Kieran Culkin Chose To Stay Neutral While Talking About “Leaving Neverland”
After HBO dropped Leaving Neverland on us back in March, it seemed like everyone was quick to pick a side. Aaron Carter initially defended Michael Jackson. And on the other side, radio stations refused to play Michael Jackson’s music. Kieran Culkin is right in the middle.
Kieran spent a bit of time at the Neverland Ranch in the 1980s and 1990s, because his big brother Macaulay Culkin was very good friends with MJ (a sentence that’s never not weird to type). Kieran was recently asked about Leaving Neverland, and he’s got thoughts on the matter, but he isn’t really picking a side or saying too much about it.
Kieran was asked about the Leaving Neverland situation by The Guardian during an interview to promote the second season of Succession. Maybe Kieran didn’t want to piss off the people that pay his bills (HBO distributed Leaving Neverland) or maybe he didn’t want to piss off his brother (Macaulay has stated that Michael never did anything to him and that they were legitimate friends). Because Kieran played Switzerland and kept it diplomatic with his answer.
“The only thing I can say is that I can’t really say anything and the reason for that is I can’t be helpful to anyone. To me, it seems like there’s two sides to this thing and because I can’t be helpful on one side or the other, anything I say and anything that gets put out in print could only hurt somebody and there’s already a lot of really hurt feelings. There are already a lot of people who are in a difficult position and if I contribute in any way, it’s just going to hurt someone because I can’t actually help.”
Entertainment Weekly points out that Kieran definitely has his own sleepover memories from Michael’s house. In 2003, MJ told Martin Bashir:
“I have slept in the bed with many children. I sleep in the bed with all of them. When Macaulay Culkin [was little], Kieran Culkin would sleep on this side and Macaulay Culkin on this side, his sister is in there. We’re all just jammed in the bed.”
Kieran mentioned to The Guardian that he doesn’t have media training, which might explain how wishy-washy his answer was. But still, it’s far less of a mess than an answer about his relationship with Michael Jackson could have been.
“Michael Jackson? Sleepovers? Errr…how about instead, I remind you about my brother not wanting to share a bed with me because I might piss myself. We all have good, happy memories about Home Alone, right?”
Pic: Wenn.com