Coincidentally, I bumped into the above quote in another thread where the issue of "guilty until proven otherwise" was brought up too. One of the posts describes a case of another sexual predator who got away with multiple cases of rape - and the public even protected him! It seems to be happening in MJ's case too and I get the impression his fans almost take it personally. As if accepting the evidence of his guilt said something about them. And they would never ever support a pedopile!
Yes, both victims claimed there had been no abuse before. But they are victims. Ever heard an alcoholic who claims they don't have a drinking problem? Or even more fitting, an abused wife who claims the husband who beats her black and blue truly does love her - because he says so? It often takes years before she realises that this isn't love. That she is a victim.
People aren't exactly good at understanding or seeing through their own or other people's intentions. And it is his intentions that Jackson lied about. Similarly to abusive husbands who tell their victims they do it because they love them, Jackson told his victims that the abuse was how they showed their love for each other (paraphrased from Leaving Neverland). And like a battered wife, Safechuck and Robson finally admitted they are victims. They can now start healing.
I think it is interesting that Louis Theroux who made a documentary about Jimmy Saville in 2000 has come out and said the same things, Ant, about Michael Jackson apologists, OSIT: Louis Theroux on his infamous Jimmy Savile documentary
[ ...] [H]e added the documentary was an unwitting 'education in grooming' after the sex offender 'brazenly' referred to the allegations while still pulling the wool over the nation's eyes.
Mr Theroux also said it was his experiences with Savile that led him to confront Michael Jackson apologists earlier this year following the accusations of sexual abuse against the singer in documentary Leaving Neverland. [...]
'[At the time] there wasn't enough to go on to make it [Savile's child abuse] a relevant topic of inquiry.'
In the programme, Savile even told Mr Theroux he made up rumours that he 'hated children' to 'put salacious tabloid people off the hunt', adding that it 'worked a dream'. [...]
Regarding the criticism of Jackson apologists, he added 'In a strange sense I suppose I felt I had a little bit of a responsibility, having had - without seeking it out - an education in how grooming works and how abuse often takes place.
'One of the most upsetting things for me is when you go through Twitter and you see the abuse directed at Dan Reed - the director of Leaving Neverland - and the strange obtuseness of how many people - I assume through ignorance and in a sort of way self-grooming - their inability to see that the process of recognising yourself as a victim takes time.'
Mr Theroux added: 'People say, "You're inconsistent" or "Wade Robson wanted to film a Michael Jackson tribute show two years before he came out and said he'd been abused - that doesn't make any sense".
'If you actually understood how mixed up we are as people and how our circuits get scrambled, that makes complete sense.