Jackson’s Tragedy
It’s 11:25 pm and the coverage of Michael Jackson‘s death on MSNBC is starting to drive me crazy. Tribute interviews with friends and colleagues, recaps, recollections, music videos, relentless references to the phenomenal record sales of Thriller, footage of the crowd outside the Apollo theatre, etc. And not a single word about why the poor man is dead at age 50.
I’m not talking about the diagnostic cause or an analysis about what amounts of which prescription drug (or drugs) may or may not have caused cardiac arrest. Nobody knows anything but we’ve all read today’s report and we all have our guesses and suspicions. We’ll be hearing the details soon enough.
What I’m wondering is why TV commentators won’t even obliquely allude to Jackson’s notoriously diseased lifestyle and behavior (particularly since the allegations of child molestation, which began in ’93, began to gradually collapse his career) and what I believe was surely a case of massive psychological anguish caused by his constant efforts to deny and obscure his sexual nature.
I’m asking because it seems fairly obvious to me that this anguish, deep down, is what killed Michael Jackson, and because the media are playing chickenshit games tonight in their efforts to avoid discussing this.
Jackson didn’t commit abrupt suicide but he almost certainly died from what he did to himself in increasing increments over the years. The reason he behaved and lived the way he did over the last 16 or so years and died the way he did today was due to the toxic effects of constant lying and denying about who and what he was. I believe in the end that his body and soul just couldn’t take it any more. The bullshit caught up with him.
The evidence has been clear for years that the man was a closeted pedophile, and that the elaborate games he played in order in order to conceal this aspect of his nature and misdirect the media and his millions of fans as much as possible led, I strongly suspect, to increasing spiritual stress and trauma. I’m obviously not pretending to know any of the particulars but Jackson, I believe, was surely driven mad by everything that he failed to deal with. Tell me I’m wrong.
Not wrong. His death was basically a suicide, brought on by self-indulgence, self-delusion, coddling, and narcissism. A cold thing to say so soon after his passing but the truth hurts.
In other news, Edgar Allen Poe has finally stopped rolling in his grave.
If only Bob Clark were alive today, I wonder what he’d think about this post?
He was born black and he died white.
That, my friends, is the American Dream.
The truth according to whom? I am sure his mother and sisters and brothers have a different truth, although the father is the obvious cause of Michael Jackson’s illness.
I don’t know if you are wrong. You are probably right. But those of us who don’t live out there, those of us who loved the memories his MUSIC brought us, well when I think of Michael Jackson, It isn’t this mess of a man that you all want the media to dissect right now. There will be weeks and weeks of that shit to come – all of what you speak of will certainly be discussed. I think it’s pretty cool and pretty decent that, you know, hours after his death that the media choose to honor his talent. I certainly remember them doing the same thing when Elvis died when I was 14. THAT was a love fest that never ended.
I don’t know. Maybe it’s the black thing I spoke of in the other post. For most black people, MJ will always be that guy who did it first, whether with his brothers back in the late 60′s and 70′s, or as a solo act in the decades to come. His legacy will never be the punch line or the joke he became, but the music he made with his brothers and by himself and the memories that music brought to us dancing at a house party or at a club or watching some event video on television. Let us have that just a little longer.
It will be discussed, Jeff, ad nausea, and those of us who appreciate these tributes now will be switching places with you all who want, well, I guess you want the investigative truth according to you. I won’t argue your points – I just want to remind you that for some of us, the loss today isn’t just about what a fucked up man Jackson became, but the loss of a man who, at his height, made his kind of entertainment an art.
He was born black and died white.
Fuck does that mean?
Obviously said by a cracker.
OK, you’re wrong, for two reasons.
First, restraining yourself from publicly speculating about Jackon’s faults is an indication of *civilized behavior*. It’s an acknowledgment that no matter what their flaws, all that human was, and all that human could ever be, is now gone from the earth forever. Not to mention there were people who legitimately cared about him as a person, and it might be respectful to give them, say, a day to get through the grieving process before you start shitting on the person they care about.
Secondly: oh, so you’ve got Michael Jackson all figured out, huh? Buying the Elephant Man? Why, that’s a manifestation of his pedophilia! Hanging with Liz Taylor and Emmanuel Lewis was just a cry for help! And what else but an identity crisis can explain all that moonwalking he did? He wanted to walk back to childhood, don’t you all get it?!?!?
Look – Michael Jackson was one of the most uniquely warped people in history. It’s beyond absurd to give this dime-store psychology to such a person, as if that would help “explain him”, and unflattering to be offering it up so quickly. You wouldn’t accept such a pat explanation for the actions of Charles Foster Kane – why, then, are you in such a hurry to do that to Michael Joesph Jackson?
I heard that Jeff Goldblum, Harrison Ford, and Tom Hanks had also died. Is this true???
But the fact that he was so fucked up is what makes his death so sad, so depressing. He could still be making music right now, a regular black man. Instead he died with this; his father, his peter pan tendencies, the pedophilia — holy lord was he corrupted, sick little soul. I really hope he’s in a better place.
I like how Rod seems to have only made his presence known over the last few weeks to discuss Denzel Washington and Michael Jackson.
My opinion was it was stress from all the creditors who tried to repossess his stuff, because he owed a lot of money.
As for his personal life, I’m sure the news outlets figure that late-night comedians will touch upon [no pun intended] that subject directly. They’re just here to present the Michael best remembered by the fans-sort of like how they white-washed Reagan’s illegal behavior when they honored him after he died. Though, spiritually, MJ should probably be considered the real
force behind the end of the Cold War. The guy’s music was better at bridging the cultural gaps between us and the rest of the world than Ronnie’s entire nuclear arsenal. It’s just a shame, that, like Frankie Lymon before him, Jacko will be more remembered for his decline, rather than his impact on mainstream music.
Anyway, http://www.thedigitalbits.com/rumormill.html#062509
http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2010/Daybreakers/trailer.php
http://www.themoviebox.net/movies/2009/0-9ABC/Amelia/trailer.php
Armond White liked “The Hurt Locker”, too.
I like how Chase is stalking my responses. Makes me feel all squishy inside.
I, for one, am quite conflicted about Michael’s death:
http://www.obsessedwithfilm.com/unfiltered-lens/dont-stop-til-you-get-enough-ray-reflects-on-michael-jackson.php
It’s not wrong to reflect on someone’s mistakes or misjudgements at the time of their death. That’s the way we reinforce our own mortality and reinvigorate lost ambitions.
I can’t imagine a more tragic story than that of Michael Jackson. A child prodigy of the first rank whom we watched evolve into an artistic genius who revolutionized, and ultimately became, the embodiment of his profession.
The same genius who was so disturbed and tortured and insecure that he disfigured himself, found comfort in his eccentricities, and reportedly became reliant on prescription medication to function. I don’t think that any of us will ever know the extent of the demons that haunted him, or what they may have led him to do. To speculate on that doesn’t satisfy anything but one’s own morbid curiosity.
I watched a video of The Jackson 5 doing “I Want You Back” today. I can’t reconcile that incredibly talented little boy with the pathetic and disturbing figure of the past decade. Michael Jackson didn’t die suddenly today, he’s been dying slowly for the past 20 years. All we can do now is mourn the slow death of that little boy, and cherish the remarkable legacy he left us with.
“Diseased lifestyle” makes you sound like Jerry Falwell and his ilk.
Since we are already treading in impolite conversations, is it too early to think about the possibility of a music biopic of Michael Jackson ala “Ray”? I know that we have the tv miniseries “The Jacksons” and the cheapo VH1 “Man in the Mirror”, but I would really be interested in a real warts and all portrait of this tragic, fallen legend. Something along the lines of a “Nixon” “All That Jazz” “The Aviator” “Citizen Kane”…it would be a fantastic dream project and role for a great actor…showing both victim and victimizer of Jackson’s personality… the artistic genius of the man… the commitment and hard work that made him as good as Astaire or Kelly…the devil that was his father…the unique family structure/dysfunction of Jacksons. The bit parts of the movie would even be interesting…who would play Quincy Jones, Marlon Brando, Elisabeth Taylor, Paul McCartney, etc? Just reviewing his videos on YouTube the past few hours, it would almost be an eerie tribute to him because his videos are so much inspired by the movies such as The Warriors, 30′s gangster pictures, musicals, horror pictures, etc. I believe that he once said that movies gave him an escape from pressures in his life. I mean, Eddie Murphy is going to be starting his Richard Pryor biopic soon with Bill Condon, so why not Michael Jackson?
Joe Leydon suggested to me if Truffaut were still alive that he would be perfect.. Fine by me…But not Rob Marshall…who is an adequate director but took the Fosse out of Chicago. I wonder if there is an actor talented enough, gutsy enough with their on screen sexuality, and who did not care about showing the monstrous sides of a character’s personality out there? Or are they not born yet? Some new age asexual Brando like actor?
TheJeff…brilliant. The best of anything I’ve read so far about Jackson. Thanks for that, buddy.
The article currently pissing off The Digital Bits. http://blogs.zdnet.com/storage/?p=509
I’ll go one further…
here is a man who had, by sheer singing and dancing talent and all around showbiz glitter razmataz, amassed a vast personal wealth, the likes of which have rarely, if ever, been seen.(the Beatles catalogue ALONE was worth over a billion)
what did he do with the money? he could have ended childhood hunger. he could have advanced cancer research dozens if not hundreds of years. he could have built more schools and hospitals in third world countries than they would have known what do with. That kind of money? World peace is not much of a stretch.
did he do any of these things?
no.
What DID he use all that money for?
He used it to RAPE CHILDREN.
Every dime. To build a fantastical fantasy fun park to lure children in. He used it to transorfm himself into a mythical looking other-being that children would not suspect to be a threat. he used it to pay off the families of the children he had raped, and for an ever growing list of exasperated lawyers to beat the charges of rape against him. And God help us all, he used it to procure children of his own, with no meddling lawyers or parents attached to them.
I believe myself to be largely agnostic, but in case I am wrong, my only hope is that Thursday is “Fresh Coal Delivery Day” in hell.
djiggs, who would play Jackson? Talk about a challenging role.
I hope all these victims of Jackson, now, you know, dead, come forward and tell their tales of abuse and how it felt to be sodomized by the biggest pop star of this century. They have nothing to fear anymore, and, like the real victims of the priests of one of the religions you don’t believe in, skippy, they will be vindicated and maybe even financially rewarded. You know, at least the ones who aren’t already living in the lap of luxury because they’ve already been paid off. Maybe you were one of this demon’s victims?
No doubt as his personal CPA or business manager, you know what he did with every dime of his money. Oh wait, maybe you got your information from those reputable talking heads on whatever cable news network you salivate over, or whatever internet information porn you site. You speak with such certainty, you gotta be in the inner circle.
You’ve lost your fucking mind. No doubt you’ll know soon enough about that Freah Coal Delivery Day, as you’ll be joining your beloved MJ in hell.
Fuck the haters.
Just for that, I hope he is immortalized to a sickening degree, just, you know, for you.
p. vice: fuck you, too. Fuck, some of you people are literally like hyenas. But go ahead, just laugh and eat the dead.
just returned home from openung night of ‘farragut north’ at the geffen….right across the street from ucla hospital….10:45 at night in the usually dead village and it’s a freaking carnival…food carts, t-shirts for sale, many hundreds of people, candles, costumes, choppers and satellite trucks for as far as you can see….
now in the mood for billy wilder’s ‘ace in the hole’….
I don’t know whether or not I believe that Michael Jackson was a child molester. A huge part of me at this moment wants to argue that he wasn’t. I’ve watched Martin Bashir’s Living With Michael Jackson and also Jackson’s rebuttal documentary, and while I think both of them twist the facts, I prefer the rebuttal, because it shows Bashir saying things to Jackson you wouldn’t think he’d say given the accusatory nature of his documentary.
Michael Jackson was a man who dedicated his life to giving himself and others the childhood he never had. He also dedicated a huge part of his life to being a father figure for kids in a way his father never was. Unfortunately, this also included sleeping in beds with the kids. And I really don’t think he did anything more than that. Yes the man was fucked up. We all know that. But I really don’t believe it was molestation the way the media portrayed it.
And Jeff, just remember that referring to him as a molester and such is the kind of thing that you say killed him in the first place, so please stop spitting on the corpse.
“He was born black and he died white.
That, my friends, is the American Dream.”
This is possibly the funniest thing I’ve read all day.
Take a joke you politically correct pussies.
Rod, I always like your posts on this site, but I disagree. I think it’s okay to talk about both things . . . even today. It’s what made Michael Jackson who he was.
The Martin Bashir documentary was a completely unfair hatchet job . . . and I say that as someone who does believe Michael Jackson was a child molester.
Jonah, I can only hope someone is so “politically incorrect” when you leave this mortal coil. Take a joke? The man has been dead for less than 10 hours, but we’re supposed to enjoy tasteless jokes at his expense? I don’t know why I’m surprised; complaining of political correctness is almost always the domain of insensitive assholes.
Ghost,
Wow, you completely changed my mind. The dude was a child molestor. I’m not going to cry for him. ANd nobody else would either if he lived in their neighborhood, and socialized with your kids.
But the guy could sing and dance, so we’ll let it slide.
But honestly, I wouldn’t care if somebody makes a joke about me when I’m gone, especially something so silly.
It’s the power of music. The media is not focusing on that other side of the man because the genius of his music transcends all that. Despite of everything else he was still the King of Pop and nobody denied it.
I couldn’t give a shit if I changed your mind. You’ve made you’re mind up that he was a child molester, even though you don’t know that for a fact. The father in that molestation case is on tape as saying “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.” Does that sound to you like a man seeking justice for his son?
Michael became a freak by society’s standards, and that made him an easy mark. But he was never convicted of anything (even though the prosecution was given every advantage in during the trial). I would think we could take at least a single day after his death to acknowledge that and eulogize him.
Jeff, you are so right. A pedophile and possibly a homosexual? There’s a story circulating that he was molested by a road manager when he was a boy. But you know, the truth will come out because the “enablers” are lining up with book proposals and publishers will start churning out books about MJ.
One of his associates was on CNN stating that he was again abusing RX drugs. And all the cosmetic work he has had must have demanded that he use RX drugs for pain and discomfort.
I don’t recall if he was a generous charitable person in the way of some of his peers, such as giving concerts to raise money for black causes (scholarships, et al). Possibly early in his career, but certainly not lately.
Dee Zee: I agree with you also. He was tormented totally because of his sexual preference and his debt. Who can sleep at night owing $400million?
This thread is simply bizarre.
The fact is, all this dime-store conjecture attempting to deconstruct Jackson’s psyche, stating as fact courtroom allegations of pedophelia (and defenses against such allegations) – is such puerile speculation.
As I think A1 pointed out, no one who has posted here has an inkling of his actual thoughts or motivations, much less of his private actions. Courtroom allegations lodged against him were as easy to cast as they were difficult to prove. And all this talk about his public eccentricities – ok, so what? For centuries, artists have lived outside of the boundaries of what others considered “normal.”
What can we know except his public life – his music, his performances. As for his private life, I suppose that’s for him and his God to resolve.
Ghost,
OJ was never convicted either. Does that mean we dont know for a fact he killed those two people?
Are you a lawyer? Do you have inside info on the case? How do you know the prosecution was given every advantage?Is this just something you read?
I’m really sad about this. I’m sad in the way people were sad when John Lennon was killed, i was in central park those days, i saw the pain, the sadness, the tears, i was too young to comprehend it completely but there was no hate for his Lennon personally it was all love, and it hurt..
Lennon (who had his own demons) was someone who was riding a new wave of creativity at the time of his death, and may have been at some previously unachieved level of clarity in his life. He spent a LOT of his time trying to make the world a better place, and was senselessly murdered by a stranger.
This is quite a different case, and while MJ’s father may have helped shaped him into a disturbed individual, it’s hard to condone all the choices the man made in his life. Whatever the autopsy reveals, this is a guy who could have had (and accomplished) many things, but decided to hide in a fantasyland instead. That his end came like this isn’t really a shock. No one took him from us, he disappeared a long time ago.
Biopic-speculation, I agree, seems to be in bad taste…
…but I will GARAUNTEE you that by tomorrow morning every script-reader and query-letter go-between in LA will be up to their ears in Jackson biopic pitches that writers have been sitting on for a DECADE waiting for him to pass.
Considering the changes Jackson’s face went through, they may have to do any biopic I’m Not There style.
Maybe the little kid and Cate Blanchett want to give it another go.
Uh, Jonah – February 5, 1997 saw Simpson convicted of wrongful death. Unanimously.
Ghost – take it from a father, if I thought someone rich & famous had molested my child and I managed to keep myself from taking matters into my own hands, I’d want to take as much of their money as I could while destroying their career too.
…and Jerry Lee Lewis lives
I say there should be a law that no entertainer dies until JERRY LEE LEWIS hacks out his last breath. f’in drug addict, drunk, child molester, incest-er, wife killer. That white man turned from white into monster.
Rest in peace, Mike. Rock with ya…
the real loser tonight was Ryan ‘gravedigger’ O’Neal. He even got a new face for the ocassion.
Who’s crying in their meth now?
If we’re talking biopics…
Johnny Depp in Edward Scissorhands was Jackson-esque. With some make-up he could certainly play older Michael Jackson in any biopic.
How strange that they’d cast a little black boy and Johnny Depp in the same role. As someone mentioned above, it’s certainly similar to I’m Not There, and yet not for the arty-farty reasons behind that film but simply because of how much he changed.
I think that’s the baffling thing for me. You look at pictures of childhood or teenage Jackson and it is like that entire person died somewhere around the late ’80s. The modern Michael was just SO different looking. As it happened over time we all kind of got used to it – every year he’d make an appearance and look a little bit changed. But it’s absolutely staggering when you compare the two extremes. A uniquely modern phenomenon. Mental.
Sums up the coverage so far: http://www.culch.ie/wp-content/uploads/famous.png
10. Baby dangling
9. Obsessive crotch grabbing
8. The lyric “kike me”
7. His taped statement responding to the deposition
6. Jumping on top of that van during his trial
5. Neverland
4. The Nose
3. Quasi-military garb
2. Jesus Juice
1. The giant statues of himself
Bat shit crazy
I think there are some interesting parrallels, at least in respect to the comments here, between Jackson and the discussions on Roman Polanski.
When the “Wanted and Desired” documentary came out, quite a few people here seemed hell bent on demonizing that man irregardless of the documentary’s claims, his influence before and after, or “an inkling of his actual thoughts or motivations” – as one person put it. Several people seemed to state he was a rapist, pure and simple, and everything else was irrelevent.
Personally, I think Polanski’s one known sin seems practically harmless compared to Jackson’s alleged many, and all Polanski ever asked for was a fair trial – Jackson simply bought his way out of them when obviously just as much money could have bought a good enough “team” of lawyers to vindicate him had he really been innocent.
I’m not saying anyone is right or wrong here, just trying to add some context.
A very screwed-up man who probably died from an accidental overdose like Heath Ledger.
I see someone else brought up the Polanski comparison in the other thread – my apologies if that seems like a redundancy.
Rod, my man, we never got to hang out and talk as much I wish we would have. You’re one of the few things I miss about Tallahassee.
“Fuck does that mean? Obviously said by a cracker.”
A teacher of America’s youth, ladies and gentlemen!
MOISES! I am always really thrilled when I see your name here and kind of proud of you, buddy. This city’s spirit, and our little artistic community is a little less without you. Keep doing the good work, brother.
If I’m a Hyena, I’d eat Jerry Falwell all god damned day long.
Apologies are in order from me this morning. My only excuse is 5 martinis and a favorite artist of my youth’s death. Even in the stark sobriety of the morning, I find it hard to swallow some of the jokes and comments right after a man died, but I also have no business cursing people I don’t know over their opinion on the matter. And for that I am sorry. So fuck me, too.
Now I’m off to take a BC powder and listen to HIStory.
Jeff You are the most Ballsy blogger on the net as you say what you feel. If what you believe is true (and it very well might be) I believe it will eventually come out proof positive a little bit down the road. Maybe from his 3 adopted children if wrong was done to them. I wasn’t there, I don’t know but the multi million dollar payoffs are pretty damning! How can that be explained.
If anyone didn’t thnk our culture is celebrity driven that doubt was put the bed yesterday with his death.
If Justin Timberlake dropped 25 pounds, he’d make a good Michael Jackson. I’m kinda serious. It’ll never happen though.
Sasha Baron Cohen can do anything, but he’s too tall.
Jeff isn’t wrong, of course, but he may be too sympathetic.
I have a feeling we’re going to see a slow realization that everything about Jackson’s life and later career was done to facilitate his lifestyle as a pedophile. That he was, in fact, the most successful child predator in history, not perhaps in numbers but in the way that he convinced us all that he was something other than a middle-aged man having sleepovers with boys– that he convinced us he was a woman, an alien, an elfin creature, a 40-year-old child, anything but an adult having sex with boys.
A friend pointed out that Ice-T is the same age. Suppose there were stories that Ice-T was having boys over for sleepovers at the personal amusement park he’d built to lure them. How would we have looked at that? His career would have ended in minutes. Yet somehow we accepted that Jackson could possibly have innocent motives for this behavior, carried on notoriously and publicly.
Mourn the screwed-up young man who made some first-rate records. But shame on us for believing in the predator he became.
Deathtongue
How much time did he serve?
How much money did he give the victim’s families?
How many people remember the civil trial after the criminal trial was the big circus?
Simpson was found not guilty by the jury that mattered. Even though every unbiased person in America knows he killed them.
Jonah, every “unbiased” person THINKS O.J. did it. What no one has been able to figure out is how. Because you certainly can’t put it together a tight case with the evidence the prosecution assembled.
Ghost072: You’re a bigger man than most of us. No offense taken.
I appreciate your graciousness, lazarus. I should know by now not to jump into a message board when that inebriated and emotionally charged, but I am (obviously) anything but perfect. Cheers…
Jeff isn’t wrong, of course, but he may be too sympathetic.
I have a feeling we’re going to see a slow realization that everything about Jackson’s life and later career was done to facilitate his lifestyle as a pedophile. That he was, in fact, the most successful child predator in history, not perhaps in numbers but in the way that he convinced us all that he was something other than a middle-aged man having sleepovers with boys– that he convinced us he was a woman, an alien, an elfin creature, a 40-year-old child, anything but an adult having sex with boys.
A friend pointed out that Ice-T is the same age. Suppose there were stories that Ice-T was having boys over for sleepovers at the personal amusement park he’d built to lure them. How would we have looked at that? His career would have ended in minutes. Yet somehow we accepted that Jackson could possibly have innocent motives for this behavior, carried on notoriously and publicly.
Mourn the screwed-up young man who made some first-rate records. But shame on us for believing in the predator he became.
bents: Harmless?! Polanski drugged and sodomized a little girl! But maybe if Jacko directed his own Holocaust Oscar-bait movie, we’d be forgiving him, too.
As usual, I’m coming late to the party, but here’s my take on it. I literally grew up with Michael Jackson. We were born in the same year. I remember him as part of the Jackson 5 and that music was an integral part of my childhood. I developed different musical tastes as I aged but in the era of the music video, Jackson was one of the few artists who knew how to use the medium.
When the media turned on him, it was sad. The ugly nicknames, the eccentricities, the plastic surgery, the allegations of child molestation … they took something away from the man’s image, but the truth of the matter is — his talent continues to shine through in the legacy of music he left us.
As others have said, we SHOULD concentrate on that for now. There are people worldwide who were touched by Jackson’s music, his singing, his incredible dancing, his songwriting … the rest will follow. They will be picking over his bones in the same way they do Elvis Presley or Judy Garland or ____________ (fill in the blank).
I prefer to try to concentrate on the talent and it saddens me for what might have been …
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