The Prince of the Church and the King of Pop are an odd couple — few would have expected George Pell and Michael Jackson to ever share screen space. Yet this week we are focused on both, for similar reasons.
In the case of Pell: the lifting of a suppression order on a December guilty verdict for child sexual assault charges, dating back to 1996. For Jackson: a devastating new documentary, Leaving Neverland, prompting a watershed MJ reckoning.
There are some striking parallels. Both stories centre around allegations from the ’90s involving two boys. The accused are both godlike figures — one a man of God and one a demi-god — who allegedly took advantage of those positions to perpetrate abuse (one documentary interviewee even described feeling “anointed” by the star).
Read more ‘The cardinal and the king’ at Crikey.
Rachel Rose Withers 