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Defending Neverland (2005) - unpublished documentary of the trial

Glanni

Glanni

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Hey everyone and happy Acquittal anniversary!

I’m super excited to share something really special with you all!

Exactly 20 years ago, on June 13, 2005, Michael was acquitted of all charges in Santa Maria. And now, on this powerful anniversary, something truly meaningful is being released:

Evalie’s documentary “Defending Neverland” is finally online!

Some of you might remember Evalie – she was one of the loyal fans who stood outside the courthouse every single day during the trial. She even appeared in the CBC documentary Camp Michael Jackson.

Watch her talking about her own docu in the CBC docu here:


Evalie filmed a lot of her own footage back then. Her plan was always to make her own documentary – and after two decades, it’s finally here.

You can see her trailer on her Youtube here from 18 years ago:


It’s about 30 minutes long, raw, emotional, and full of memories from someone who was right there, living it all.

Watch it now and feel free to share:


Big love and respect to Evalie for preserving this important piece of MJ history and thank you again for sharing it with the world!

Would love to hear your thoughts after watching! And please send some love to Evalie and everyone who was involved 20 years ago! Evalie is incredibly passionate, thoughtful, articulate, and sharp... you can really tell how much heart and intelligence she put into this project.

MUCH LOVE
 
Wow!
Thank you so much for sharing this, I probably wouldn't have come across it otherwise.
It was like a time capsule to a very difficult time.

I found Evalies comment about how MJ defies the dualities we are comfortable with as a society fascinating. I had long concluded that much of the misunderstanding around MJ comes from the fact that he blurs many socially accepted norms. I think that was part of his blessing and his curse, he could see things in ways others couldn't, and that gave him great success in his career but wreaked havoc in his personal life. But I love how Evalie worded it, it was so succinct.

I also found Evalies view on MJ being ridiculed for being maternal very eye opening. She commented how if MJ was a woman he would have been treated differently. Although I don't feel that gender plays a role into whether sharing a bed with a non related 13 year is appropriate or not, I can certainly see that had a women said some of the things MJ had about love and togetherness, it would have been better received. And yes, he did appear to exhibit more feminine traits when off stage, yet on stage he was so aggressively masculine, that's always been a very striking dichotomy. Evalies comment about how being gay would've made things worse for MJ was interesting too. I agree with her, even though MJ was heterosexual, there appeared to be so much homophobic centric coverage of MJ. At a time when homosexuality was becoming more acceptable, it's interesting how MJ was still a target for homophobia. A perfect example is the offensive poster about gays that Evalie reflected on while being prohibited from playing MJ music.

The comparisons to the Salem witch hunt gave a different perspective, that ultimately the truth didn't matter to a group looking for a sacrificial scapegoat.
I hadn't seen the puppet show footage from the news channel before, it was yet another example of how MJ was humiliated at the time, how on earth a news channel saw it fit to make a puppet show out of a child molestation case baffles me.

I want to say a huge thank you to all the fans who were there outside the courthouse. They may never read this, but watching them made me really emotional, they verbalised all the things I felt in my heart at the time.
Seeing them marching and chanting with their posters with so much passion made me so proud of them. The fact that they made huge sacrifices to be there to support MJ was so inspirational, they really were MJs true army of love.

The story of pyjama day made me teary too, hearing Sheree describe how it was the most devastating day yet the media coverage made it a mockery was heartbreaking. Hearing her recount of the fans rushing to the hospital and following his car and cheering him from behind all the way to the courthouse was so overwhelmingly heartwarming, I'm so glad they were there, that despite all the mockery and humiliation, he saw his army of love wherever he looked. It was hard seeing Sheree's health deteriorate, she really gave MJ all she had.

The best part was the verdict day, their cheers surged through me and pulled me back to that day, I remember falling to my knees when I heard the verdict on the news that day, it was like all my worries were physically knocked out of me with that first verdict.

The other best part was when Allen Brocha summarised the case in a few short sentences, and it sounded plain ridiculous. I wish someone had summarised this at the time, he's right, no one was talking about what the case was, all I remember hearing was the sensationalist headlines that I never want to repeat so will leave to the imagination.

It was such a difficult time for me as a fan, I was 19 at the time, it was so hard trying to decipher the truth amongst the daily negative media coverage, and also bear in mind that the internet and mobile phones weren't what they are today. I remember feeling bombarded by all the negative coverage. I now guiltily remember feeling angry at MJ for putting himself in such a vulnerable position to begin with.

And the truly sad part was that fans had to go through all this again with the AEG trial. I had checked out by then, I became a more distant fan because yet again it seemed impossible to decipher what really went on, and it was too painful that time as he was no longer with us. I have the utmost respect for the fans who were able to keep fighting for MJ and for the truth, and sadly the fight never stops. Thank you to you all, ❤️
 
jasmine.uddin said:
had to go through all this again with the AEG trial. I had checked out by then, I became a more distant fan because yet again it seemed impossible to decipher what really went on, and it was too painful that time as he was no longer with us. I have the utmost respect for the fans who were able to keep fighting for MJ and for the truth, and sadly the fight never stops. Thank you to you all, ❤️
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Very well put. I naively thought the verdict would mean he would be left alone. The facts & verdict made no difference to the bullies & those who decided it was their turn to lie for big $$$.
 
strangerinncl said:
I wonder where all these fans are today? Are they still fans or has LN changed that?
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I've often wondered the same, that's the problem with watching one off documentaries like this, you start wondering what happened to them.

Someone should do a follow up documentary of the MJ fans who were part of these types of documentaries back then, would be fascinating to watch how their fandom progressed through the years, especially as several fans grew up to support MJ in meaningful ways by way of writing books or organising events etc.
 
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