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.

Generally the groomer isn't someone as famous as Michael Jackson, so why would the victims be on TV?

It's also a scenario where the public know many of the potential victims because MJ put them into the worldwide media by displaying them everywhere and bringing them around the world, so people seek out interviews and comments with them, and unless they do defend them then people would assume they were abused, and many do not want that at all, as well as feeling protective over MJ.

It was also an extremely bizarre situation where because he was so public with his relationship with these victims that Michael himself wanted to put men on the stand to defend him saying yes we slept in his bed all the time when we were boys but nothing sexual happened.

So it's not the normal scenario, but the complex relationship they had with him is not unusual at all for a grooming relationship and wouldn't require MJ to have superpowers at all.

There's been many paedophiles who were famous prior to the abuse happening and not a single one had scores of children going out of their way to defend them and deny the allegations for years, despite no longer having close contact with him and by that stage being adults. And for part of that time, him being dead. A 22 year old cannot use grooming as an excuse for lying under oath. It's also highly unlikely that 5 siblings would be able to maintain the same story for 25 years, being extremely public about it and even writing a book, and then suddenly being "de-programmed" when it became financially helpful to be.

If a 45 year old man can sleep in bed with little boys and use the excuse that he 'never had a childhood' then yes a 22 year old grooming victims excuse, ie explanation for lying on the stand, can be that they were groomed.

He was obviously a very troubled man and his behaviour was inappropriate. This is why his own testimony isn't taken very seriously, because he was clearly severely mentally ill. The fact he insisted on TV that it was fine to sleep in bed with an unrelated child would indicate that he had no idea how to influence public opinion of him and yet we are supposed to believe that his ability to manipulate whole families was akin to brainwashing a cult, but better, because people usually recover from cult brainwashing when they are away from the source.

If Robson, and all the other victims, wish to declare that they are as mad as MJ in order to defend their flip-flopping on this issue they can do that- but if they are mad then how are we working out which times they were telling the truth and which times they were just saying mad things? You're entitled to pick out the things that you believe to be true and say, "They were telling the truth here, here and here, all the other things they said in contradiction of that were lies." Other people will believe the opposite. The court will doubtless determine that there's no way of knowing and I, personally, would agree.

FYI I'm not a fan of MJ and find the majority of his music extremely annoying.

The fact he insisted on TV that it was fine to sleep in bed with an unrelated child would indicate that he had no idea how to influence public opinion of him and yet we are supposed to believe that his ability to manipulate whole families was akin to brainwashing a cult, but better, because people usually recover from cult brainwashing when they are away from the source.

No the fact he insisted it on TV shows how confident he was in his ability to convince people that this was ok.

Yes I can believe that easily, after all he has millions of people who never met him parroting the famous lines 'Michael never had a childhood' and 'Michael just loves children' so readily and easily that they may as well be lyrics to one of his songs.
Actually personally I know more of those lines than I do his song lyrics which just shows how often they are repeated.

Recovering from cults is often extremely challenging and can take a long time.

If Robson, and all the other victims, wish to declare that they are as mad as MJ in order to defend their flip-flopping on this issue they can do that- but if they are mad then how are we working out which times they were telling the truth and which times they were just saying mad things?

Being a victim of abuse and grooming and acting in a way that is common for victims of grooming and abuse does NOT mean that the person is 'mad'. How offensive. It means that they suffered trauma.

Lisa Marie Presley knew him pretty well and while shes never commented on abuse allegations shes famously said said in interviews the little baby boy persona was an act, he was completely different in private. His voice didnt sound like that, his persona was completely different.

She also was asked what attracted her, as it seemed bizarre, and she said when he turned on the charm and persona you could be almost hypotised.

I somehow doubt she'd have been star struck as her father was the biggest music icon in history.

Hmmm. Little boy lost? I dont think so

She hasn’t said anything about this ‘persona’ being an act, at least not in the pejorative sense. She has said she was in love with him. I always thought it was a mutual marriage of convenience but reading about her opinions and feelings about the relationship, it wasn’t.

You were the one who compared them to MJ. MJ was mad. They are presumably not mad. If they are, that changes things. If you believe that they were so brainwashed that it justifies them lying to everyone- in court, on TV, in books they wrote and profited from, in press interviews- then that is your prerogative. The courts almost certainly won't, and I don't.

You missed the interview I saw then.

Surprisingly

Which one was this?

My point was that many people think that MJs childhood is a valid explanation for him sleeping with little boys, yet you're saying a 22 can't use grooming as an excuse for lying under oath, the grooming doesn't suddenly switch off because they're under oath.

Well we will have to wait and see about the lawsuit won't we?

I keep seeing ads for the film and realise I can’t stand his dancing style. I know people have a go at rappers for crotch grabbing but have they ever seen MJ?

crotch grabbing, hip thrusting, dry humping the floor. It creeps me out. I was a dancer as a kid and even then just didn’t get it. The weird 3 inches too short trousers he’s always hitching up, with white ankle socks on display.

he clearly kept his body completely hairless too.

he was a very strange man who clearly had many, many issues.

Lawsuits shouldn't be allowed if the person is dead. Funny how they've now ran out of 💲💲💲 and the movie is now one of the biggest selling biopics 💲💲💲🙄🤔 Talk about timing🙄🤑🤑🤑

Michael also claimed to only have 2 nose jobs when it’s speculated he had close to 12 nose procedures.

Different topic for a different thread but it’s obvious he’s had a massive amount of of surgery for a horrible case of body dysmorphia

Martin Bashir documentary Michael mentioned taking Paris immediately when she was delivered, still covered in placenta, and walking out of the hospital with her. He claimed he had permission to do so. So weird!

There was also a very uncomfortable clip of him feeding one of the babies while constantly jiggling it on his knee and fussing over putting a scarf over its face , saying I love you. It was extremely bizarre and looked unpleasant for the baby.
Completely understand if you want to keep your child private, or anonymous (many celebrities do) but ffs just ask someone else to feed them, in a private room, without a camera and without a flipping scarf over their face. He clearly had plenty of staff (potentially including nannies)

Indeed

Did you have cheek implants

Ohhhhhh pleeeeeease (baby voice)

Which disappeared in private as attested by Lisa Marie🤣

I think he revelled in the Wacko Jacko publicity as it covered up much more nefarious ongoings

Anyhoo it won't be proved legally now, but as I posted before, the dogs in the streets know what really happened!

It’s wild MJ was able to have so many surgeries performed on his nose. There comes a point where the plastic surgeon should say stop due to ethics/health reasons but sadly if money is there it can be done. He looked frightening

Same can be said for the likes of Katie Price. She looks a joke now 🫠

Katie certainly is an example of surgeons going where they absolutely shouldn't, and I do admit the surgery issue with Michael is a whole different kettle of plastic fish.

It does show though that he"d no qualms lying about the bleedin obvious!

Katie looks frightening now, but the difference is she looks you in the eye and admits what shes had done.

Nearly $600,000,000 made at the box office all over the world in less than three weeks. That’s a huge amount of money, I knew it would be a hit but nothing like on this level.

One way looking at it.
Another way might be that adults who spent their childhoods being molested by a piece of shit pop star want to tell there story and feel justified in trying to get compensation for their suffering.

Doubt that very much. As I said,all about the dollars. Chasing money like this really isn't helping their cause. I'm seeing nothing but similar comments everywhere today 🤔

Hed no problem paying the so called "roaches" (I prefer child victims) a squillion squid though eh?

That made it go away. Andy did it too, look what happened to him😁

I will agree with the poster above though, its all about the dollar.

If yiuve enough of those dollars to make it all go away it doesnt matter if you're a disgusting pedophile.

And that may be relevant with the Cascio’s, who want even more money from the Jackson estate.