Michael Jackson was a monster who threatened, brainwashed and sexually assaulted Australian choreographer Wade Robson when he was a child, Robson’s lawyer Henry Gradstein has claimed.
Robson was heavily criticised earlier this week when it was revealed he had filed a claim in a Los Angeles court against the dead singer’s estate related to “childhood sexual assault”.
Robson, 30, originally from Brisbane, was Jackson’s staunchest supporter and a key witness at the king of pop’s 2005 molestation trial in Santa Barbara County, rejecting under oath claims Jackson was a pedophile.
Jackson was found not guilty, but now Robson is accusing Jackson of sexually assaulting him over a seven year period when he was a child.
“Michael Jackson was a monster, and in their hearts every normal person knows it,” lawyer Henry Gradstein said in a statement.
Robson, who regularly stayed at Jackson’s Neverland Ranch and Las Vegas homes as a child, suffered from repressed memories of the assaults, Gradstein said.
“Last year, on a career trajectory that was off the charts, he collapsed under the stress and sexual trauma of what had happened to him for seven years as a child,” Gradstein said.
“He lived with the brainwashing by a sexual predator until the burden of it all crushed him.”
Gradstein alleged Jackson told Robson: “If anyone ever finds out about what we did, we will go to jail for the rest of our lives.”
A lawyer for Jackson’s estate, Howard Weitzman, has labelled Robson’s delayed allegations as “outrageous and pathetic”.
“This is a young man who has testified at least twice under oath over the past 20 years and said in numerous interviews that Michael Jackson never did anything inappropriate to him or with him,” Mr Weitzman said.
“Now, nearly four years after Michael has passed, this sad and less than credible claim has been made.”
Robson has built a career as one of the top dance choreographers in the US, with clients including Britney Spears, Justin Timberlake and Demi Lovato.
His court filing coincides with the wrongful death trial in LA launched by Jackson’s mother, Katherine Jackson and Michael Jackson’s children, against AEG, the promoter of Jackson’s proposed 50 concerts in London.
Jackson died of an accidental drug overdose in 2009.
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– AAP
