Michael Jackson

[dwest]

My favorite Michael Jackson works were "The English Pub," "The World Guide to Beer,"
and "The World Guide to Whisky" I didn't care for any of that music and dancing at all.

[jim stone]

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cC1TTz2bMmM

[Steamwalker]

I think MJ's personality and unusual habits simply made him a very easy target to allegations made against him. I am more than willing to give him the benefit of the doubt when there is a lack of any evidence. I don't think now is the time to be speculating whether he was a child molester or not because that's exactly what you are doing. Of all the accusations made against him, the fact that none stuck would seem to me to be significant. To the day he died, he never admitted to any wrong doing. I am sure people will look on him differently in death than life. Maybe he was guilty but I won't make that determination based off anything I've heard so far. Maybe his death will shed more light on the subject. RIP.

[fearfaoin]

I sure don't want to see a bunch of sappy crap on tv about him.

Then you'd better unplug it until September.

[s1m0n]

I think MJ's personality and unusual habits simply made him a very easy target to allegations made against him.

The first ten million dollar payoff shut down a criminal prosecution for rape, not a civil lawsuit. I have no idea how he escaped getting charged with obstruction of justice, other than the fact that there was substantial public opinion that the kid had suffered enough and that putting him through another trial after all was not in the public interest.

[jim stone]

wiki Michael Jackson.

Jackson was accused of child sexual abuse by a 13-year-old child named Jordan Chandler and his father Evan Chandler.[82] The friendship between Jackson and Evan Chandler broke down. Sometime afterwards, Evan Chandler was tape-recorded saying amongst other things, "If I go through with this, I win big-time. There's no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever...Michael's career will be over".[83] A year after they had met, under the influence of a controversial sedative, Jordan Chandler told his father that Jackson had touched his penis.[84] Evan Chandler and Jackson, represented by their legal teams, then engaged in unsuccessful negotiations to resolve the issue in a financial settlement; the negotiations were initiated by Chandler but Jackson did make several counter offers. Jordan Chandler then told a psychiatrist and later police that he and Jackson had engaged in acts of kissing, masturbation and oral sex, as well as giving a detailed description of what he alleged were the singer's genitals.[85]

An official investigation began, with Jordan Chandler's mother adamant that there was no wrongdoing on Jackson's part. Neverland Ranch was searched; multiple children and family members denied that he was a pedophile.[85] Jackson's image took a further turn for the worse when his older sister La Toya Jackson accused him of being a pedophile, a statement she later retracted.[86] Jackson agreed to a 25-minute strip search, conducted at his ranch. The search was required to see if a description provided by Jordan Chandler was accurate. Doctors concluded that there were some strong similarities, but it was not a definitive match.[86] Jackson made an emotional public statement on the events; he proclaimed his innocence, criticized what he perceived as biased media coverage and told of his strip search.[82]

Jackson began taking painkillers, Valium, Xanax and Ativan to deal with the stress of the allegations made against him. By the fall of 1993, Jackson was addicted to the drugs.[87] His health deteriorated to the extent that he canceled the remainder of the Dangerous World Tour and went into drug rehabilitation for a few months.[88] The stress of the allegations also caused Jackson to stop eating, losing a significant amount of weight.[89] With his health in decline, Jackson's friends and legal advisers took over his defense and finances; they called on him to settle the allegations out of court, believing that he could not endure a lengthy trial.[88][89]

Tabloid reaction to the allegations put Jackson in an unfavorable light.[90] Complaints about the coverage and media included everything from bias against Jackson, accepting stories of alleged criminal activity for money to accepting confidential leaked material from the police investigation in return for money paid.[91] On January 1, 1994, Jackson settled with the Chandler family and their legal team out of court, in a civil lawsuit for $22 million. After the settlement Jordan Chandler refused to continue with Police criminal proceedings. Jackson was never charged, and the state closed its criminal investigation, citing lack of evidence.[92]

[Steamwalker]

the kid had suffered enough and that putting him through another trial after all was not in the public interest.

And letting a child molester go free was? If someone had molested one of my kids, nothing between heaven and earth would prevent me from seeking justice. If the court didn't provide it, you're damn right I would. So, I pose this question to anyone here: If someone molested your kid, how many millions would it cost the molester for you to turn the other way? I suspect I know the answer to that one.

The out-of-court settlements here don't make me feel that MJ is more likely to be guilty, but quite the opposite. If this was a different type of case other than child molestation, that's wouldn't necessarily be the case. But who accuses a multi-millionaire of molesting their child and settles after a dollar amount is discussed? I don't think I need to answer that one.

I've known one or two people that turned out to be child molesters and you know what? When the evidence was there, I was among the first to want to string them up.

[jim stone]

The kid's father approached Jackson for money. Jackson settled because
he was going down the tubes healthwise. The father then refused to press charges
and the police dropped the case because there was insufficient evidence.
The evidence was doubtful, in fact, and the boy's mother insisted
there had been no wrongdoing. Wiki above.

A friend of mine was falsely accused of sexually molesting two students (at once!).
I spent a year persuading him not to commit suicide. If he could have settled
he would have, I reckon. The Tabloids tried to crucify him. At the trial
men came forward to testify that these women had threatened to
accuse them of sex crimes unless they were given money.

It would be hard to overestimate what it's like being targeted in this way.
It's possible there was hanky-panky but I sure wouldn't conclude
it from what we know.

[Denny]

guilty until proved innocent?

land of the fee, home of the paved

enough

[s1m0n]

the kid had suffered enough and that putting him through another trial after all was not in the public interest.

And letting a child molester go free was? If someone had molested one of my kids, nothing between heaven and earth would prevent me from seeking justice.

A great many rape victims of all ages find the trauma of a trial in which they have to testify too much to face. As a parent, your priority should be your kid, not demonstrating your own manliness for the world to see.

[dwest]

A goodly chunk of our modern society runs on the presumption of guilt.

[I.D.10-t]

I think I understand some thing I never had understood before.
I didn't know the meaning of a phrase.
~~~~~~~~~
Didn't like the man or music. Looking at what has been said here, the speculation, everything.
I see something different.

Only one person knew everything. He died.
~~~~~~~~~
Rest old man. It seems you never grew up and never had a chance to be a child. May you find peace now.

[dubhlinn]

Only one person knew everything. He died.
~~~~~~~~~
Rest old man. It seems you never grew up and never had a chance to be a child. May you find peace now.

Well said.

Slan,
D.

[izzarina]

It's all kind of surreal for me. He was one of the biggest icons of my generation. I had a poster of him on my wall in Junior High. It's hard to believe he's gone, and at such a young age.

[herbivore12]

I think this short article at NPR does a good job of putting the man and his death in context.

He was clearly an exhilarating performer and a pop icon, and tremendously talented. Also an increasingly miserable man, and one who probably couldn't or didn't control his worst impulses.

Jackson's performance of "Billie Jean" on Motown 25: Yesterday, Today, Forever, the 1983 television special, caught him precisely at the moment when he was at his most amazing, his most otherworldly in a good way, his most lithe and eye-popping and wonderfully alien. Still recognizably the kid who sang "The Love You Save," but recognizably something entirely new as well. It was six months after the release of Thriller.
...
Michael Jackson has occupied a unique space in American popular culture, which has deteriorated from the perfect, infectious pop the Jackson 5 made when he was a child, to the increasingly strange, seemingly miserable images of him that emerged in the last years of his life.
...
A lot of this stuff — all this regrettable, awful stuff with him over the last 20 years or so, and the continuing fascination with it, has roots in this moment.

"...wonderfully alien" captures the guy pretty well, I think. There's a link there to a video of that 1983 performance, and the audience does go nuts at that moonwalk.

I remember folks talking about this performance for days afterward. He definitely sparked a moment, and rode it for a while. But he doesn't really seem to have been made for this world. Resulted in him doing some ugly stuff, but also in some fascinating, thrilling work.