Lawyers representing the estate of pop superstar Michael Jackson don’t want his naked pictures circulating online.
via: Page SIx
On Wednesday, the “Billie Jean” singer’s company MJJ Productions asked that the Superior Court of Los Angeles deny Wade Robson and James Safechuck’s March 2024 subpoena requesting access to documents containing “photographs of Michael Jackson’s genitalia and naked body taken by police.”
Per the court docs, obtained by Page Six, Jackson’s team argued that the “highly sensitive” and “private” documents in question were already “sealed by a court-entered protective order from the Santa Barbara Superior Court.”
According to the filing, the photos in question were taken in 1993 — around the same time the “Thriller” singer was accused of sexually abusing a then-13-year-old boy.
In the suit, attorneys for Jackson’s production company pointed out that California law “recognizes privacy rights to images of deceased persons.”
“Here, there is no legitimate justification for Plaintiffs’ gross attempt to violate the privacy of a
man who has been deceased for almost a decade and to disturb his family’s ‘peace of mind and
tranquility’ with our ‘sensation-seeking culture,'” the documents read.
They called the plaintiffs’ demand for the documents “an egregious violation” of Jackson’s “privacy rights” and “simply beyond the pale.”
The suit also alleged that Robson and Safechuck have tried to obtain the police records numerous times in the past — which were all “quashed” by the court.
Jackson’s attorneys also argued that the contents of the sealed documents — which include incident reports, photographs, recordings and other investigative files — are not “directly relevant” to the case.
“The photographs Plaintiffs seek were not taken willingly by Mr. Jackson; they were the result of a court-ordered search based on a false statement in what became a discredited criminal investigation.”
They added, “To allow Plaintiffs to exploit that series of circumstances to their benefit by obtaining those photographs now adds a second defilement to the first.”
In 2013, Australian choreographer Robson accused Jackson of molesting him from the ages of 7 to 14.
The following year, actor Safechuck also filed a lawsuit against the King of Pop, claiming the singer started grooming him for sex at the age of 10.
Both men, who appeared on HBO’s “Leaving Neverland” documentary in 2019, are now suing the deceased singer’s companies, claiming they are liable for allowing the alleged abuse to occur.
The alleged victims claim that Jackson’s employees allegedly “witnessed the sexual abuse” or “circumstances suggesting sexual abuse.”
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