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I have a theory about Michael Jackson. First, a little background for reference. I am not a fan of MJ or his music. I respect his talent and what he did with it, but it's not really my style. Also, I was a child when the accusations started. We all heard and told the jokes about him diddling little boys. I have no reason to root for or against Michael's innocence.
That being said, I don't think he did anything inappropriate.
I could totally be wrong. I wasn't there and I'm not going to claim that my theory is undeniable truth, but after watching a few of his interviews, I noticed that he never acted like he did anything wrong. I get that someone without remorse would act like that, but typically they know what they did was wrong, and they lie and sneak their way around any implication of involvement. Not MJ. When asked about his "sleepovers" he never denied them. He consistently said "Yes, I did invite them over for sleepovers. Yes, we often shared a bed. We would stay up late watching movies and fall asleep in the bed. That's what a sleepover is." It didn't feel like a predator denying abuse. It felt more like asking a ten year old how his sleepover went. They'd tell you honestly what they did, if they slept in the same bed, and wouldn't think anything was weird about it, because they're just kids.
Combine that with the abuse he suffered as a kid. His father treated those kids like a troop of trained dogs. Constantly practicing, constantly performing, always bringing in more money for the family. Michael was a superstar around age 6, and did not slow down until he was an adult, away from his dad and performing for himself.
I think that Michael Jackson never really grew up. He named his ranch Neverland, from the story of Peter Pan, the boy who never grew up. I think MJ felt like HE WAS Peter Pan. He had no childhood, and never developed like the rest of us. He was a 10 year old mind in the body of an adult. I don't think the amusement park in his backyard or the pet chimp were bait to lure children in, I think he just really wanted to live in an amusement park, race go karts, and hang out with like minded children like any insanely wealthy pre-pubescent boy would. Many of the children he hung out with have said that nothing happened, including Macaulay Culkin, who was his bestie for quite a few years. Even after MJ's death, he said "He never did anything to me. I never saw him do anything. And especially at this flash point in time, I’d have no reason to hold anything back. The guy has passed on. If anything - I’m not gonna say it would be stylish or anything like that, but right now is a good time to speak up. And if I had something to speak up about, I would totally do it. But no, I never saw anything; he never did anything."
Maybe I'm wrong, maybe Macaulay was groomed and helped MJ abuse other kids and cover it up, but I think Michael was just a emotionally undeveloped abuse victim trying to reclaim the childhood he never got to experience.
There's a conspiracy floating around that Jackson became aware of the human trafficking to the ultrawealthy and he was smeared and possibly killed for it. No real evidence but it's a fun one to think about.
That's your idea of fun to think about?
To nitpick: it's fair to say his relationships with children were inappropriate. The stipulated behavior crosses a lot of lines of propriety.
The stipulated behavior doesn't amount to being harmful or abusive.
Yes, it is not the behaviour of a healthy adult, nor is it something that should be treated as "normal".
Also: it does not cross the line where a biopic is "disgusting white-washing" as OP claims.
Yeah, I can see that if you define inappropriate as "against societal norms". I intended the word to mean abusive or sexual in nature.
I think even what we do know about his relationship with children was harmful, just not to the same extent as rape.
Even if he was just having sleepovers with kids, that's not a healthy thing for Michael or the kids. For one, it sends very confusing signals to the kids in terms of what is acceptable behavior. Secondly, it dragged these kids into Michael's own traumas (assuming that is the cause of the behavior).
I'm not sure if any of it would rise to a legal level of wrongdoing, but I don't think anyone was really looking out for the kids best interests regardless of what was really going on.
It was not just sleepovers.
Good argument, definitely provided valid proof or even anything that can hint at it and you also held an objective view and humility like the comments above...
///ssssss
You should feel bad about yourself for being so dumb and lazy to have written that comment. (And to be clear, I say nothing against or for any views here).
Corey Feldman also said that while almost everyone in Hollywood sexually abused him as a child, Michael Jackson is the one person that didn't. He did also say that he doesn't defend MJ anymore because others have accused him though.
Interesting take on a grown man who was regularly spending the night alone with young boys in his bed.
Super abnormal behavior and when you couple that with his security for that wing of the house along with the alleged victim testimony, he seems guilty as fuck. I don’t want it to be true, but there’s too much smoke for there not to be a fire.
Maybe. Like I said, I don't know for sure that I'm right, and I'll admit it's totally strange behavior for a normal adult man, but I do think there's a chance that we're injecting our own perverted assumptions on something we can't understand.
Seriously, watch Leaving Neverland and see what you think. It’s astounding. You will be like
Just for giggles, I chose to check the wiki for leaving neverland....
Funny, Culkin explicitly says nothing ever happened. Culkin must just be lying though, right? One of the people in that documentary said he was the next in line, so that's that.
He’s interviewed at the end of the documentary. It’s worth it.
A quick scan of wikipedia is not sufficient.
As we all know, wikipedia is all lies without sources and all documentaries are truthful without editorial bias.
Yet opinions about any lengthy works by people who have never read / seen / heard those works are abundant.
If you think wikipedia is wrong, you can submit proof that the links are inaccurate.
But they probably don't listen to people who hate facts that prove them wrong.
The one i found said Culkin denied there was any wrongdoing. That was it. That’s the one you’re basing this on? If so, you’re putting a lot of weight on something that isn’t even alleged in the doc.
Should I also watch Loose Change because it's compelling and would leave me flabbergasted if I didn't do any other research?
One of the two kids who the documentary follows makes an outrageous claim that we already know is fake based on the word of the person who allegedly experienced it. Just because you enjoyed it doesn't mean it's accurate.
I don't even have any skin in he game (I don't like Jackson's music, personally), but the rhetoric around the man has always been contentious, and not always consistent. I'm not going to waste tons of time on a subject I don't care about by watching a documentary that I already know includes a major falsehood from one of the primary subjects.
Honestly, I wasted more of my life on this subject than I wanted just responding here, so duces.
Ok but it's easy for a documentary to make you go insert shocked gif here if they just lie about things
True. So are they lying? I don’t think so.
bro, there's so many docs about aliens constructing the pyramids. do i think they did? hell no. Docs are made to make money.
Mm. And the Enron doc? Also lying? Fog of War? Made for the money? If all documentaries are to be dismissed for being documentaries, thats fucked up, but ok. If not, this one is a “real” one.