[ad_1]
WELLINGTON, New Zealand – While the release of a new documentary detailing the accusations of abuse against singer Michael Jackson sparked a debate over his legacy, public reaction to his content is also prompting the stations to radio from around the world to stop playing music.
A radio network in Quebec has pulled Jackson's music from nearly two dozen stations, according to the Canadian Press. In Great Britain, Variety reported that the BBC was forced to deny the imposition of such a ban after learning that the singer's music had been "quietly removed" from one of its stations.
And the reaction has led to an almost complete withdrawal of the singer's music from New Zealand, after the two largest radio stations – which own most of the country's commercial stations – announced on Wednesday that they would not play plus Jackson's songs.
In New Zealand and Canadian affairs, radio stations have reported a change in public opinion about Jackson, linked to the documentary "Leaving Neverland," a two-part mini-series about two men's charges. who said that Jackson had mistreated them in childhood. as the reason for the ban. The show is scheduled to air Sunday and Monday in New Zealand.
Leon Wratt, director of content for MediaWorks, a New Zealand radio company, said the audience had indicated he did not want to hear Jackson's music anymore.
"We are not deciding whether Michael Jackson is guilty of pedophilia or not," he said. in an interview on one of the MediaWorks stations, Magic. "We're just trying to make sure our radio stations are going to play the music that people want to hear."
Mr. Wratt added that the charges against Jackson had been public for years – the singer had been acquitted of all charges of child abuse after a trial in 2005. But viewers were shocked by the new documentary. And his subjects, Wade Robson and James Safechuck, who detail troubling accusations of their childhood against Jackson, were applauded and abused.
Dean Buchanan, a spokesman for NZME, the other New Zealand radio network responsible for pulling Jackson's music, e-mailed that the singer's work was not being broadcast "at the moment" on stations of the chain.
The country's national public broadcaster, Radio New Zealand – which is primarily a news channel – also said Jackson's music was not in his air play, although his spokesman, John Barr, said it was not did not result from a particular editorial decision.
A Canadian media company, Cogeco, which told The Canadian Press to have banned Jackson's music on its 23 stations in Quebec – including three major Montreal stations – cited the public's response to "Leaving Neverland" as the reason.
Neither NZME nor MediaWorks responded to questions about the duration of the ban, its start date or whether the networks were planning to extract songs from other accused musicians. reprehensible, such as R. Kelly, accused of, and denies, decades of serial misconduct.
MediaWorks spokesman Wratt said Jackson's music would still be available on streaming and record stores for anyone who wants to.
"The difference with radio, of course, is that if you play it, you do not have a choice," he said.
This is not the first time that radio stations and streaming services have questioned the question of whether to remove music from artists accused of misconduct: Spotify instituted last May a policy of ceasing to promote or recommend the music of R. Kelly because of canceled politics a month later after the outcry of some of the music industry.
Jackson's estate in February canceled Chicago's release of a new jukebox-based musical about the singer three weeks after Sundance's premiere in "Leaving Neverland" and two weeks before its broadcast on HBO. Producers of the musical, "Do not stop until you've had enough", talked about the scheduling difficulties caused by a labor dispute.
The estate claims $ 100 million in damages to HBO for the documentary "Leaving Neverland," which lawyer Howard Weitzman called "shame."
[ad_2]
Source link