Janet Jackson’s family ‘wants her to speak out against Leaving Neverland’ and support brother Michael

Michael Jackson’s family have been fighting people left, right and centre over the child sex abuse claims against him.

And now they’re at war with each other, too.

The Sun reports that relatives of the late pop star are angry at Janet Jackson for refusing to speak out in defence of her brother following the fresh accusations in two-part documentary Leaving Neverland.

The superstar singer has shied away from commenting in the past in a bid to keep her career separate.

But as his most high-profile relative, she has faced growing pressure from her family to issue a statement of support.
 

A source close to the family said: “In the past week there have been discussions among the Jacksons about the documentary and how it will affect Michael’s legacy. Everyone wanted Janet to release a statement condemning the documentary because she is the most senior member of the family after Michael.

“They feel she could have done more to support him against the allegations.

“Several relatives have made their feelings clear to her in the past few days and tried to put pressure on her to say MJ was innocent.

“But Janet’s career has always been separate from her family’s and she’d like to keep it that way. The family feel like her silence speaks volumes but she just does not want to go there.

“Ultimately, she doesn’t know what went on and doesn’t feel like it’s her place to say anything.”

Janet, who had a string of top ten hits in the eighties and nineties, has her 15-date Las Vegas residency to focus on ahead of its launch in May.

Meanwhile, Drake cut his posthumous 2018 Michael Jackson collaboration Don’t Matter To Me from his live show on Sunday night when his Assassination Vacationtour hit Manchester.

He also dropped a cover of Jacko’s Rock With You, which he performed as recently as November, following the claims made by Wade Robson and James Safechuck in the documentary.

Time will tell whether Janet follows suit with their 1995 collaboration Scream.

This article originally appeared in The Sun and is republished here with permission