Michael Jackson's songs pulled from three Canadian radio stations after HBO's airing of Leaving Neverland

Three major Montreal radio stations have stopped playing Michael Jackson songs as a result of child-molestation allegations against the late musician that aired Sunday in an HBO documentary. A spokeswoman for the owner of the French-language stations CKOI and Rythme and the English-language The Beat says Jackson’s music was pulled starting Monday morning. [caption id=“attachment_5869451” align=“alignnone” width=“825”] Michael Jackson. Image from Twitter @BestofMichaelJ[/caption] Cogeco spokeswoman Christine Dicaire told Variety," We are attentive to the comments of our listeners, and the documentary released on Sunday evening created reactions. We prefer to observe the situation by removing the songs from our stations, for the time being." She added that the decision will also apply to Cogeco Media stations in smaller markets in Quebec. The company operates 23 radio stations. The documentary Leaving Neverland began airing on HBO Sunday. It premiered at the Sundance Film Festival to a standing ovation, explored the abuse allegations of  the two men who had previously denied Jackson molested them and supported him to authorities and in Robson’s case, very publicly. Jackson’s family and Jackson estate have repeatedly denounced the documentary through written statements, a lawsuit , and letters to HBO and Britain’s Channel 4, which plan to air the film. Their central criticism has been the film’s failure to talk to family members or other defenders of Jackson, whom they insist never molested a child. They said it spreads falsehoods about a man not alive to defend himself. (With inputs from agencies)