Picture a thirteen-year-old boy sitting across from a private investigator. Not a cop — a PI, hired by the most famous human being on the planet. The investigator looks at the boy and asks a direct question: has Michael Jackson ever touched you inappropriately? The boy says no. His name is Jordan Chandler, and within weeks, his father will tell the world that his son was molested by the King of Pop. Within months, Michael Jackson will pay approximately twenty-three million dollars to make the whole thing go away. And Jordan Chandler — the boy who said no in that room — will never speak publicly about any of it again. Not at the 2005 criminal trial when prosecutors begged for his testimony. Not after Leaving Neverland aired. Not when the Cascio family went public. Not ever. Whatever the truth is, it left that room with a thirteen-year-old kid and it never came back.
This is part two of our five-part series on the accusations against Michael Jackson. And this episode is about the case that started everything — the 1993 Chandler allegations. The extortion tapes. The twenty-three million dollars. The strip search. And the silence that’s lasted over three decades.
The relationship began the way all of them seemed to. Jackson met Jordan Chandler’s family through a car rental business — the boy’s stepfather offered Jackson a free rental if the singer would call his thirteen-year-old stepson, who was a fan. That call turned into visits. Visits turned into sleepovers at Neverland Ranch. Sleepovers turned into international travel — Las Vegas, Monaco, Paris. Jordan’s mother, June, encouraged the friendship. She went on CNN and explained the sleepovers as innocent: “They play so hard, they fall asleep, they’re exhausted. There’s nothing more to it than that.” Jordan’s father, Evan Chandler, initially encouraged it too. He was a dentist with screenwriting ambitions — he’d co-written Robin Hood: Men in Tights — and having Michael Jackson in his son’s life wasn’t exactly bad for networking.
Then the friendship started disrupting Evan’s custody schedule. Visits to Neverland overlapped with Evan’s time. The dynamic between Evan and his ex-wife June grew more hostile. And Evan began to focus on a question that would eventually detonate across every tabloid on earth: what exactly was going on between the most famous adult in the world and his thirteen-year-old son?
(Continued In Video 👆)
This publication contains commentary and opinion based on publicly available information. All individuals are presumed innocent until proven guilty in a court of law. Nothing published here should be taken as a statement of fact, health or legal advice.
The Podcast.
Listen on your fav Podcast App!
Pick Your Player Here!
