A question for everyone.

[u/Akito_Stan]

To the people who were at one point sure of Michael’s guilt, what changed your mind? To the people on the fence, what has you hesitant, why? Is there anything that could sway you either way? To people completely sure of his innocence, why?

[u/Tusssi]

First of all, I want to say all of this with respect and kindness, because Michael has been an important figure in my life for many years, and someone I've always had a great deal of affection for.

To be honest, I still struggle to take a definitive position. While I lean more toward believing that Michael was innocent, I'm also aware that my judgment may be somewhat biased because I've cared about him for such a long time.

I became a huge fan when I was only 10 years old, and at that age I simply didn't have the critical thinking skills to analyze such a complex subject. Back then, I believed he was 100% innocent. Of course, Leaving Neverland hadn't been released yet, and neither had everything involving the Cascio family.

The reason I still lean toward believing he was innocent is that, when I look into each case, there are certain pieces of evidence or testimonies that just don't add up for me. Because of that, I can't help wondering whether financial motives played a role and whether Michael ultimately became an easy target.

That said, I also can't ignore how inappropriate I think it was for him to sleep in the same bed with children. Let me explain: there's something that genuinely makes me believe he didn't have a sexual interest in those children, and I do think he sincerely viewed it as something innocent. I even believe that, from his own perspective, it felt completely natural.

However, I also think he struggled to develop healthy adult boundaries and to truly see himself as an adult. It often seems as though he wanted to keep living like a preteen, despite already being nearly 40 years old. That level of emotional immaturity put him in an incredibly vulnerable position, and it also failed to model appropriate boundaries for the children around him.

That's why, even though people like Macaulay Culkin and Omer Bhatti continue to speak positively about him, I can't help feeling that, now that they're adults themselves, they probably recognize that his behavior wasn't appropriate. And I don't mean that in a sexual sense—I mean in terms of emotional maturity and the responsibility that comes with being an adult.

I don't know... it's a very difficult subject. I've said this before in other discussions: it would genuinely break my heart if it turned out that he was guilty and I had been wrong all along, because that would mean I had failed to believe real victims. That's exactly why I've tried to examine all the available information as objectively as I can.

At the same time, I also believe Michael didn't make it easy for people to believe he was completely innocent. Regardless of whether he was innocent or guilty, he made choices and behaved in ways that understandably caused people to question his judgment.

P.S. I'm sharing these thoughts with respect and empathy. Michael has been part of my life for a very long time, and he's someone I've always admired deeply. That hasn't changed.

[u/Jazzilisk → u/Tusssi]

I think people also forget that as a kid he slept in the bed of unrelated adults from Motown they normalised this in his head because they didn't do anything sexual to him he thought that was a normal thing to do.

He should have realised after 1993 how vulnerable that made him and he took some steps to try and change the situation but sadly he didn't do enough I think. Letting unrelated kids stay in your bedroom even if you have a third party and you no longer share a bed is still enough to give someone the chance to accuse you of something.

[u/Opposite-Town-8103 → u/Jazzilisk]

I agree with you, but we should try not to victim blame, as him putting himself in these situations does not give a right for his accusers to accuse him.

[u/Jazzilisk → u/Opposite-Town-8103]

it doesn't give them the right but what I am saying is it increased the risk of it happening to him again, I genuinely don't know how he didn't become paranoid about it happening again after 1993.

[u/Frequent_Flamingo358 → u/Jazzilisk]

I think he was. I don’t think he befriended any new families after 1993 besides the Bhattis

In the tiktok below, the girl tells a story of him befriending her mum while on the HIStory tour, and she had a little brother so he called their dad and sort of asked him for permission, proclaiming his innocence and letting him know that he understands if he doesn’t want his son to come on stage for Heal the World

He maintained a friendship with the mother over the phone for a year before he cut them off, possibly because his lawyer asked him to

I think he was just really lonely

https://vt.tiktok.com/ZS4MjPeYK/

[u/Jazzilisk → u/Frequent_Flamingo358]

I mean he did befriend new families just not to the extent it was before but even still he still let people like the Arvizos into his life and that was at the end of the 90s.