26th of June would be a day that I would never forget till the day I die. Just like the time when Elvis and Princess Diana died, it was one of those 'where were you' moments. Unless you've been living under a rock the last couple of weeks, you would undoubtedly know that that was the day that Michael Jackson collapsed in his rented LA mansion from a massive heart attack and died. He died at around 3pm LA time (about 6 am Perth time) but I only heard about it at about 10am. I just couldn't believe what I was hearing as not only was Michael Jackson the King of Pop, he was also relatively young at just 50 years old.
My first friend on Facebook posted MJ's death on their page at around 4pm (LA time). That's impressive considering I only heard about it at 10am, some four hours after the fact! Since then, facebook, myspace and other social networking websites had been inundated with messages of condolences to arguably the greatest entertainer the world had ever seen. As they say, you never know how much you miss something/someone until you've lost it/ them.
That was how MJ's life was. From his early teens till about his thirties, he was adored by his millions of fans for his extroadinary musical talents to the later parts of his life where he was dogged with controversies like allegations of child molestation to weird behaviour bordering on lunacy. Some of his weird behaviours included a strange relationship he had with his pet monkey, changing the colour of his skin and his unorthodox marriages to Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe to name just a few.
In 2003, when I saw Martin Basheer's interview with MJ in the documentary "Living with Michael Jackson", I have to admit I was thinking that MJ was as whacko as anyone living on this earth could be and that he was plain lying to many of Martin's questions, especially about coming out into the open about his marriages (more specifically the marriage arrangement he had with Debbie Rowe) and his skin problems he allegedly blames for his skin changing to white. He also said that he had no more than 2 plastice surgeries in his entire life and only on his nose, despite being put to him that his face has actually changed in shape and structure from when he was younger. I remember at the time I just couldn't take him seriously.
I'm not sure if it's the fact that MJ has passed away or that I'm a better more understanding person now, but I saw the 2003 interview again and my perception of the man completely changed from one of scepticism back in 2003 to one of an innocent even naive man being manipulated by Martin Basheer and by the media in general his whole life. I felt sorry even for what I saw was a man, who was accorded the status of the King of Pop, the best entertainer the world has ever seen but still had the innocence of a young MJ. You felt he did not know how to deal or respond to the plethora of media representatives who wanted to see him fall from his high perch. In a clever move though MJ used his own crew to film Martin while Martin interviewed and fimed him. It showed how Martin was heaping praise towards MJ's love for his kids while later in the produced documentary questioned MJ's ability to be a responsible father. It showed Martin to be a manipulative journalist who would do anything to get the story to represent what he would think to be a 'good story'.
Now the stuff he said about his skin and his marriages still sounded as evasive and dishonest as it did in 2003 but instead of thinking this man is a blatant liar, I just thought this was a man like any other who was backed into a corner who did not want to reveal everything he knew about these subjects being forced into stumbling for an answer due to his inexperience in dealing with a manipulative tough interviewer like Martin Basheer. So what if he changed his skin colour? So what if he had 100 plastic surgeries instead of the two that he admitted to? So what? Who is Martin to make it like MJ was doing something wrong if he admitted to it? So what if MJ lied? He never wanted to reveal too much about these subjects in the first place but instead of not answering the questions, he tried to answer and in doing so appeared evasive and dishonest.
The facts are he like you and me has the basic human right to choose what he wants to do as far as altering his looks are concerned. His marriages were so unconventional but only because he was Michael Jackson, every aspect, every angle of it has been put under the media microscope and questions about his 'manhood' has been made into an issue. MJ was without a doubt a lover of children and if he wanted children without the sex, then so what. It's no secret and MJ had admitted it himself, he feels uncomfortable in an intimate situation with women. Why should it be an issue to anyone if he wanted to artificially inseminate a woman to have his kids? It happens everyday but because it's MJ and sensationalizing the story to make him look like some sort of wierdo sells stories and toppling MJ from his high perch would also sell more stories, the media have been grilling every aspect of MJ's 'unorthodox' marriages hoping to dig up dirt that would show him to be a whacko. What he had done was not conventional, I'll admit that but neither was it wrong.
"Living with Michael Jackson" was the documentary that saw the beginning of the end for MJ. The district attorney took the story about MJ sharing his bed with a young boy named Gavin Artizo (see pic below) to inititate criminal proceedings against MJ. He never recovered from that.
One of the main reasons MJ was mired in such high controversy till the day he died was without a doubt due to the allegations of child molestation and as everybody knows a paedophile is two rungs below a rapist turn serial killer in the most hated ratings. However, the allegations were never proven despite millions being spent by the LA District Attorney to leave 'no stone unturned' in trying to nail MJ to the wall. My despise for celebrities getting away with no good is known. I've made strong opinions against OJ Simpson, Phil Spectre and a host of other celebrities getting away with no good including murder because of their money being able to buy the best lawyers to defend them. In MJ's case though, nobody really knows what happened except MJ and the child involved. The DA does not know, MJ's lawyer do not know, you and I do not know. What I do know though, is that in LA extortion cases are plenty. Because MJ was such a huge star, it made him a huge target too. In all of these cases, it was the parents who were mounting the attacks on MJ and many of them had been proven gold diggers. MJ had not done himself any favours previously when he paid one of his accusers an alledged $30 million to "leave him alone". The two edge sword saw him looking guilty like he had something to hide and left a dangerous precedent for future extortion attempts by other kid's and their parents by making himslef look like an easy target. He finally learnt his lesson and went to court to fight the battle and was finally exonerated by the courts. MJ though was the eventual loser as his life had never been the same since. He'd had to sell his home, go to Dubai to escape the mounting pandemonium his life was putting on his young family and in essence heading towards a path of no return.
I feel MJ was a hugely misunderstood person. I feel the media had made him look like a weird, whacko paedophilia maniac and many, me included bought it but from his passing we now see that the people who knew him best have only the best of things to say about him, about his genius, his passion and most of all about his love for his family, friends and fans. After considerable reflection about the man and his life, I believe he had an extreme love for children and his kindness was taken advantage of by the low life gold diggers hoping to strike it rich by extorting his money. As MJ's brother so succintly put it during his memorial..."Maybe now Michael, they will leave you alone..."
