in terms of pulling it from HBO, but whatever they're doing, I applaud them and hope they emerge victorious.
 
Thanks to the SCLC. As normal all fur coat and no knickers from the estates statement. They are doing nothing were its matters. In the court of public opinion.
 
You got it. Maybe not kind the BOMBSHELL action you wanted of course....


MJ Online Team
11:07 PM 28th february

"Earlier today, the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote a letter to HBO, Time Warner, and AT&T decrying the decision to broadcast Leaving Neverland.

Click HERE to read the letter in full.. Please share with your networks and keep the pressure up." #MJTruthSquad.

Sincerely,
Alicia




https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b10cd...Michael_Jackson_Documentary_All_Addresses.pdf




i saw this earlier today kudos to sclc for doing thos
 
elusive moonwalker;4243835 said:
Thanks to the SCLC. As normal all fur coat and no knickers from the estates statement. They are doing nothing were its matters. In the court of public opinion.

Have to agree here. This battle is being fought in the media, and at the moment, Reed, Wade and Jimmy are winning big time. No one in the general public is going to sift through a 10 page letter or a lawsuit (as good as they were), and the media are not going to report on those letters or the lawsuit in any great depth.

The only defence of MJ in the media is from his family. They are not equipped with the facts (except Taj, to an extent). Their defence is welcome but not adequate. Saying “I know my brother” is not a good enough defence. Many abusers fool their own families and friends.

The Estate lawyers clearly have ALL of the facts needed to debunk this, they’ve shown that from the letters they have published and the lawsuit. They need to get out there on tv and spread this.

All fans can do is spread facts on social media and in conversation with friends and family. We can’t conduct interviews with journalists or get on the tv. We are being drowned out.
 
If they don't start doing something in the media then it's gonna be over. Nobody is going to read these letters they are sending although I appreciate them.
 
In my opinion, they should put hire someone to talk in media, someone who knows how to talk as a lawyer.
 
Can you send them an another email to ask them to change the admin of FB official page of MJ..
 
You got it. Maybe not kind the BOMBSHELL action you wanted of course....


MJ Online Team
11:07 PM 28th february

"Earlier today, the president of the Southern Christian Leadership Conference, an organization founded by Dr. Martin Luther King, Jr., wrote a letter to HBO, Time Warner, and AT&T decrying the decision to broadcast Leaving Neverland.

Click HERE to read the letter in full.. Please share with your networks and keep the pressure up." #MJTruthSquad.

Sincerely,
Alicia




https://gallery.mailchimp.com/b10cd...Michael_Jackson_Documentary_All_Addresses.pdf

I got it on my Hotmail.
 
I send an Email to the Estate about the official social media
The Estate has elected to keep Michael’s social media focused on the TRUTH about Michael Jackson, and not a space to react to the lies in the forthcoming documentary. Part of the reason is Michael has over 75 million followers on social media - none of the networks broadcasting this come even close to that. Why would it benefit Michael to bring the documentary to the attention to even MORE people, offering it free publicity?

It is the Estate’s job to keep in mind an objective view and execute a strategy that best benefits Michael both now and for generations to come, and acknowledging the documentary on Michael’s social pages does not achieve that objective.
 
Can you send them an another email to ask them to change the admin of FB official page of MJ..

Alicia is responsible for what is posted on MJs Facebook although she does not run it, she posts the content
 
Alicia is responsible for what is posted on MJs Facebook although she does not run it, she posts the content

Are you sure she's the responsible ?
I understand now why the posts are "shy".
 
Hello, again, #MJFam:

Since HBO is moving forward with the broadcast of Leaving Neverland, the Estate wants to invite the world to enjoy the TRUE Michael Jackson as he performs in concert. The Estate is making Live at Bucharest available to stream on Michael’s YouTube channel for a limited time starting 8 pm ET Sunday, March 3 and Live At Wembley available to stream on Michael’s YouTube (www.youtube.com/MichaelJackson) channel starting 8 pm ET Monday, March 4 .

Please encourage your friends, families, and networks to watch these incredible concert performances, a playlist of Michael Jackson short films, the film, “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” or either of the 2 actual documentaries, “Bad25” and “Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown To OFF THE WALL”, rather than the HBO propaganda piece being broadcast this weekend.

The Estate also applauds the efforts of many of you in the fan community to educate your spheres of influence about the truth about Michael Jackson. Keep it up.

Cheers,
Alicia

MJOnline
The Official Online Team of The Michael Jackson Estate™
 
Paris78;4244206 said:
Hello, again, #MJFam:

Since HBO is moving forward with the broadcast of Leaving Neverland, the Estate wants to invite the world to enjoy the TRUE Michael Jackson as he performs in concert. The Estate is making Live at Bucharest available to stream on Michael’s YouTube channel for a limited time starting 8 pm ET Sunday, March 3 and Live At Wembley available to stream on Michael’s YouTube (www.youtube.com/MichaelJackson) channel starting 8 pm ET Monday, March 4 .

Please encourage your friends, families, and networks to watch these incredible concert performances, a playlist of Michael Jackson short films, the film, “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” or either of the 2 actual documentaries, “Bad25” and “Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown To OFF THE WALL”, rather than the HBO propaganda piece being broadcast this weekend.

The Estate also applauds the efforts of many of you in the fan community to educate your spheres of influence about the truth about Michael Jackson. Keep it up.

Cheers,
Alicia

MJOnline
The Official Online Team of The Michael Jackson Estate™

My reaction
tenor.gif
 
Paris78;4244206 said:
Hello, again, #MJFam:

Since HBO is moving forward with the broadcast of Leaving Neverland, the Estate wants to invite the world to enjoy the TRUE Michael Jackson as he performs in concert. The Estate is making Live at Bucharest available to stream on Michael’s YouTube channel for a limited time starting 8 pm ET Sunday, March 3 and Live At Wembley available to stream on Michael’s YouTube (www.youtube.com/MichaelJackson) channel starting 8 pm ET Monday, March 4 .

Please encourage your friends, families, and networks to watch these incredible concert performances, a playlist of Michael Jackson short films, the film, “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” or either of the 2 actual documentaries, “Bad25” and “Michael Jackson’s Journey From Motown To OFF THE WALL”, rather than the HBO propaganda piece being broadcast this weekend.

The Estate also applauds the efforts of many of you in the fan community to educate your spheres of influence about the truth about Michael Jackson. Keep it up.

Cheers,
Alicia

MJOnline
The Official Online Team of The Michael Jackson Estate™

What the hell??
 
Are they going to put the Spike Lee docs on YouTube?
I have Bad25, but didn't buy OTW. Just watched it during a month of free showtime.

I understand that they keep Michael's Facebook page simple and just post stuff about his music or trivia. They have a huge following, but it's what I would call fans of his work only. Most of the comments are "I love you Michael", "I adore you Michael", "is Michael alive?" Nothing serious.

Maybe a short paragraph pinned to the top denouncing the doc and announcing their lawsuit against hbo would be ok. But that page is not the place for anything more detailed.
I would like them to use Jonathan S. as a spokesperson since he was the lead attorney. Don't know how old he is, or how he is with PR, but his actions in the courtroom were excellent. Best for him to accompany Taj on a press tour.
One to speak on the cases, the other to speak on Michael's character. Especially as a child/teenager who spent a lot of time with these guys.

Branca is still a top American entertainment attorney and he has to have connections in high places.
 
Michael is being accused of one of the worst crimes in history and his reputation is being dragged through the mud, and what does the estate do? They stream two live concerts instead of defending him publicly. This does not make Michael look good because it just looks like the estate is trying to distract people from these allegations.

Media: ''Two men have come forward claiming they were molested by Jackson''
Estate: ''But Look at him dance!''
 
Michael is being accused of one of the worst crimes in history and his reputation is being dragged through the mud, and what does the estate do? They stream two live concerts instead of defending him publicly. This does not make Michael look good because it just looks like the estate is trying to distract people from these allegations.

Media: ''Two men have come forward claiming they were molested by Jackson''
Estate: ''But Look at him dance!''

I think the streams are meant to be used as protest rather than distraction. That is, people can watch those and give more ratings/views to those instead of LN.

It's not the BEST defense, but I have to wonder if they're not saying much in the media because of the lawsuit with HBO. Like if they speak too much they could mess that up somehow. They could also be waiting until after it airs also, though I wonder if that would be too late...
 
When we first learned of Leaving Neverland on January 9 it was inconceivable to us, as it must have been to you, that a respected company like HBO was behind it. We assumed that HBO’s corporate values reflect a commitment to fairness, honesty and integrity.

Sadly, we were wrong. Leaving Neverland is nothing short of a premeditated ambush, announced at the 11th hour at the Sundance Film Festival as part of a secretive two-year deception to escape scrutiny from Michael’s family, Estate, friends, associates and fans. HBO even tried to hide the names of the two accusers in announcing the film, only begrudgingly identifying them after our initial public statement revealed them to be two failed litigants we know well.

HBO’s goal is obvious: It wants to mute the voices of all who would speak up in defense of Michael Jackson and who know the lack of credibility of these allegations as well as the character of the individuals making them. Thanks to all of you, HBO and its filmmaker have been unable to prevent the harsh light they hoped to avoid from being directed at this film.

They do not want anyone noting that it is overwhelmingly one-sided. They do not want it known that the filmmaker, in two years, never so much as reached out to anyone other than his two subjects and their families, including those he maligned and was morally and ethically obligated to contact. Nor does HBO want anyone knowing that the subjects have repeatedly changed their stories, committed perjury and have financial motives hidden from the public. Rather, HBO hopes to sneak Leaving Neverland by any rigorous scrutiny of facts and credibility that it should have demanded of its filmmaker. But your tenacious passion to defend Michael in the face of such dishonesty pierced HBO’s lack of transparency. It is inspiring and heartwarming, and we are grateful to all of you.

Most important, HBO and its partner Channel 4, want to deflect attention from the fact that it is attacking an innocent man who is no longer with us to defend himself and that they can do this only because they cannot be held legally responsible for defaming a deceased person. The refrain from HBO continues to be that fairness is irrelevant while adding the disingenuous and absurd claim that its film is not about Michael Jackson. Let’s be clear: it is entirely about Michael Jackson. The same Michael Jackson who had his day in court on accusations just like these 14 years ago and was declared innocent unanimously on all counts by a sophisticated jury.

But in HBO’s court, there is no jury, no opportunity to cross examine witnesses and no defense; just a predetermined conviction of an innocent man by an intentionally lurid filmmaker who declared himself the final judge and jury. And rather than let viewers weigh all the evidence and decide for themselves if the subjects are telling the truth or lying, HBO forces the filmmaker’s storyline down every viewer’s throat, allowing no time in four hours of viewing for even a scintilla of the volumes of conflicting evidence.

Michael Jackson suffered during his life through a malicious spotlight no artist of his generation was forced to endure. As James Baldwin prophetically wrote in 1985, when Michael was coming off the global phenomenon that was Thriller, “The Michael Jackson cacophony is fascinating in that it is not about Jackson at all. I hope he has the good sense to know it and the good fortune to snatch his life out of the jaws of a carnivorous success. He will not swiftly be forgiven for having turned so many tables, for he damn sure grabbed the brass ring, and the man who broke the bank at Monte Carlo has nothing on Michael.”

Sadly, his children have had to repeatedly endure the additional pain of these lurid tabloid tales after losing their father, be it during the criminal trial of the man responsible for his death or the claims of the two individuals in this film. While the press has treated the allegations in this film as fresh and new, in truth these individuals have been making these same salacious and false accusations in the media for six years, more than half of the time Michael has been deceased. But having hijacked HBO’s credibility, what they have now is just a louder platform, a soundtrack, drone shots, skillful editing and a multimillion-dollar marketing budget. What they can’t buy is the truth. Facts don’t lie; people do.

In the six years since these false allegations were first made, Michael’s music and his legacy thrived for a simple reason: you can’t silence Michael Jackson. His genius and artistry are timeless, and his resilience prevails. We will continue to fight the meritless claims of his accusers because he is innocent. His legacy is stronger than two individuals seeking hundreds of millions of dollars after defending him for years and whose similar epiphanies raise countless questions about their timing and motives. Their repeated dishonesty such as committing perjury and hiding evidence says everything about their credibility that four hours of
Leaving Neverland goes out of its way to hide.

Finally, it’s important to remember what Michael said himself in 1994 when he was invited to the NAACP Image Awards. At that time, the relentless persecution that would haunt him the rest of his life had started. In addressing the gathering, he went out of his way to note the right all of us have to the presumption of innocence.

“I never really took the time to understand the importance of that ideal until now,” Michael said, “until I became the victim of false allegations, and the willingness of others to believe and exploit the worst before they have a chance to hear the truth. Because not only am I presumed to be innocent, I am innocent. – And I know the truth will be my salvation.”

—-The Michael Jackson Estate

MJOnline
The Official Online Team of The Michael Jackson Estate™
 
When you go over Wade's testimony in 2005, you get the understanding that Michael understood the importance of hanging out with kids. Look at the many activities Wade described in his testimony and that he looked upon Michael as a friend. The reason for the sleep overs, because that's what kid's like to do. Wade didn't even know about the porn mags that Ron Zonen shoved down his throat in cross examination. Michael told one of his lawyer's at the time, that those porn mags weren't even his. Which makes sense because of Michael's love of the Holy Bible. Wade was believable on the Witness stand. The only thing that makes sense now, is Wade is just like Evan Chandler and wants to be rich at whatever expense of destroying another!
 
Holy cow.

The Estate managed to finally do what I have requested for weeks and sent out Jonathan Steinsapir one of the lawyers handling the Robson & Safechuck lawsuits to counter Dan Reed. Jonathan did a much better job than any of the Jackson family, as expected. With the limited time he got, he did fine! I would definitely want him going on more shows, he should have been active during the build up as well, I have no idea why the Estate did not engage earlier and more. Lets hope this was not his only appearance.

If you do not want to listen to Reed, you can skip to 17.00, for Jonathans part. To be able to skip forward in the player you have to double click on the link.

But what the heck are Jonathan suppose to do in 10 minutes? When Reed had 4 hours movie + endless of interviews in newspapers, radio and TV. Its impossible to respond in that short time frame. Also for Taj he has been on a few shows for like 5-6 minutes, he barely is allowed to speak before its over, its useless. Why are they not doing any magazines or newspapers? I dont get it, you have to be able to get your message across in length in for it to have any effect.

Reed have been doing magazine interviews that take 20 minutes to read. If the Estate had used the same platforms, BEFORE the broadcast of this filth, more of the viewers would have watched the show with Wades contradictions and lying fresh in their mind.

Now The Estate is going to have to try to appeal to people who have been brainwashed with 5 hours of propaganda from Reed & Oprah and have swallowed it all! Not a good plan by the estate. I get if they cant go on Oprah, since they would not give 60 minutes to the estate. But all these magazines and newspapers, I am sure they could the word out that way to some extent.

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Interview with Jonathan Steinsapir, a lawyer for the MJ Estate who dealt with the Robson case in court from 17 minutes. (Before him it is Dan Reed.) <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LeavingNeverland?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LeavingNeverland</a> <a href="https://t.co/znirRxLQmO">https://t.co/znirRxLQmO</a></p>&mdash; Justice for The Falsely Accused (@JuliaBerkowitz1) <a href="https://twitter.com/JuliaBerkowitz1/status/1102686669751439360?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
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Btw:


Howard Weitzman was on CBS today, a 30 second clip I believe, did anyone see a longer clip than that? A 30 second clip? Whats the point of that really?

<blockquote class="twitter-tweet" data-lang="en"><p lang="en" dir="ltr">Estate attorney Howard Weitzman speaks about <a href="https://twitter.com/hashtag/LeavingNeverland?src=hash&amp;ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">#LeavingNeverland</a> on <a href="https://twitter.com/CBSThisMorning?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">@CBSThisMorning</a> &quot;It's a one-sided, one point of view documentary.&quot; <a href="https://t.co/nrmR6JsOWh">pic.twitter.com/nrmR6JsOWh</a></p>&mdash; Leaving Neverland Facts (@NeverlandFacts) <a href="https://twitter.com/NeverlandFacts/status/1102672679092379648?ref_src=twsrc%5Etfw">March 4, 2019</a></blockquote>
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