Movies

The Michael Jackson estate sued HBO for 'Leaving Neverland.' The film's director shared why people can no longer watch it.

In 2019, the documentary Leaving Neverland premiered on HBO. The documentary digs into the child sexual abuse allegations against Michael Jackson. While the film received overwhelmingly powerful reviews and an Emmy Award, it is no longer available to watch. The director, Dan Reed, shared why people can no longer find it.

‘Leaving Neverland’ is no longer available to view on HBO

Shortly after the premiere of Finding Neverland, sued HBO for violating a non-disparagement clause from 1992. 

“The Michael Jackson estate had a contract which Jackson had signed with HBO for a concert recording in Budapest in 1992,” Reed told The Hollywood Reporter. “The contract contained a non-disparagement clause.”

In 2024, HBO ultimately decided to remove the film from the platform. They will never make it available again. At this point, the film is not available anywhere.

“The estate argued that the non-disparagement clause, which says, ‘You can’t say anything nasty about Michael,’ applied forever to everything that HBO would ever do — which is patently ridiculous,” Reed said. “Somehow the estate managed to persuade HBO to come to an amicable settlement. And that involved, after six years on the platform, taking Leaving Neverland down.”

Reed said that when HBO’s license will expire, he will try to find a new home for Leaving Neverland.

“HBO has a license only until 2029,” he explained. “So after that, I can resell it and make it available again. The sequel went out on YouTube in the U.S., which is pretty unsatisfying.”