diogenes wrote on 17. Jun 2019 at 14:50:
I think this is exactly what happened. I think it's a little unfair to ascribe a purely pecuniary motive to the two men now. I think it is more likely that they have absorbed the hegamonic abuse narrative with which our culture is saturated, and have come to reinterpret their experiences in the light of this narrative, so that what at the time may have been experienced in one way - as pleasurable, exciting, etc. - is regarded in a wholly different light now.
I would never want to imply "purely." However, I think it is fair to ascribe the "change in heart" they both experienced in some way to Jackson's death.
I contend that because those (very real) social pressures you describe accurately were being applied all through their lives, for both of them to do a 180 on their stories soon after his death implies his death more likely than not had something to do with the change.
Once we assume that, we need to ask what exactly did his death bring about? I would reject that "the magical hold MJ had on his victims finally went away" argument. So I'm left with a combination of "being dead, he no longer benefits from my continued loyalty" and "Jesus, that's a shit-load of money! For all the shit I'm still going through, I think I deserve at least a nice nest-egg from that huge pile."
Without proof, I'm kind of assuming that those two guys resisted the social pressure to redefine their experiences as abusive for so long, that they are more or less immune to its effects on their psyches by this point.