Michael Jackson has done it again – he’s dead and he’s still being sued. Ok, ok, settle down I know it’s his estate that is actually being sued and the memory of the man that is being rewritten but really, it amounts to the same thing: Jacko is being sued for something he’s already been found not-guilty of. This time around, though, it seems his lack of physical presence to defend himself puts a far more guilty spin on the situation.

The latest sexual assault complaint, filed in court last Friday, remains sealed, but two sources close to the case revealed that the man involved is James Safechuck, who appeared in a Pepsi ad featuring Jackson in 1987 and proceeded to have a close association with the singer for several years. Safechuck was mentioned as a potential abuse victim by employees of Jackson’s Neverland Ranch in court documents filed ahead of the star’s 2005 criminal trial, but he always denied that Jackson had molested him. Now, the sources said, Safechuck’s complaint claims that Jackson groomed him and molested him for several years beginning when he was 10 years old. 

It makes sense that it would be easier to speak out once the fear of being confronted by your abuser is no longer a threat. It does make you wander what we may not know about people we idolise until they are dead though.

[Source]The Daily Beast