Why radio stations across world have stopped playing Michael Jackson numbers

London, March 8: Ever since information about the controversial HBO documentary 'Leaving Neverland' has been leaking in public, the legacy of one of the biggest musical icons of the world, Michael Jackson, has landed in trouble.

The documentary has painted the late pop star as a child abuser, a charge which has come up earlier as well, and as a result, radio stations around the world have stopped playing his numbers.

According to a report in Lad Bible, three Canadian stations have already stopped playing songs like 'Beat It', 'Wanna Be Starting Something', 'Thriller' and 'Billie Jean' among others. The country's telecommunication and media company Cogeco has said the decision was taken based on the listener's requests.

In New Zealand, too, a similar pattern was visible with stations owned by MediaWorks and New Zealand Media Environment banning playing of tracks of Jackson.

"We aren't deciding whether Michael Jackson is guilty of paedophilia, we're just making sure our radio stations are going to play the music people want to hear," MediaWorks Group content director Leon Wratt was quoted as saying by Lad Bible.

As per 'Leaving Neverland', one of the shocking claims was that Jackson, who passed away in 2009, married one of the boys who had accused him of abuse. American James Safechuck claimed that he was only 10 years of age when the King of Pop, 30 then, married him in a ceremony held at the latter's bedroom in 1988 and also said that he has jewellery to prove it.

Safechuck said: "I was really into jewellery at that time and he would reward me with jewellery for doing sexual acts to him."

Safechuck, a computer programmer and a father of two now, said it wasn't long into their relationship when the popstar took things even further.

Safechuck met Jackson in 1987 on the sets of a Pepsi commercial and according to the former, he was being abused by the icon a few months later though conceding that he still felt some guilt.

Australian-born choreographer Wade Robson is another man who accused Jackson of sexually abusing him when he was a child. Both Safechuck and Robson had sued the Jackson estate over the alleged abuse after the artiste's death.