Macaulay Culkin insisted he had no reason to protect Michael Jackson from accusations of inappropriate behaviour

It is well documented that Macaulay Culkin and Michael Jackson had a rather close friendship while the musician was alive.

The former child star once revealed that the Jackson actually phoned him after watching Home Alone.

Whenever Culkin was interviewed, he was often asked about Jackson and his trips to Neverland.

According to Culkin, Jackson, who he'd met previously while performing in a theater production, just called him out of the blue.

"I first met him, he kind of called me randomly, like, out of the blue, he was just kind of like, 'Hi, it's Michael', and I'm like, 'Hey'," Culkin recalled in an interview with Larry King years later.

"This was after Home Alone. I'd actually met him once before when I was doing The Nutcracker at Lincoln Center, I was playing Fritz, and he came backstage one day and I actually met him very briefly.

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"And he kind of recognised me because it was after I'd done Uncle Buck."

But since his death in 2009, stories have come to light where Jackson allegedly abused youngsters in the explosive documentary, Leaving Neverland.

The Home Alone star said that he never saw Jackson abuse anyone and also denied that the singer had ever behaved inappropriately with him.

Culkin actually gave evidence in Jackson's defense in a 2005 trial, where the singer was found not guilty of molesting a boy.

Despite that, many have assumed over the years that Culkin was abused by Jackson, particularly due to their much-talked about friendship.

But speaking to Esquire magazine, the actor shut down all rumors: "I'm gonna begin with the line - it's not a line, it's the truth: He never did anything to me. I never saw him do anything.

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"And especially at this flashpoint in time, I'd have no reason to hold anything back."

He continued: "The guy has passed on. If anything - I'm not gonna say it would be stylish or anything like that, but right now is a good time to speak up.

"And if I had something to speak up about, I would totally do it. But no, I never saw anything; he never did anything."

Leaving Neverland featured interviews with Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who said that Jackson abused them as a child.

But the Michael Jackson estate dismissed the film as 'yet another lurid production in an outrageous and pathetic attempt to exploit and cash in on' the singer.