A British superfan who changed his name to Michael Jackson now wants to change it back in light of the riveting “Leaving Neverland” documentary.
John Lomas, 38, a factory worker from Malvern, Worcestershire, said he worries that prospective employers will tell him to beat it when they hear the King of Pop’s name, New York Post reported.
As reported by The Sauce recently, in the HBO documentary, two men claim the late superstar molested them when they were kids. Wade Robson, 36, said that the internationally acclaimed pop singer had sexually abused him from the age of seven and tried to rape him when he was 14. The other victim James Safechuck, 40, said Jackson had sexually abused him “from the age of 10 until around 14”. Meanwhile, Jackson’s family say there’s “not one piece of evidence” to prove the claims.
Lomas has set up a GoFundMe account to try to raise the roughly $160 to ditch Jackson’s name and go back to his own. As of yesterday afternoon, not a single person had pitched in.
“During my childhood I had various obsessions and special interests growing up and one of those has been Michael Jackson,” he said. “A few years ago I went to LA and soon after that I changed my name to Michael Jackson legally. I have supported him blindly for years and but it has come to a point with everything recently that I’ve thought, ‘No more’, he continued.
“There is too much doubt and I’m now left with this name that I need to get rid of,” he noted. “I’m trying to get into the care profession but every time I do a DBS check I have to disclose my full name and if I’m going for a job like that it looks really bad that I’ve chosen to change my name to that of an alleged and believed pedophile.”
Lomas, who was diagnosed with Asperger’s syndrome in 2011, estimated that he could have easily spent more than $1.3 million on Jackson souvenirs, trips, albums, and other memorabilia.
“I’ve deleted all his songs and got rid of all my MJ souvenirs and memorabilia. It all went straight in the bin almost immediately after I had watched the documentary. You do idolize these people and you just never really know what they are actually doing,” he said.
Before his obsession with Jackson, Lomas had a thing for The Beatles and legally changed his name to John Lennon in 1999.
