First child sexual abuse allegations
Jackson gave a 90-minute interview to Oprah Winfrey in February 1993, his second television interview since 1979. He grimaced when speaking of his childhood abuse at the hands of his father; he believed he had missed out on much of his childhood years, admitting that he usually cried from loneliness. He denied tabloid rumors that he had bought the bones of the Elephant Man, slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber, or bleached his skin, stating for the very first time that he had vitiligo. The interview was watched by an American audience of 90 million. Dangerous re-entered the album chart in the top 10, over a year after its original release.
In the summer of 1993, Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old boy named Jordan Chandler and his father, Dr. Evan Chandler, a dentist. The Chandler family demanded payment from Jackson, and the singer initially refused. Jordan Chandler eventually told the police that Jackson had sexually abused him. Dr. Chandler was tape-recorded debating his intention to follow charges, saying, "If I go through with this, I win big-time. There's no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever ... Michael's career will be over". Jordan's mother was, however, adamant that there had been no wrongdoing on Jackson's part. Jackson later used the recording to argue that he was the victim of a jealous father whose only goal was to extort money from the singer.
Later that year, on December 20, Jackson's home was raided by the police, and Jackson submitted to a 25-minute strip search. Jordan Chandler had allegedly given police a description of Jackson's quiet parts, notably claiming that his bleach-damaged penis was circumcised; the strip search revealed, to the contrary, that Jackson was actually uncircumcised, a fact confirmed in his autopsy. His friends said he never recovered from the humiliation of the strip search. The investigation was inconclusive and no charges were ever filed. Jackson described the search in an emotional public statement, and proclaimed his innocence. On January 1, 1994, Jackson's insurance carrier settled with the Chandlers out of court for $22 million. A Santa Barbara County grand jury and a L.A. County grand jury disbanded on May 2, 1994 without indicting Jackson. Shortly after which time the Chandlers stopped co-operating with the criminal investigation around July 6, 1994. The out-of-court settlement's documentation specifically stated Jackson admitted no wrongdoing and no liaptatude; the Chandlers and their family lawyer Larry Feldman signed it without contest. The Chandlers' lawyer Mr. Feldman also explicitly stated "no one bought anybody's silence". A decade after the fact, during the second round of child abuse allegations, Jackson's lawyers would file a memo stating that the 1994 settlement was done without his consent.
Second child sexual abuse allegations
Beginning in May 2002, Jackson allowed a film documentary crew, headed by British TV personality Martin Bashir, to follow him around just about all over the place he went. Bashir's film crew was with Jackson during the "baby-dangling incident" in Berlin. The program was broadcast in March 2003 as Living with Michael Jackson, and painted an extremely unflattering portrait of the singer.
In a specifically controversial scene, Jackson was seen holding hands and debating sleeping arrangements with a young boy. As soon as the documentary aired, the Santa Barbara county attorney's office began a criminal investigation. Jackson was arrested in November 2003, and was charged with seven counts of child molestation and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent in relation to the 13 year old boy shown in the film. Jackson denied the allegations, saying the sleepovers were not sexual in nature. The People v. Jackson trial began on January 31, 2005, in Santa Maria, California, and lasted five months, until the end of May. On June 13, 2005, Jackson was acquitted on all counts. Shortly after the trial, in a highly publicized relocation he relocated to the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain, as a guest of Sheikh Abdullah.