The only problem I have with it is that both boys, Wade (7) and Jimmy (10), now describe it as sexual abuse and say "the abuse started" or "every night he abused me."
Yeah, they were under the age of legal consent. But they were willing partners, in fact they both participated willingly, enthusiastically. They both said they loved Michael Jackson, until sometime after he died. "Abuse" doesn't seem like the right word.
He took advantage of them. He abused the trust their parents placed in him.
But it was not rape. Statutory rape yes, by statute, but not emotional rape. Deeply, deeply inappropriate. And justifiably illegal.
But "abuse" seems like the wrong word.
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