AIBU to be shocked by public celebration of Michael Jackson?

[2021x]

Now the MJ film is out my social media feed is flooded with people doing the dances and talking about the movie etc. My local cinema is holding special events and screenings.

I personally have no doubt that he was a predatory paedophile. All the signs are there, especially how he talks about how he would never hurt a child and sharing a bed with them is the "most loving thing you can do in the world". He manipulated the world into thinking he had a "child-like persona" but was able to manage a music career worth millions... which someone who is naive would never be able to manage.

I also do not judge people who enjoy his music. It was very popular at the time, and would be associated with all types nostaligic memories. I listen to problematic artists all the time, but I don't pretend that they weren't abusive.

AIBU to be astounded that any business/media outlet would be seen dead even associating with him let alone celebrating such a horrifically abusive man.

Yes. Funny how it's one rule for some and not for others.

I agree.

I wonder if it is the same as Ozzy Osbourne. I was listening to the Evil Genius episode on him, and I didn't realise how abusive he was to his family members.

They now want to name an airport after him in Birmingham.

Agree with you. It’s appalling to glorify him.

Someone I know posted a pic of her young daughter by a big poster at the cinema. My first thought was wtf?

it’s common to separate the art from the artist.

lots of artists an various areas of art including music were deeply deeply horrible people.

the art they create is not horrible

I think you can appreciate the art without approving of the artist’s behaviour.

Completely agree with you. Can you imagine if they made a film about Gary Glitter? 😳

Or if someone had Hitlers art hanging on their wall?

Its all very distasteful.

A fair few successful child stars supported MJ and said he wasn't a pedophile, including Aaron Carter and Corey Fieldman who had said there was abuse in Hollywood but MJ tried to protect children. Aaron Carter also spoke about his parents trying to get him in to saying something did happen with MJ when it hadn't. I'm not convinced her was a pedophile.

I agree. It’s despicable. His fans are completely delusional.

I totally agree. To me it feels like it would if everyone was celebrating Jimmy Saville. What he did to those little boys.

‘Corey Feldman says he can 'no longer defend' Michael Jackson’

https://ew.com/celebrity/2019/03/07/corey-feldman-can-no-longer-defend-michael-jackson/

Men get away with so much. Women get away with nothing.

I agree but don't you think there is a difference between appreciating the art, and glorifying him? You can listen to his music, even make a biopic of him, but to celebrate him and deny the behaiviour around children surely can't be right.

For example I listen to Amy Winehouses music all the time and I saw the film, but at no point do I pretend she wasn't an abusive alcoholic.

Interested that you 'personally have no doubt that he's a predatory paedophile' but yet the police never found enough evidence to charge him. Did you go to the police with what you know OP? You seem to be so sure so you must have evidence beyond the stuff you have read in the papers who are famous for making stuff up and trying to destroy people who do well for themselves.

The Channel 4 documentary that was released recently explains this quite well I think, although it's cleverly done - episode 1 still had me unsure. I was fairly young when the allegations first came out and my mum got sucked into the narrative that he's innocent and his childlike behaviour was a result of his own trauma rather than a danger. So naturally I believed this too, as someone whose opinion I admired. We had watched the original Martin Bashir documentary together and then she was upset by much of the court case coverage so we didn't see much of that.

On watching this documentary now (I never saw the Return to Neverland one years ago in between) I have completely changed my mind and now think he was deliberately grooming and preying on his victims. It also made me wonder why on Earth the legal system allows lawyers to operate as they do to create a convincing narrative out of basically speculation and then ask complete laypeople with no expert knowledge of the subject area to make a judgement. This seems wrong. There are so many myths and misbeliefs about the way rape and abuse work in general that it seems too easy to convince people that victims are lying, looking for false compensation, unsympathetic etc.

I do not doubt there were some heinous parents in Hollywood, but surely you cannot deny that a grown man openly declaring that he shares his bed with children is as an "act of love" is someone you would allow the little boys in your family to be alone in a room with overnight?

YANBU
YANBU
YANBU

With bells on

It’s not really where child abuse is concerned. I do see what you mean insofar as Clapton (springs to mind) and Osborne have problematic histories regarding domestic abuse but sexual abuse of children does seem to be that line we do not cross, hence Watkins, Glitter, Savile have been pretty much eradicated as artists and exist only as predators. MJ is the notable exception. I guess because he’s never actually been convicted of anything. I agree it’s odd to say the least though.

I admit I’m intrigued by the film but have absolutely no intention of seeing it. I was a big fan and an 80’s teen. My gangly blonde brother used to look ridiculous trying to dress up like him. However, as an adult, I cannot get past what he did and there are many who say he was innocent. I don’t believe he was. I feel sad when I hear his songs as they are so tainted for me now even though he was a musical genius. I saw him live at Wembley and it was incredible but I certainly wouldn’t go now if he were alive. He should be allowed to just fade. He shouldn’t be celebrated. I do, however, accept that he was a very damaged individual with abusive exploitative parents. This does not excuse paedophilia.

The thing that gets me about all the people wanging on about how innocent he was and how he just loved kids is the fact he saw nothing apparently wrong with having young boys sleep in his bed. I notice it was never girls, only boys.

But no, its just because he was soooo innocent.

He was a paedophile - everything about his behaviour indicates it

This is the other behaviour I am intersted in. Why are people so defensive of MJ? They didn't know him, at all. They cannot deny that his behaviour around children isn't suspicious and manipulative but they defend him like he is some type of vulnerable little lamb.

The recent BBC documentary was interesting. There was a trial but there was intimidation of witnesses so some withdrew their original statements or changed them so he was found not guilty. There’s an uncomfortable scene where he’s interviewed sitting closely next to a young boy holding his hand. There are several alleged victims explicit testimonies.

I’ve read Sharon’s autobiographies and yes he was abusive but as she says it was alcohol and drug fuelled. He admits himself that his behaviour was in his words “fucking awful and if it wasn’t for her support in helping get him clean he’d have been dead a long time ago.

I think just like for a lot of people Prince Harry will always be the confused little twelve year old behind his mothers coffin, Michael Jackson will always be the lovely and talented little boy he was before things got tainted. It’s almost like a whole era we mourn, like a collective loss of innocence.