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Allegations Statement

Date confirmed in “The Washington Post” (archived) (“yesterday [December 22, 1993]”)

Michael Jackson, statement transcript

I am doing well and I am strong. As you may already know, after my tour ended, I remained out of the country undergoing treatment for a dependency on pain medication. This medication was initially prescribed to ease the excruciating pain that I was suffering after reconstruction surgery on my scalp.

There have been many disgusting statements made recently concerning allegations of improper conduct on my part. These statements about me are totally false.

As I have maintained from the very beginning, I am hoping for a speedy end to the horrifying, horrifying experience to which I have been subjected. I shall not in this statement talk about the false allegations that have been made against me, since my lawyers have advised me that this is not the proper forum in which to do that. I will say that I am particularly upset at the handling of this matter by the incredible, terrible mass media. At every opportunity, the media has dissected and manipulated these allegations to reach their own conclusions. I ask all of you to wait to hear the truth before you label or condemn me. Don’t treat me like a criminal, ’cause I am innocent.

I have been forced to submit to a dehumanizing and humiliating examination by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police Department earlier this week. They served a search warrant on me, which allowed them to view and photograph my body including my penis, my buttocks, my lower torso, thighs, and any other area that they wanted. They were supposed to be looking for any discoloration, spotting, blemishes or any other evidence of a skin disorder called Vitiligo that I have previously spoken about.

The warrant also directed me to cooperate in any examination of my body by deposition to determine the condition of my skin including whether I had Vitiligo or any other skin disorder. The warrant further states that I had no right to refuse this examination or photographs, and if I failed to cooperate with them they would introduce that refusal at any trial as an indication of my guilt.

It was the most humiliating ordeal of my life, one that no person should ever have to suffer. Even after experiencing the indignity of this search, the parties involved were still not satisfied. They wanted to take even more pictures. It was a nightmare, a horrifying nightmare, but if this is what I have to endure to prove my innocence, my complete innocence, so be it.

Throughout my life I have only tried to help thousands upon thousands of children to live happy lives. I am not guilty of these allegations, but if I am guilty of anything it is of giving all that I have to give to help children all over the world; it is of loving children of all ages and races, it is of gaining sheer joy from seeing children with their innocent and smiling faces, it is of enjoying through them the childhood that I missed myself. If I am guilty of anything, it is of believing what God said about children: “Suffer little children to come unto me, and forbid them not for this is the Kingdom of heaven.” In no way do I think that I am God but I do try to be God-like in my heart.

I am totally innocent of any wrongdoing and I know these terrible allegations will all be proven false. Again, to my friends and fans, thank you very much for all of your support.

Together, we will see this through to the very end. I love you very much and may God bless you all. I love you. Good-bye.

“The Washington Post” (December 23, 1993) (archived)

In a four-minute television address carried live worldwide, embattled pop star Michael Jackson insisted yesterday that he is "totally innocent of any wrongdoing" in the four-month-old child molestation case that caused him to abruptly cancel his world tour and threatens his career.

Jackson, looking pale but clearly more coherent than in a recently videotaped deposition given in a music plagiarism case, seemed on the verge of tears as he described a court-ordered body search conducted by criminal investigators from the Santa Barbara County Sheriff's Department and the Los Angeles Police Department earlier this week.

"I am hoping for a speedy end to this horrifying, horrifying experience," Jackson said in a prepared statement read at his Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County. The entertainer's full message was carried by live satellite feed on CNN. ABC, NBC and CBS did not carry the statement provided by Jackson live but did make it available to their affiliates.