Michael Jackson fan groups are suing two of the late pop legend’s alleged abuse victims for “sullying his image” in the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland.
The fan clubs has taken the men to court in Orleans, Northern France.
The court said on Thursday a judgment would be delivered on 4 October.
The Michel Jackson Community, the MJ Street and On the Line groups accuse Wade Robson and James Safechuck of defaming Jackson in the documentary about alleged child abuse by the star, reports Reuters.
The fans’ lawyer, Emmanuel Ludot, likened the men’s allegations to a “genuine lynching” of Jackson, who died in 2009.
The fan groups, which are seeking symbolic damages of 1 euro (R15.85) each, are taking action in France because French defamation laws extend libel protection beyond death, whereas the British and US legal systems do not.
“In France you cannot sully the image of the dead,” Ludot said.
“There’s moral and emotional suffering. And when there’s suffering, there’s compensation. It’s very simple.”
Robson and Safechuck were not in court and did not instruct lawyers to represent them.
In Leaving Neverland, the two men say Jackson befriended and abused them from the ages of seven and 10 in the early 1990s.
Jackson was acquitted in 2005 on charges of molesting a different boy, and his family has denied the accusations made in the documentary.
Because of the doccie, some radio stations stopped playing the pop king’s music, and an episode of The Simpsons featuring his voice is being pulled from future broadcasts.
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