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.

And it wasn't just that sharing the bed with them, that didn't happen in isolation, there was also things like crying to make them feel like they had to stay with him and that the families (particularly the boys) were responsible for his happiness and wellbeing, even the Cascios mentioned the crying long before they accused him of abuse, catching him sobbing when they had to leave and making them feel so guilty.
Even without the bed sharing is it ever ok to do that to kids?

What does that prove though? There are lots of idiots who worship the cult of celebrity and are willing to overlook the allegations of paedophilia? We knew that already.

“If you loved me, you’d share a bed with me”.

Says it all…

It doesn’t prove anything, like much of what you’ve drawn our attention to on this thread.

Yeah that's what happened 🙄

Meanwhile you're the one making insensitive jokes all over the thread. Surely it's far too serious a topic for sarcasm?

SwingTheMonkey · Today 10:17
Marvellous news!
Personally, I can’t wait for the Saville biopic where we can all remember him for the philanthropic gent he was!

SwingTheMonkey · Today 13:43
Well fuck me. I was all ready to boycott this fucking sick celebration of a child abuser but Spike Lee loved it?!
That’s me sold! 🙄

Walked past a nice looking, chichi looking wine bar tonight, was going to go in but it had loud MJ music playing, even OH who isnt known for his awareness looked at me and we decided not to go in. I was quite surprised to be honest.

What have I drawn your attention to?

I tend to resort to sarcasm when my faith in humanity has been shattered. How you can defend someone you don’t know and would never have known, even if he wasn’t (thankfully) dead, in the face of credible evidence that this middle aged man had, at the very least, behaved inappropriately with little boys and at the worst, had sexually abused them - is quite beyond me.
If it were someone I thought I knew, like a close family member, I might afford them the benefit of the doubt. I might.
But a stranger? Fuck no. If there’s any fucking mere suggestion they have interfered with children, they don’t have my support. And as parents, as clearly you are, I can’t understand for the life of me, why don’t feel the same.

There's nothing wrong with sarcasm in response to weird, crass comments bragging about how popular he is.
There's nothing insensitive about responding that way and I don't think any survivors of CSA or grooming would be upset about it. The original crass comments on the other hand are highly insensitive.

Yes, the whole thing stinks like a kipper.

The thing is I haven't even defended him! I said I think he's most probably guilty. But you can't stop other people from listening to his music or going to see his biopic (which I have zero interest in personally) which was my original point...I wondered how far you wanted to take it re banning his music etc.

If you'd calmly explained why you don't want there to be a biopic I wouldn't have put "lol" it's the way you said it not the subject matter. But you seem incapable of not coming across as aggressive and shouty so...

Autopedophilia -
Autopedophilia is a paraphilia defined as sexual arousal in an adult by the fantasy or idea of being a child, often considered a form of "erotic-target identity inversion" (ETII). It is frequently observed in men who are also sexually attracted to children (pedophilia or hebephilia), where the age and gender of the child they fantasize being matches their attraction target

She sounds pretty reasonable to me.

Probably cos you ain't the one she's having a go at.

I mean they made a film about Elvis - people still listen to him. Gary glitter was actually convicted right? Rolling Stones, Mick Jagger etc…people seem to have a selective outrage but will happily dance along to “classics”

HA!!

Very selective. Add on wifebeater John Lennon to that list.

My sentiments exactly, so so selective, they will praise the Beatles, Elvis, David Bowie et al you catch my drift, the list is endless, but come all guns blazing for MJ…they should keep it consistent

By 'they' you seem to be grouping absolutely everyone who criticises Jackson in together, so on the other side of it for those who support Jackson, are 'they' consistent?

If it was anyone else sleeping with little boys would they think it was fine and harmless and that he probably just loved kids, if the local priest or school principal or boy scouts leader was found with a load of pornographic books of children would they say they were just 'art books'? If 'they' saw a local man always going around with a little boy best friend and ditching him for a new model as soon as he got a bit older would they think 'aw isn't that sweet, that man has a pure heart'.

Don't be so silly, it's been brought up since R Kelly was mentioned that he's since been convicted for exactly the same accusations as that trial. I think it's telling you didn't put any other context in your post except to spread the same old abuse defense that there was doubt and she was an 'alleged' victim when you know she testified at the trial that rightly got him sent to jail in 2022 and that the court was satisfied there was no doubt he was in that video. So you can understand why he was acquitted because the child he was abusing while telling her he was her godfather and mentor and cared for her was too scared to testify and a trial taking place in a culture that blamed and slutshamed the child that was abused. But you can't see why people wouldn't take MJ being acquitted as irrelevant to whether he admitted to behaviour that was grossly inappropriate with children?

I don't celebrate any of those, why are you assuming people do? It's odd that you and MJ fans won't respond to any of the reasonable questions about how you manage the dissonance between liking his music and knowing what he did with children but instead just keep reeling off other abusive men that no on has claimed to support. Is it because you support a child abuser that you assume everyone else must have a child abuser they cheerleading for too? Because honestly most people don't.

All of this and so much of this is blatantly on camera too so not even behind closed doors where there could be deniability. Just this kind of emotional abuse in itself towards a tiny child is so disturbing and indefensible.

Are you saying there are lots of videos of MJ crying and begging children to stay over?

If MJ was going around with new men all the time, holding their hands, acting like a couple, bringing the same male 'date' to every event, sleeping in the same bed with them, his bedroom was covered in photos of men etc then no one would be denying that he was gay, but when it's boys, people just say 'oh he just loved children'.
No one likes children that much.....except for pedophiles.

It's so blatantly obvious, even more blatantly obvious when it's boys rather than men because he got a new 'special friend' every time the boy got too old.

All conducted in plain sight, but people lap it up because he says he just loves children so much and that they're so pure and innocent.....which is literally exactly the same as how a certain type of pedophile thinks.

He wasn’t a paedophile. He just really, really liked pre pubescent boys…

How do people actually say this with a straight face?