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Home / Entertainment

Chilling footage of Michael Jackson 'shopping for wedding ring' with Leaving Neverland accuser

news.com.au
13 Mar, 2019 01:15 AM3 mins to read

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Jimmy Safechuck claims he and MJ had a "wedding ceremony". Photo / Getty Images

Jimmy Safechuck claims he and MJ had a "wedding ceremony". Photo / Getty Images

Disturbing footage has emerged of Michael Jackson shopping for a 'wedding ring' with a young boy.

The archived news footage, shot in 1989 at a Californian store, shows the disgraced King of Pop and a young boy - believed to be James Safechuck, one of the men who accused Jackson of repeated child sex abuse in Leaving Neverland.

In the chilling CCTV video, Jackson can be seen wearing a disguise including a stick-on moustache and false teeth to shop for jewellery with the boy.

The 1989 news report stated that Jackson was shopping for a "ring" with Safechuck and suggested Jackson planned to propose to Sheryl Crow, who was his backup singer.

The bizarre outfit led security guards at the Simi Valley store to question Jackson, as seen in the archive news footage released again today.

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The footage has new meaning given the explosive documentary, Leaving Neverland, where Safechuck said he and Jackson staged a mock wedding.

"So we were like this married couple," Safechuck said in Leaving Neverland.

"I say married because we had this mock wedding ceremony. We did this in his bedroom and we filled out some vows like we would be bonded forever. It felt good. And the ring is nice. It has a row of diamonds. The wedding ring. It's hard to go back to that moment."

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Safechuck said Jackson used gifts as a way to manipulate him.

"You know, I like jewellery and I liked it as a kid so I think something that I liked was used against me. It causes discomfort," Safechuck said.

"It is still hard for me not to blame myself. We would go buy them at jewellery stores and we would pretend they were for someone else. Like for a female, but he would pretend like my small hand would fit for whatever female we were buying it for."

In it, Australian-born dancer Wade Robson, now aged 36, and American Safechuck, 41, both accused Jackson of abusing them at Neverland Ranch when they were children.

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"He helped me with my career. He helped me with my creativity, with all of these sorts of things," Robson said in Leaving Neverland. And he also sexually abused me. For seven years."

The Jackson estate has strongly denied the allegations and is suing HBO — the US TV network — for $US100 million.

After a 14-week trial, Jackson was cleared of child abuse charges in 2005.

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