Jackson’s “Special Friends” - boys who spent long periods with Jackson, alone with him, sleeping in his bed with him, spending hours on the phone with him, etc.
1. Terry George (1979-1981), ages 13-15. Said Jackson sexually harassed him via phone when George was 13.
2. Emmanuel Lewis (1983-1993), ages 12-22, but Lewis looked like a small child. He has always denied any abuse.
3. Jonathan Spence (1983-1989), ages 10-16. It is thought that a nude photo found in MJ’s home during a raid was of Spence. Spence defended MJ when he was a teenager. He did not testify on his behalf though, years later at the criminal trial.
4. Sean Lennon (1983-1990, ages 8-15. His friend said they watched *advertiser censored* at Jackson’s home, with Jackson present. He wrote a questionable song -“Bubbles Burst” - about MJ and said he felt something odd was going on there at Neverland Ranch, though he also said nothing “illegal” happened to him.
5. James Safechuck (1987-1992), ages 9-14. He claims he was molested but testified in his favor at his criminal trial.
6. Macaulay Culkin (1991-1994), ages 10-14. They slept in the same bed routinely but Culkin has always denied being molested.
7. Brett Barnes (1991-2001/2), ages 9-14. Testified he was never molested despite sleeping in the same bed over 400 times.
8. Jordan Chandler (1992-1993), age 13. Spent 70 nights in Jackson’s bed. Was paid 22 million to settle a suit against Jackson.
9. Wade Robson (1990-1996), ages 7-14. He claims he was molested but testified in his favor at his criminal trial.
10. Frank, Eddie and Dominic Cascio (1993-2004), ages 10 to adult. They’ve always defended MJ.
11. Anton Schleiter (1995-2006), ages 12-22. He was very close and knew MJ’s kids. He never accused him of anything and never defended him.
12. Kendall Cunningham and his brother (1996), age 10 and age unknown. They have never spoken about Jackson. Photos of the brothers posing in a provocative manner, bare chested and no lower half showing, were found in MJ’s home in a locked box.
13. Omer Bhatti (1996-2009), ages 11-24. After he met Jackson, he was raised by him and lived with Jackson until Jackson died. He has never really defended him. His instagram user name is @kidslife. “I don’t wish to say too much about it, but I will say Michael in many ways was very innocent. But you can’t expect everybody to have the same view on everything. […] To him certain things were natural and completely innocent, things that not necessarily all people would view the same way.”
14. Michael Jacobshagen (1998), age 14. Accused MJ of molesting him.
15. Aaron Carter (2001-2004), ages 13-16. Has made contradictory statements about MJ.
16. Gavin Arvizo (2000-2003), ages 10-13. Accused MJ of molesting him.
Michael Jackson’s young friends
I was wrong that he dropped them once they hit puberty. But his average age of onset of "special friendship" was 10.5 and he was closest to them from about 10-13.