Madonna reserving judgment on Michael Jackson: “People are innocent until proven guilty”

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Ron Galella/WireImageWhen it comes to the King of Pop, the Queen of Pop isn’t rushing to judgment.

Following the HBO documentary Leaving Neverland, in which two men alleged that Michael Jackson abused them when they were children, some denounced the singer and his legacy.  But Madonna tells British Vogue that she’s not quite ready to do that.

Madonna, who went to the Oscars in 1991 with Michael as her date, tells the magazine that she hasn’t seen the documentary, but notes, “I don’t have a lynch-mob mentality, so in my mind, people are innocent until proven guilty. 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 sort of proof she’d require, Madonna 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?'” she continued. “I would take all of those things into consideration.”

Madonna says she figures she’ll eventually “get around to seeing” Leaving Neverland.

You can read the full interview with Madonna when the new issue of Vogue hits newsstands on Friday.

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