Several Radio Stations Pull Michael Jackson's Music After Documentary Airs Detailing His Alleged Child Abuse
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PHILADELPHIA (CBS) -- The new documentary detailing abuse accusations against Michael Jackson has sparked a new debate about his legacy. Some radio stations have pressed pause and are pulling Jackson's music from their playlists.
Jackson sold 75 million albums in the United States. His music changed the industry and changed lives.
The alleged ways of the "Man in the Mirror" may have caught up with his legacy. Several New Zealand radio stations announced they will no longer play Jackson's music.
One station in the U.K., plus three Montreal-based stations, have also stopped their rotations, all in the wake of the new documentary "Leaving Neverland" and the new allegations of child sexual abuse it contains.
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Cogeco Media, the owner of the Canadian stations, provided this statement:
"We are attentive to the comments of our listeners, and the documentary released on Sunday evening created reactions. We prefer to observe the situation by removing the songs from our stations, for the time being."
When it comes to Jackson, we wanted to know will music lovers in our area be tuning out the king of pop.
"It's about the music. I mean, I wouldn't get into his personal life, but you can't deny his music," said Tyra Childs.
"It's a hard thing," said Kat G in South Philadelphia, "With the stuff going on in our culture and the #MeToo movement and R. Kelly, I'm not sure if I'd still play it or not."
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Where Eyewitness News found locals to be most split is the concept of separating the artist from their art.
"I think you can still appreciate their art. I think you gotta kinda separate their personal life from what they've done," Adam Grove said.
"If people keep putting the art before the artist and separating the artist from politics and their personal life, then that's not good," Laura Miller said.
Eyewitness News did reach out to iHeartMedia to see if any of its six radio stations in the area are considering removing Jackson's songs, but iHeart had no comment on "this topic."
Despite the differing opinions, everyone Eyewitness News spoke with said that the cultural significance of Jackson's music should not be belittled or forgotten.