Mark Ronson has admitted that child abuse allegations against Michael Jackson forced him to ‘re-examine’ his own teenage meeting with the King of Pop in 1988.
The music producer, now 50, has recalled in his new book attending, at the age of 13, a party at the singer’s hotel room, but insisted while nothing ‘untoward’ happened, he has gone over the events in his head ‘hundreds of times’.
Jackson’s career was clouded by rumours of pedophilia from the 1990s onward, but after the allegations were taken to court, he was acquitted in 2005. He died in 2009 at the age of 50 of a cardiac arrest he suffered after having Propofol administered as a sleep aid.
He wrote how was introduced to the Thriller hitmaker by pal Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Yono, before attending his Bad concert and hotel afterparty.
Ronson said even at the tender age of 13 he was already ‘obsessed’ with working in the music industry and naively planned on using the meeting to impress Jackson, however the singer was more interested in larking about.
Recalling the bizarre meeting he said: ‘[Michael] was just obsessed with throwing these soggies out the window, like taking big mounds of toilet paper and making them damp and then throwing them at parked cars. It’s so crazy to say it out loud.
Mark Ronson has admitted that child abuse allegations against Michael Jackson forced him to ‘re-examine’ his own bizarre teenage meeting with the King of Pop in 1988
The music producer recalled attending, at the age of 13, a party at the singer’s hotel room, but insisted while nothing happened, he has gone over the events in his head (pictured 2009)
Ronson wrote how was introduced by pal Sean Lennon, son of John Lennon and Yoko Yono, before attending his Bad concert and hotel afterparty (Teenage Ronson pictured)
As reported by The Sun, he continued: ‘Obviously with allegations that came later, of course it made me re-examine that event too many times. I wouldn’t say it’s a highlight of my childhood, but it was certainly one of the most memorable experiences.
‘And of course I put it back through that lens a hundred times. I was like, for whatever reason, there was nothing weird or untoward on that night.’
It comes after a who accused Jackson of sexually abusing him when he was ten years old has spoken about processing the ‘pain’ of the alleged events after he had his own children.
James Safechuck – who along with Wade Robson starred in the bombshell documentary Leaving Neverland in 2019 – where they detailed shocking allegations against the singer when they were young boys is set to appear in a sequel series.
And the father-of-three, now 47, recounted grappling with a ‘breakdown’ after his wife first gave birth in 2010.
‘Michael made you feel like you did it, that it was all your idea,’ he told The Times. ‘Then you look at your own kid and for the first time you really realise, what? That just makes no sense.’
James told the outlet that the famous musician was 30 – 20 years his senior – when he conducted ‘one giant seduction’ over James and ‘his entire family’.
He was then ‘really into jewellery’, and alleged Jackson would ‘reward’ the young boy with pieces in return for ‘sexual acts’.
Ronson said even at the tender age of 13 he was already ‘obsessed’ with working in the music industry and naively planned on using the meeting to impress Jackson (Ronson pictured 16)
He said: ‘And of course I put it back through that lens a hundred times. I was like, for whatever reason, there was nothing weird or untoward on that night’ (Jackson pictured 1985)
It comes after a who accused Jackson of sexually abusing him when he was ten years old has spoken about processing the ‘pain’ of the alleged events after he had his own children – James Safechuck and Michael (pictured 1988)
‘It would happen every day. It sounds sick, but it was like when you are first dating someone – you do a lot of it,’ he said.
Decades later, James admits his ‘understanding of the abuse and what has happened has matured’.
‘Over the years I have a better understanding of just the horribleness of what he did, how brutal it was, and some anger has developed,’ he added.
In recent years, Jackson’s legacy has fallen under renewed scrutiny because of the molestation claims. Now, a follow-up documentary called Leaving Neverland 2: Surviving Michael Jackson which premiered earlier this year.
James also told The Times about his eventual fallout with Jackson, after their ‘relationship’ ended.
He claims Jackson ‘replaced’ him with ‘younger boys’ but still kept in touch via career advice in film-making and music. He also allegedly bought him a car on his 16th birthday.
It is elsewhere reported that after the Safechucks testified for the defense in Jackson’s child molestation trial brought by Jordan Chandler (James would have been in his early teens), Jackson bought them a four-bedroom, three-bathroom house.
James (pictured) has told about his eventual fallout with Jackson, after their ‘relationship’ ended
James’ case was dismissed in 2017 – but three years later, revived, thanks to a change in law when came to the statute of limitations for those who allege childhood sexual abuse
However, James claimed that by the time a second trial by Gavin Arvizo came around in 2000 – he had distanced himself from Jackson, who he claims ‘threatened to expose him for perjury in the 1993 case’.
‘I think a part of me died. You are dead inside. You go numb — you don’t learn how to process events, good or bad,’ he reflected.
‘The self-hatred was really intense, but you don’t know why you hate yourself. I know now that it’s because instead of hating Michael, I hated myself.’
His twenties were marred by drug use – but he was forced to ‘clean up’ after getting a job in the tech industry.
However, ‘the floodgates were opened’ in 2013, after Wade Robson, 42, made public allegations against Jackson.
Both men say the alleged abuse – which continued for seven years in Wade’s case and four in James’s – left them mentally traumatised.
Wade, who was five when he met Jackson and who then featured in three of the pop star’s music videos, says he was seven when his own alleged abuse began.
