Michael Jackson family condemns new documentary on accusers

LOS ANGELES (AP) — Michael Jackson’s family members say they are “furious” that two men who accuse him of sexually abusing them as boys have received renewed attention because of a new documentary.

In a statement Monday, the family denounced “Leaving Neverland,” a documentary that premiered last week at the Sundance Film Festival and is set to be on HBO and the U.K.’s Channel 4 in the spring.

The family says the film and coverage surrounding it are a “public lynching” of a man who can no longer defend himself. Jackson died in 2009.

The men told authorities previously that Jackson hadn’t molested them then later filed lawsuits saying they had come to accept that they had been sexually abused.

The film’s director Dan Reed has said he has no doubts about the men’s truthfulness.