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Home / Entertainment

Why you won't hear Michael Jackson on NZ radio

NZ Herald
5 Mar, 2019 10:00 PM2 mins to read

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Michael Jackson will no longer be played on NZ radio. Photo / Getty Images

Michael Jackson will no longer be played on NZ radio. Photo / Getty Images

Disgraced pop star Michael Jackson is not being played on New Zealand's major radio stations.

NZME, which owns ZM, The Hits, Flava and more - including the New Zealand Herald - says Jackson's songs are not on its playlists.

Dean Buchanan, group director of entertainment at NZME says: "NZME station playlists change from week to week and right now Michael Jackson does not feature on them".

Mediaworks' stations, which include The Breeze and More FM, will also not be playing the artist's songs.

This comes after the shocking documentary Leaving Neverland aired in the US, in which Wade Robson and James Safechuck outline the abuse allegedly inflicted upon them by Jackson when they were children.

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The revelations in the documentary series are said to be so upsetting, mental health professionals had to be on hand when the film premiered at Sundance Film Festival in January.

On Tuesday, the documentary's director Dan Reed spoke out in a no holds barred interview with the Telegraph.

He said: "We're going to have to re‑evaluate the way we see Michael Jackson...

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"People will have to listen to his music in the knowledge that he was a prolific child rapist.

"If they're comfortable doing that, fine. If they're not, well perhaps listen to something else for a while."

He later added: "He was raping those children night after night after night in the next room to their mothers. Spending days and nights in little boys' homes. It's the most appalling depravity covered up by this facade of angelic childlike purity – that lie was staring us all in the face for so many years."

Leaving Neverland is set to air in New Zealand on March 10 and 11 on TVNZ1.

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