In a new wide-ranging Esquire interview, Mack Culkin is trying to leave everything in the past, even his more formal and famous name, Macaulay Culkin. To do so, Mack finds himself revisiting his childhood (or lack thereof). Being a child superstar was his bond with Michael Jackson, and Mack continues to assert that he never saw nor experienced any inappropriate behavior from his friend.
The Party Monster star told Esquire’s Ryan D’Agostino:
“Look, I’m gonna begin with the line—it’s not a line, it’s the truth: He never did anything to me. I never saw him do anything. And especially at this flash point in time, I’d have no reason to hold anything back. The guy has passed on. If anything—I’m not gonna say it would be stylish or anything like that, but right now is a good time to speak up. And if I had something to speak up about, I would totally do it. But no, I never saw anything; he never did anything.
Mack related a story about how often he gets asked about MJ. Even people dogged by their own #MeToo allegations can’t resist. Mack revealed about how James Franco ran into him on a plane shortly after the Leaving Neverland documentary came out:
He goes, ‘So, that documentary!’ And that was all he said. I was like, ‘Uh-huh.’ Silence. So then he goes, ‘So what do you think?’ And I turned to him and I go, ‘Do you wanna talk about your dead friend?’ And he sheepishly went, ‘No, I don’t.’ So I said, ‘Cool, man, it was nice to see you.’
Mack opens up about why he has largely walked away from acting, telling Esquire’s Brady Langmann about a recent failed audition for an unspecified role in Quentin Tarantino’s Once Upon a Time . . . in Hollywood.
It was a disaster. I wouldn’t have hired me. I’m terrible at auditioning anyway, and this was my first audition in like eight years.
Read the full interview now.
(Image: Esquire)
