Barbra Streisand's Awful Take on Michael Jackson's Alleged Crimes

Streisand offers compassion for Jackson's alleged victims, but also says the children were "thrilled to be there."

Neal Broverman

Neal Broverman is the Editorial Director, Print of Pride Media, publishers of The Advocate, Out, Out Traveler, and Plus, spending more than 20 years in journalism. He indulges his interest in transportation and urban planning with regular contributions to Los Angeles magazine, and his work has also appeared in the Los Angeles Times and USA Today. He lives in the City of Angels with his husband, children, and their chiweenie.

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Neal Broverman

March 23 2019 12:14 PM EST

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March 24 2019 8:32 AM EST

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EGOT-winning icon Barbra Streisand was asked by The Times of London about the Leaving Neverland documentary and her response was bewildering to many.

Streisand said she believed that James Safechuck and Wade Robson were repeatedly molested as children by Jackson, as the men claim in the doc. But Streisand also holds compassion for Jackson, who she knew casually.

"His sexual needs were his sexual needs, coming from whatever childhood he has or whatever DNA he has," she told the Times. "You can say 'molested,' but those children, as you heard them say [the grown-up Robson and Safechuk], they were thrilled to be there. They both married and they both have children, so it didn't kill them."

Streisand said Leaving Neverland elicited complicated feelings from her.

"I feel bad for the children. I feel bad for him. I blame, I guess, the parents, who would allow their children to sleep with him. Why would Michael need these little children dressed like him and in the shows and the dancing and the hats?"

UPDATE: Streisand "profoundly" apologized for her comments with a tweet on Saturday, saying in a statement to The Washington Post that "to be crystal clear, there is no situation or circumstance where it is OK for the innocence of children to be taken advantage of by anyone. The stories these two young men shared were painful to hear, and I feel nothing but sympathy for them. The single most important role of being a parent is to protect their children. It's clear that the parents of the two young men were also victimized and seduced by fame and fantasy."