Babs Clarifies M-J Comments, Apologizes

Michael Jackson, Barbra Streisand

Barbra Streisand apologized on Saturday for saying that two men who accused Michael Jackson of sexually abusing them — as detailed in the documentary “Leaving Neverland” — were “thrilled” to be with him.

In an interview with The Times of London published on Friday, Streisand also showed sympathy for Jackson, saying, “His sexual needs were his sexual needs, coming from whatever childhood he has or whatever DNA he has.”

“You can say ‘molested,’ but those children, as you heard say, they were thrilled to be there,” she continued. “They both married and they both have children, so it didn’t kill them.”

She added that she believed the accounts of Wade Robson and James Safechuck, the men who claimed in the documentary that Mr. Jackson had abused them when they were children.

She said she felt sympathy for Jackson, and that he was “very sweet, very childlike” when she met him. She added that while she felt bad for the children, she also felt bad for Mr. Jackson and blamed the children’s parents.

“I blame, I guess, the parents, who would allow their children to sleep with him,” she said. “Why would Michael need these little children dressed like him and in the shoes and the dancing and the hats?”

Her comments drew widespread criticism on social media. Shortly after the interview was published, the hashtag #CancelBarbraStreisand began trending on Twitter. Social media users criticized Ms. Streisand’s comments as tone-deaf and said they were tantamount to telling sexual assault survivors to just get over it.

https://t.co/VYQLQullhd pic.twitter.com/10MluYcCWp

— Barbra Streisand (@BarbraStreisand) March 23, 2019

In a statement to The New York Times on Saturday, Ms. Streisand said she wanted to make it clear she did not side with Mr. Jackson but she reiterated her feelings about the children’s parents.

“The single most important role of being a parent is to protect their children,” she said. “It’s clear that the parents of the two young men were also victimized and seduced by fame and fantasy.”

“Leaving Neverland,” which HBO began showing in two parts this month, features Mr. Robson and Mr. Safechuck detailing how they met Mr. Jackson, how thrilled they were to work with him and how he ingratiated himself with their families to have access to them.