Madonna says Michael Jackson is 'innocent until proven guilty'

The pair went to the 1991 Oscars together

Madonna has spoken about the Michael Jackson sex abuse allegations, saying ”people are innocent until proven guilty”.

Earlier this year, two men, James Safechuck and Wade Robson, claimed Jackson molested them as children in the documentary Leaving Neverland.

The Jackson estate called the documentary a “public lynching” and are suing HBO – who co-produced the film with Channel 4 – for $100 million.

Madonna, who took Jackson as her date to the 1991 Oscars, told British Vogue that she has not watched the documentary.

“I don’t have a lynch-mob mentality, so in my mind, people are innocent until proven guilty,” she contined.

“I’ve had a thousand accusations hurled at me that are not true. So my attitude when people tell me things about people is, ‘Can you prove it?”’

Asked what would constitute proof of Jackson’s guilt, she replied: “I don’t know, I haven’t seen the film.

“But I guess it would be people recounting actual events – but then, of course, people sometimes lie.

“So I always say, ‘What’s the agenda? What do people want out of this? Are there people asking for money, is there some kind of extortion thing happening?’

“I would take all of those things into consideration.”

She said of the HBO and Channel 4 documentary: “I guess I’ll get around to seeing it. I haven’t seen it yet.”

Jackson’s brothers Tito, Marlon and Jackie, and his nephew Taj, have dismissed the allegations against the late singer.

Jackson, who died in 2009 aged 50, has been labelled a “master manipulator” who “groomed the world”.

In March, singer Barbra Streisand was criticised for saying the men who claim Jackson abused them were “thrilled to be there”.

She later posted an apology online, saying “I am profoundly sorry for any pain or misunderstanding I caused by not choosing my words more carefully about Michael Jackson and his victims.”

Additional reporting by agencies.