Featured Image Credit: HBO/Shutterstock
Topics: Michael Jackson, News, Music
Callum Jones
A man who claims he was abused by Michael Jackson when he was just seven is set to have a day in court over the allegations.
Wade Robson is set to head to trial against the late singer's corporation MJJ Productions, Inc.
In a report by TMZ, the California Court of Appeal have approved a suit the 40-year-old has brought against Jackson's corporation over molestation allegations.
Advert
Robson claims the alleged abuse to have happened when he was between the age of seven and 14 at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
A 2021 Los Angeles County trial had previously dismissed the case, but now the Court of Appeal has issued a tentative ruling that the case will now be brought to trial.
In the previous ruling, Judge Mark A.Young said that companies Robson had accused of facilitating the alleged abuse, which also included MJJ Ventures, had no ability to control Jackson as he had' complete and total ownership' of them, as per Sky News.
And the lawyers for MJJ Productions have also argued that the company had no legal duty to protect Robson or any others as they had no ability to control Jackson.
Vince Finaldi, Robson's attorney, had said that he would appeal the decision.
UNILAD has reached out to MJJ Productions and Robson's attorney for comment.
The choreographer had described his alleged experience with Jackson in court documents.
He said that he'd moved from Australia to the US as a child before crossing paths with Jackson when he was five-years-old.
Robson appeared in the 2019 documentary, Leaving Neverland, where he and James Safechuck, whose case was also dismissed in 2021, spoke of the alleged abuse they'd received.
However, 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.
Jackson was arrested in 2003 and indicted on ten counts, including lewd conduct with a minor, conspiracy to commit child abduction, false imprisonment, and extortion (involving a separate minor).
The late singer went to court in early 2005 and was found not guilty of all charges.
During the trial, Robson said that he'd had slept in the same bed as Jackson but nothing had happened between the pair.
He later changed his story eight years later in 2013, as he filed a lawsuit against Jackson's company.
The choreographer claimed to have testified falsely on behalf of Jackson due to 'complete manipulation and brainwashing', TMZ reports.
The trial news comes after Paris Jackson shared a Father's Day tribute to her late dad.
The 25-year-old daughter took to Instagram on Sunday (18 June) to share with her four million followers a rare photography of herself and her two siblings Prince and Bigi, formely known as Blanket, with their late father, the King of Pop.
This past Sunday (25 June) marked the 14th anniversary of MJ's passing.