By Aaron Miller-
Michael Jackson’s extraordinary legacy is once again colliding with one of the darkest allegations made against him, as James Safechuck prepares to face questioning under oath in a long-running civil case that could force a renewed examination of claims surrounding the late King of Pop.
On Monday, September 14, 2026, Safechuck, now 48, is scheduled to give a deposition in California as proceedings involving companies connected to Jackson move into another significant phase. His mother, Stephanie Safechuck, is due to be questioned separately on October 15 and October 20, according to court documents reported in connection with the case.
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The development comes barely two weeks after millions of fans around the world marked what would have been Jackson’s 68th birthday on August 29. His eldest son, Prince Jackson, made a rare public appearance in Las Vegas that day, joining fans at the Cirque du Soleil production Michael Jackson ONE and leading a crowd in a birthday tribute to his father. The celebration was a reminder of the extraordinary hold Jackson’s music and image continue to exert nearly two decades after his death.
Yet behind the celebrations, the arguments over Jackson’s private life remain unresolved.
Safechuck and fellow accuser Wade Robson allege that Jackson sexually abused them when they were children. Their allegations became globally known after the 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland, in which the two men described their relationships with Jackson and alleged that what initially appeared to be extraordinary friendship and affection developed into years of sexual abuse.
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Safechuck has said the alleged abuse began when he was around 10 years old, after he met Jackson through a Pepsi commercial, and continued during their association with Neverland Ranch and other locations.
Safechuck has described Jackson as gaining the trust of both him and his family, making him feel specially chosen and using his extraordinary fame and wealth to create a relationship in which the young boy became increasingly dependent upon him.
In accounts presented in Leaving Neverland and earlier legal proceedings, Safechuck alleged that Jackson told him the sexual behaviour was an expression of love and that he should keep it secret. He also described encounters at Neverland and alleged sexual activity in private areas of the estate.
His mother has offered another important perspective. Stephanie Safechuck appeared in Leaving Neverland and recalled how Jackson became close to the family after meeting her young son through the commercial shoot. She described being swept up by the glamour surrounding the singer and recalled allowing her son to spend significant time with Jackson.
Her forthcoming deposition could therefore become important to questions surrounding what she knew, what she observed and how the family’s relationship with the singer developed. The legal battle, however, is more complicated than a straightforward lawsuit against Michael Jackson.
Jackson died in 2009 and cannot personally defend himself in court. The present civil proceedings concern MJJ Productions and MJJ Ventures, companies associated with the singer. Safechuck and Robson allege that those corporations had responsibilities toward them and should have protected them from the alleged abuse. The companies have denied that the alleged abuse occurred and have disputed their legal responsibility.
That distinction matters because previous courts have not ruled that Safechuck’s allegations were proven. Indeed, the litigation has repeatedly turned on procedural and legal questions rather than a definitive judicial finding about whether Jackson sexually abused Safechuck.
The men’s lawsuits were initially dismissed, but California’s change to its statute of limitations allowed the cases to move forward. In January 2020, an appellate court ruled that the amended law applied to the pending cases and reversed earlier dismissals based on the old time limit.
The legal picture became even more significant in August 2023, when California’s Second District Court of Appeal reversed judgments favouring Jackson’s companies and concluded that a corporation could have an affirmative duty to protect children from sexual abuse allegedly committed by one of its employees, even when that employee was also the corporation’s sole owner. The court expressly noted that the truth of the underlying allegations was not the issue in the earlier appeal.
The California Supreme Court subsequently declined to review that appellate decision, leaving the case to continue in the lower court. Now, years after the allegations first became the subject of lawsuits, Safechuck is being required to answer questions under oath again.That could make Monday’s deposition particularly consequential.
A deposition is not a trial and does not determine whether the allegations are true. It is part of the discovery process in which lawyers can question a witness in detail about his claims, recollections, previous statements, documents and other evidence. Any differences between testimony given at different times can become significant as litigation progresses.
For Safechuck, that means confronting questions about events alleged to have occurred decades ago, as well as statements and accounts he has already given publicly and legally.
The scrutiny is likely to be intense because his allegations have been and a civil settlement was eventually reached, although Jackson maintained his innocence. The controversy returned with enormous force a decade later when Jackson challenged by Jackson’s representatives and supporters from the beginning.
Jackson consistently denied allegations of child sexual abuse during his lifetime. His family has also fiercely rejected Safechuck’s account and the portrayal of Jackson in Leaving Neverland, accusing the documentary of presenting a one-sided case and questioning the credibility and motivations of the accus The legal record surrounding Jackson is also unusually complicated.
In 1993, Jackson faced allegations involving a teenage boy and a civil settlement was eventually reached, although Jackson maintained his innocence. The controversy returned with enormous force a decade later when Jackson was criminally charged in connection with allegations involving another boy at Neverland Ranch. In 2005, after a highly publicised trial, a California jury acquitted Jackson of all charges, including child molestation, attempted molestation, conspiracy and allegations involving alcohol.
Safechuck’s story is separate from the 2005 criminal case, and that distinction is essential.
He has alleged that Jackson abused him during his childhood, but those allegations were never tested in a criminal trial against Jackson. Safechuck has also said that he initially defended Jackson during the earlier period of scrutiny and later came to understand his childhood experiences differently. NPR noted that Safechuck provided a statement supporting Jackson during the 1993 investigation but did not testify at Jackson’s 2005 criminal trial.
That history is likely to make the forthcoming questioning particularly significant.
The lawyers involved will have an opportunity to examine not only what Safechuck now alleges, but also why his account changed, what he said about Jackson when he was younger, what his family understood at the time and how his recollections developed over the years.
For Jackson’s supporters, those questions have long been central to their rejection of the allegations. For Safechuck and his lawyers, the argument has been that childhood abuse can involve manipulation, fear, loyalty and psychological confusion that can make disclosure extraordinarily difficult. That debate has never been settled by a jury.And that is what makes the current proceedings so important.
As the world continues to celebrate Jackson’s musical genius, his influence remains immense. His songs continue to dominate popular culture, his performances remain a reference point for generations of artists, and the recent celebrations surrounding what would have been his 68th birthday demonstrated that his public legacy remains remarkably powerful
At the same time, the legal proceedings ensure that the darker allegations surrounding his life cannot simply be consigned to history. Monday’s deposition will not produce a verdict. It will not establish that Jackson committed the alleged acts, nor will it erase the 2005 acquittal or the denials made throughout his lifetime.
What it can do is bring the competing accounts back under the unforgiving scrutiny of the legal process. For Safechuck, that means answering questions about memories that he says have shaped his life for decades.
For Jackson’s companies and estate representatives, it offers another opportunity to challenge allegations they have consistently rejected. And for the public, it represents another chapter in one of the most enduring and divisive debates surrounding the man who was once regarded as the world’s biggest entertainer. Michael Jackson’s music may still fill arenas and birthday celebrations, but the questions surrounding his private life have never disappeared.
Now, as James Safechuck prepares to speak under oath, one of those questions is returning to the courtroom — nearly 30 years after the alleged abuse is said to have begun, 17 years after Jackson’s death and only weeks after the world once again gathered to celebrate the life of the man who called himself, and was called by millions, the King of Pop.
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