Author: Shanedra J. Smith

I’ll give you the good news first. You can keep your MJ gear and all your highly valuable albums and DVDs (if you have them anyway), including that 2010 Wii game that has not even depreciated in monetary value (but actually ended up going up) or Jackson’s 1988 copy of his one and only autobiography (I wish I had kept mine. But at the time of the publication of this article I just ordered it again.) Because the good news is that Michael Jackson was never and will never be a child molestor, child abuser, or any type of monster related to a category like that. Contrary to popular belief, including the release of the dramatically constructed documentary by Dan Reed and ex-‘friends’ of Jackson, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, Leaving Neverland, I believe it’s important to shout this truth to the mountain tops, especially since Jackson is no longer here to defend himself from the atrocious mistruths the mainstream media and these two men are throwing at him.

When I got home today from doing some errands, a coworker of mine who knows I like Michael Jackson, sent me a screenshot of this article. She was letting me know that the sexual allegations case filed by Safechuck and Robson would be reopened. I already knew this, but because of my lack of knowledge about the court system, I wasn’t able to adequately text her back why these cases were being opened. One of her wuestions to me was, “If MJ didn’t do it, then why is the case being opened again?” Because I am unable to explain while sounding eloquent, in case you’re curious, Charles Thomson is a legal correspondent for the MJCast podcast (and in my opinion an excellent example of what an investigative journalist is supposed to be doing) did a good job explaining everything in their recent episode here.)

But in this post, I won’t be discussing Robson and Safechuck’s allegations in full detail. All I can say about them is that my opinion in my 2022 update at the bottom of my Leaving Neverland review has changed permanently. What I’d like to share with you the extensive list of what seemed like bad luck that seemed to plagued Jackson. (Perhaps maybe in the future I will expound on the 2004 and 2013 allegations,.) Today, I’d like to take a blast to the past and discuss Michael’s very first allegation from 1993, because I believe this first allegation is the beginning claim that helped ricochet the latter two copycat claims. I want to set the scene of the key characters and how they were able to score a good $20 off a man against his better judgement and will, which is exactly what the accessors wanted. I will do my absolute best to link all sources at the end of this post for those interested in further research.

Evan Chandler: “It will be a massacre if I don’t get what I want.”

In May of 1992, Mr. Jackson’s car broke down while he was driving down a street in Los Angeles. An employee at Rent-A-Wreck spotted him stranded in the street and offered to bring him a car. When Dave Schwartz, the owner of Rent-A-Wreck discovered that THE Mr. Jackson was in the vicinity, he immediately called his wife, June Schwartz, and told her to bring her son and daughter to meet him. Her son at the time was a 12-year-old Jordan Chandler, who was a huge Michael Jackson fan. She then gave Mr. Jackson their home number. In the employee’s account, she noted that “The mom seemed to be forcing the boy on [Michael],” and that “he felt like he owed the boy something, and that’s when it all started.” So, you can see why Jackson felt vulnerable and quite embarrassed to have your car broken down and stranded in the street. My car has never broken down in the middle of the street, but I know I’ve had to pull over before and that alone was embarrassing seeing the cars just drift past me. I can’t imagine how embarrassed Jackson felt and probably felt obligated to be open since he had a sweet spot for children.

Needless to say, Jackson, the Schwartzs, Jordan and his sister begin a relationship. They travelled to his house, he goes to theirs. The children and parents play at his castle-sized Neverland mansion, and Jackson enjoys the simplicity and normalcy that comes with being at a house doing chores and playing video games with the children. They had sleepovers, travelled the world together, and Jackson enjoyed the sense of family and friendship he got from them. In between all of this was Evan Chandler, a failed dentist who wanted to be a writer. He had divorced June in 1985 and had already been remarried by the time he met Jackson in 1992 with two small children with his second wife. He initially liked Jackson and suggested to him to build a new home for him so Jackson could come and stay at his house (this was a serious request.) He began bragging about his relationship with Mr. Jackson with coworkers and associates. However, Chandler began feeling jealous of his son’s relationship with the singer and his ex-wife, which then leads to the next turn of sad and dramatic events.

Aware of Chandler’s sketchy behavior, Jackson began distancing himself abruptly. This is when Chandler’s mind wandered with wild ideas to “Get what he wanted”, as he revealed in a phone call with Dave Schwartz that he secretly recorded. “It’s already set,” Chandler began mentioning to Schwartz. “There are other people involved that are waiting for my phone call that are in certain positions. I’ve paid them to do it. Everything’s going according to a certain plan that isn’t just mine. Once I make that phone call, this guy [his attorney, Barry K. Rothman, presumably] is going to destroy everybody in sight in any devious, nasty, cruel way that he can do it. And I’ve given him full authority to do that.” What made Chandler so hungry to destroy Michael’s career and reputation? Well, it was revealed that Chandler wanted money. In a meeting recorded by Anthony Pellicano, Jackson’s lawyer and Barry Rothman (Chandler’s lawyer) and Chandler himself, Chandler read a letter to Jackson asking for $20 million for a movie deal (for what movie? I have no idea nor do I care.) Pellicano then shared that at the end of the meeting, Chandler pointed his finger at Jackson and said, “I’m going to ruin you.”

For the nuances of the case, I encourage you to read and do further research, and click on the links below this article that I will provide. But while this meeting took place outside of public knowledge, Jordan, around 13 at the time, denied profusely all the allegations of sexual abuse made by his father. It is needless to say that Jackson’s team rejected Chandler’s request. The reason why I point Evan as the key character, because Jorden denied the claims until a visit happened between his father and an anesthesiologist his dentist office that was the result of a perfect and precise planned extortion attempt.

In the presence of Mark Torbiner, Chandler gave his son the controversial drug sodium amytal, known as a truth serum in the 1980s, despite this claim being reported as false. (Dr. John Yagiela, the coordinator of the anesthesia and pain control department of UCLA’s school of dentistry, added at the time to Mary Fisher’s 1994 article about the allegations that “It’s unusual for it to be used [for pulling a tooth]. It makes no sense when better, safer alternatives are available. It would not be my choice.” After this dental operation, the child was sent to a psychiatrist and spoke for the first time of these sexual allegations against Jackson. Now, keep in mind Chandler’s words to his ex-wife’s then husband at the time of this whole mess. “If I go through with this, I win big-time. There’s no way I lose. I’ve checked that inside out. I will get everything I want, and they will be destroyed forever. June will lose [custody of the son]…and Michael’s career will be over.” Schwartz asked if he cared how this would effect Jordan, he responded swiftly and without hesitation: “That’s irrelevant to me.” He continued, “The whole thing is going to crash down on everybody and destroy everybody in sight. It will be a massacre if I don’t get what I want.“

What followed was a monster match of hearsay, slander, and false allegations. Don Ray, one of the first reporters in LA at the time of the allegations, commented on the story’s coverage: “I watched this story go away like a freight train.” One tabloid – I couldn’t even gather the audacity to consider it an article – I found from 1993 shared so many false and unchecked reports that it was almost laughable. (See here.) Jackson later ended up paying Chandler a huge amount of money due to advice that was given to him based on his lawyers and legal team at the time; in fact in a 1995 interview with Diane Sawyer and his then-wife Lisa Marie Presley, he admitted that he decided to settle because of personal issues going on at the time and he didn’t want his career to be hindered. Repeatedly, up until 2009, lies were spread about who the young boy was, a book was published by Victor Gutierrez in 1997 full of pedophilic fantasies (which I refuse to name) entailed gross depictions of sex between Jordan and Jackson, Ray Chandler, Evan’s brother, published a salacious book detailing Jackson and Jordan’s sexual relationship (Father of the Year, amirite!?) Long story short, this single false allegation ended up branding Jackson in the category as a “child molesters” or “pedophile” to the general public. In fact, my first introductions to Michael Jackson was that he “bleached his skin”, and that he was a pedophile. In a way, I want to travel back in time so I can see what in the world the people who were teenagers in the 90s saw when it came to Jackson’s stardom. But my story here is that Evan got what he wanted. He got the money he wanted. But in the end of his long and constructed plan, he lost his son, a valuable friend, and an opportunity to redeem a broken reputation as a piss poor dentist. His son ended up requesting an emancipation from both of his parents and never spoke to his parents again, besides the restraining order he put on his father some years ago after his father attacked him with a dumbbell. (He then later committed suicide in 2009, 4 months after Michael’s death.)

I want to conclude this article by sharing that for a number of years, the narrative around Jackson is that he is a huge boy-lover who was grotesquely involved in pedophilia and used his company to lure young innocent children in to become abused. I think the moral of this retelling of the 1993 allegations is that Jackson’s 2004 and 2013 allegations can all be traced back to the 1993 allegations. And if the 1993 allegations have been proven as false as they have so many times, then it’s only true that the 2004 and 2013 allegations have nothing worth standing on when it comes to truth. I am writing this, not from a stance as a fan, but as a stance of someone who loves the truth and compassion for Jackson. Yes, his life was something I personally do not want and desire, but still, Jackson was a human being who had many issues and attempted to heal the wounds created in his childhood in very bizarre ways. Hanging with young children and their families and becoming friends too easily with people he should have been wary of was one of those bizarre ways, not pedophilia.

One thing I’d like to leave you with is this quote that Jackson said in reference to truth: “lies run sprints, but truth runs marathons.” Truth is always consistent, over days, months, years, even centuries. nd the truth will always be discovered no matter how many times someone tries to hide it or smother it. But in this case and alarmingly a lot of other cases involving integrity, the truth was not firstly presented nor reported. One thing I’ve definitely learned from studying Michael Jackson and celebrities in general is that the truth doesn’t seem to matter anymore. Sometimes the celebrity is a victim and sometimes the celebrity is victimizing something or someone. It’s an interesting concept to keep up with, but I assume it’s a part of the human nature we have.

So, in conclusion, Michael Jackson was not a pedophile. There you go. You can feel free to enjoy his music, because I know I will. You’re welcome.

Here are my full list of sources that helped me create this article:

Square One documentary

Was Michael Jackson Framed 1994 article written by Mary Fisher

MJCast podcast episode about the MJ allegations

Michael Jackson Case For Innocence Podcast (they’re awesome!)