Rose McGowan backs Michael Jackson accusers and tells his fans: 'I'm sorry your hero was a bad man'

Author and activist Rose McGowan has come out in support of Michael Jackson’s accusers following the release of the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.

In an interview with Nihal Arthanayake on BBC's 5 Live Headliners, she addressed the late musician’s fans directly, saying:

I’m sorry your hero was a bad man, I’m really sorry your hero was bad. It doesn’t mean you can’t listen to or enjoy his music. You just have to understand that people are really complex, and this person had a particular complexity that hurt lots of others.

McGowan adds her voice to many who share her view on Jackson and believe the allegations of sexual abuse against the singer made principally by Wade Robson and James Safechuck. She added:

Why would anyone want to come out and expose themselves to so much hate if they weren’t trying to regain some control in their own life? Control that had been robbed and stolen.

The documentary has been available to American viewers for a week and is coming to the UK in two parts, to be aired tonight and tomorrow.

Earlier this week McGowan tweeted about Wade and Safechuck’s appearance on Oprah, calling them “brave” for sharing their stories:

The survivors are brave. .@Oprah is brave. The documentarians are brave. This is what brave is folks, standing against the grain, going against the norm, rocking the boat because sometimes it needs to be rocked. It is hard to hear truth, but that’s what growing pains are. #Brave

She went on to speak about the thorny and often difficult topic of how to go about dissecting the art from the artist, and if that is even possible. “I would be sitting in a room by myself if I only wanted good people to deliver me this entertainment. But it doesn’t make it OK, once we learn about it, for them to continue their careers necessarily!"

But for their past works, it is what it is. I don’t want to strip Michael Jackson lovers away from his music.

I will say you can look at people and they can have had done something bad. It’s like having a family member, that you’re like ‘I love them, but they did a really bad thing’ and we have to wrestle with that and have a conversation about that. It’s a nuanced conversation. It’s not black and white.

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