The Michael Jackson estate has sent a letter to the U.K.’s Channel 4 warning that a documentary on two men who accuse the singer of molesting them as boys violates the network’s programming guidelines.
The letter written by estate attorney Howard Weitzman and released Monday that “Leaving Neverland,” set to air in early March, makes no attempt at getting a response to the accusers from Jackson’s estate, family, friends or others who have defended his reputation as required by the channel’s standards for factual programming and basic journalistic ethics.
The letter cites a section of the publicly available guidelines that state if a show makes “significant allegations” then “those concerned should be given an appropriate and timely opportunity to respond.”
Channel 4 said in a statement Monday that the allegations against Jackson are rebutted in the documentary by denials that Jackson made during his lifetime.
It says the broadcast meets Britain’s official broadcasting code by providing these denials.
