So... what’s the Estate’s next move?

[elusive moonwalker]

A rebuttal doc could take years. They should have been trying to get everyone who was around him and worked with him to gather together for a prime time special to say the truth. They're on twitter. From Karen Faye to the train driver from Neverland. Also people from Santa Maria who visited Neverland. The german family that wrote an open letter. The other boys and girls. Miko Brando. Macauley. Mark lester and his family. There are many staff who didnt sell him out. I could go on. They are seriously underestimating the damage that has been done. I'm 35 years a fan and seen it all since 1982. I dont see his turning around and have no faith in the estate. I really feels like this is the end of his legacy.

It to rebute the L.N Doc point by point. Easy to do wont take long. We have done all the donkey work already

 

[Kingofpop4ever3000]

Well the only hope is a rebuttal documentary and they cannot take years to do it. They simply don't have the time. We need something this year or early next year.

The estate really should have been better prepared. Did they really believe HBO wasn't going to air this? It seems they had no backup plan.

This whole thing is a mess.

Thankful for Taj and the fans for supporting MJ. If it wasn't for that there would be nothing but much more needs to be done of course.

I agree. Nothing about the airings of this film or the fallout has surprised me at all. I find myself getting angry at the Estate because we all saw this mess coming almost two months ago, Taj included. He was involved in defending Michael from the very day LN was announced. And he’s been running himself ragged trying to do what he can. That lawsuit the Estate filed could take a long time to reach arbitration if HBO even agrees to it. Branca and McClain could have asked anyone they knew to get copies of court documents, put the documents in footage form and spend a week or a week and a half conducting interviews with Michael’s supporters. Then hiring a film editor to pull everything together, getting a public relations firm on board to at least attempt to handle the media and finally, put out a fat response. If they couldn’t do any of that, they could have helped Taj put together his film. He should not have had to ask fans to help him get the money for it. And I ask the same question. How could they think this crap wasn’t going to happen, let alone the growing amount of damage it’s causing? Especially when experience should have taught them that people constantly sink to new lows in attacking Michael. They’re on the very edge of losing everything. The news about this gets worse and worse every day. Just today I saw some articles again talking about how this whole thing has the future of Michael’s legacy in very serious doubt. For once, I believe what I saw because just look at this nightmare. It’s also really affecting some people in the fan community. The Estate better do something big to deal with this. And soon. Because their business and Michael’s legacy are in increasing jeopardy.

 

[ksat9]

It's a tough call.

Initially, I felt they should have gone guns blazing. But the more I thought about it, the more I understood why they didn't.

Mounting a huge pushback campaign before or during the broadcast would have literally drawn many more to watch the source content (LN) to "see what the fuss is all about." It'd almost have been promotion for HBO. So it was smart being somewhat quiet.

Then there's the odd climate we're in. #MeToo and trial by social media. We literally live in a time when one can say anything and it automatically happened just because they said it. I'm such a supporter of people speaking up about things previous eras may have made difficult, but statistically and empirically not every single claim is truth. Still, even if people are rightly side-eyeing these accusers, destroying them in an obvious way is too old school an approach and runs risk of some people looking at it as re-victimising the "victim". It's just not good for optics.

So , I think the Estate done the following well already:

* Taking a generally quiet approach publicly (limits the convo)

* Limiting exposure to LN for fans with the concert streams (keeps up positivity and focus on why we love him)

* Suing HBO (shows sufficient awareness of the threat LN poses to his legacy and is a chest-out move to show "we will clap back")

* I also feel/assume that they have involvement in carting out Taj on the media rounds. Also, knowing how media-buys work, I wouldn't be surprised if they had a hand in the helping with the bus ads. But that part is just a guess.

Onto what they should do:

1) Some kind of rebuttal doc. I've gone back and forth about this in my mind because it too extends the narrative about something that could well blow over. But leaving things as is is risky. Because we presently don't have the foresight to see where the pendulum of public opinion on MJ will land once LN is a distant memory. It didn't do anything ratings wise, but the discourse surrounding it wasn't good at all. So they need to produce something and land fairly big, global distribution for it (Netflix?).

Furthermore, it needs to be Estate-endorsed (meaning go heavy on the official music, videos, and performance footage, so as to remind people why they love him) and have a clear innocent agenda. I also feel it best if it's framed by a independent entity like a Spike Lee or another critically celebrated director. Who, unlike Dan Reed, understands the necessity of telling a balanced story even when pushing a specific agenda (in this case Michael's innocence).

So Taj's doc ought to emerge as another supporting doc to the main Estate one (more the merrier). Or if they team up to do it together, he should be behind it but not necessarily at the forefront. Because some will just stress the fact he's a Jackson and dilute all the receipts he'll bring with "oh he has an agenda" or "he would say that"

Lastly on the doc front, I actually think they should take their time with it and strategically drop it during a quieter window. Dropping it anytime soon-soon just relates it back to LN which is still to air in many international markets. We don't want the promotional push for the rebuttal doc to be the Cat and Mouse that has the promo for LN. I.e. Dan n co hitting up one platform, with the Jackson's following the next day. It needs to be standalone project and one that is pushed heavily. The have the means go above and beyond with the media push too. Billboards, ads, everything.

2) Use the media in a slow and steady capacity to reshape the perception of Wade and co aka seed stories on the TMZ's etc. Again, going guns blazing now wouldn't be wise and only promotes LN. But doing so when Wade and co aren't on the media trail is best bet.

This is exactly why I think the estate and his kids didn’t say anything or as much.
If they have it attention they would have brought in more viewers to the movie.
I hope there are more lawsuits from others and I hope it is televised in the same realm as this movie.

They needed to do a documentary on his false accusations a long time ago especially after Wades case was thrown out. I know good and well they didn’t expect for them to just go away.
The fans can keep mentioning court documents and the FBI, but most people are not going to willingly read through thousands of pages on someone they barely even care about.
We did it because we are fans and wanted to make sure in confidence that we were not supporting an abuser.
Put those documents into a documentary and give the evidence to the people in visual form to prove his innocence.