If you happen to bump into Macauley Culkin, learn from James Franco and maybe don’t ask him about his relationship with Michael Jackson, or the documentary Leaving Neverland, detailing the late singer’s accusations of sexual abuse.
Given Culkin and Jackson were friends when he was just a child, speculation surrounding the nature of their relationship has followed Culkin for years – and has even entered his conversations with fellow actors.
In a recent interview with Esquire, Culkin said, “here’s a good Michael Jackson story that doesn’t involve Michael Jackson at all.”
“I ran into James Franco on a plane. I’d bumped into him two or three times over the years. I give him a little nod as we’re putting our bags overhead.”
“Hey, how you doing? Good, how ya doing? And it was right after the Leaving Neverland documentary came out, and he goes, ‘So, that documentary!’ And that was all he said.”
“I was like, ‘Uh-huh.’ Silence. So then he goes, ‘So what do you think?’ And I turned to him and I go, ‘Do you wanna talk about your dead friend?’ And he sheepishly went, ‘No, I don’t.’ So I said, ‘Cool, man, it was nice to see you.’”
Eep.
The 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland was about Michael Jackson’s relationship with two boys, Wade Robson and James Safechuck. Now in their 30s, Robson and Safechuck tell the story of how they were sexually abused by the late singer.
According to Vanity Fair, Macauley Culkin served as a defense witness during Jackson’s 2005 trial and said he’d never been abused by the singer while staying at his Neverland Ranch. He also said the allegations against Jackson were “absolutely ridiculous,” and claimed his relationship with the singer was innocent.
“He enjoyed my youthfulness. He liked being a kid with me,” Culkin told Marc Maron in 2018.
Whatever your opinion is on Macauley Culkin’s relationship with Michael Jackson, he clearly isn’t keen on rehashing it, or the documentary about his late friend.