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.

MJ was so massively famous and talented that some people always have and always will cast aside the fact he was an absolute menace to children. As time goes on this repair work on his cash generating legacy will all but erase his peadophilic behaviours from history and recast him as a wholesome misunderstood heartthrob turned great dad. “But didn’t he say sharing a bed with children was a loving act?” “He was misquoted” and always “he was just like a child himself”. It would have been nice if this grown man hadn’t surrounded himself with children day and night but he did and it’s so disconcerting that people can just gloss over that like it’s completely normal and doesn’t matter.

Yes a truly innocent man would happily part with $25 million so that none of it would ever get to court...

The fact that he negotiated rather than tell Evan Chandler where to go speaks volumes. He could have easily afforded the best defence and put an end to any future money grabbers if there was nothing incriminating.

I find it abit of a weird one tbh. The fact he wasn't found guilty is probably what gives film and record companies the leeway to keep profiting out of him.
But chances are he was guilty.
At the same time my preteen/teen self was a massive fan so the music and videos are wrapped up in nostalgia and happy memories for me.
I think alot of us are guilty of some cognitive dissonance here, much like with veganism!

So if we took the money out of the equation but kept everything else would you believe it.

I think that what Corey Feldman is actually saying is that it is not his place to deny someone else's accusations against MJ.
He isn't no longer defending him because he is convinced of MJ's guilt, but because he does not want to risk causing harm or hurt.

Personally I have no idea whether he was guilty of child abuse, I think it is interesting that it was something which came out but remained unsubstantiated and sort of fades in and out of public discourse, whilst at the same time Epstien, Saville etc hardly a sniff and then totally blown up and the victims vindicated.

So why has CF been singing and dancing like he's the second MJ? He's so cringe 😬

My understanding was that MJ wanted to go to court but his lawyers advised to settle out of court and it would be over quickly and he could get on with world tour etc. he regretted it. There's a documentary all about this (Google Square one documentary). Of course he would have been better defending himself in court as it was indeed the start of the chain f events to come.

Maybe?

Makes you think, doesn't it...

Honesty not really. MJ himself says that he shared a bed with children, this was backed up by the kids and the parents. He - a single man with no kids- built a playground in his back garden.

Any legal issues over money did not make him do any of that?

Plenty of innocent people have settled out of court and $25 million would have been a drop in the ocean for him.

I keep reading that Safechuck wanted to get married at Neverland. Why would anyone want to get married at a place they were allegedly abused? It took me YEARS to go back to my hometown for fear of running into my abuser 😡

I don't know what you mean?

Corey Feldman has been dancing and dressing like MJ for years.

I haven't read the thread OP, but I couldn't agree more.

The start of the chain of events was that he was having inappropriate relationships with children. I guarantee if no one had accused him of anything then people would have started to question it eventually anyway.

Because different people have different responses and it is well known that many people, particularly if they were children when they were groomed will have a very complex relationship with their abuser. I don't know if his victims have been asked, but I would guess that some of them still feel yearning for that 'special' connection, and possibly feel jealous when they hear about the others he abused and that it hurts that they weren't the only one.. I also wouldn't be surprised if sometimes they desperately miss him, but then if they said any of that out loud people would say 'how could they miss or love him if he was abusive' and so on, there's a lot of ignorance about this topic, even among people who were abused themselves.

This complex relationship can also extend to the places where the abuse occurred.

Why did MJ always want to dress little boys up like they were the second MJ and bring them around everywhere with him? 🤔 until they got too old and so he moved onto a younger boy and repeated the cycle??

I agree. James Safechuck wanted to get married there - if he had been abused there - why would he want that?

Wade wanted to be part of MJs memorial service, he wanted to be choreographer for the MJ Broadway show etc. Why would you want to do that if you'd been abused by him. Wouldn't most victims want to stay away from anything connected to their abuser? it wasn't until he was turned down by the estate to do these dance/choreography jobs that he started the documentary and court cases with the estate etc.
There's something very suspicious about these two men.

The elephant in the room is of course that he shared his bedroom with children. But he was always honest about that. Would he have been that honest if he was predatory? He had a huge bedroom (it was a two story house) I believe he literally meant sleeping and watching films etc. it would have been very normal for him as he shared a room with 5 brothers! I don't think he meant anything sexual about it. I agree that it isn't appropriate with modern safeguarding etc. and I wouldn't want my children sleeping over alone in a room with a grown man. It's such a complicated situation. This is why no one knows what to believe.

Eeeh see this is a low bar for me again. Whether you sleep on the floor next to it or not, telling a non related child to do something they've already said no to that if they love you then they'll do it is predatory.

Oh god, so it's literally a known person mindset then 🤢

Exactly. Your last sentence especially nails it,which is why his movie has done so well,his music is still being played and his musical is selling out every night. He was found not guilty/ no sufficient evidence found.

I have found my people!! I have been saying this for years and felt like a lone voice. I think it's absolutely abhorrent that he is celebrated and glorified the way he is.

No you haven't.