Michael Jackson

The sudden and recent death of MJ had made me curious which instigated me to do a bit of search over the internet. I also glanced through his autobiography, Moon Walk by Michael Jackson (1988) which clarified a lot of my doubts about the great artist.

Michael Jackson is a very popular artist in India. If we would compare MJ with any other popular international artists like Presley, The Beatles, Westlife, Eagles, Backstreet Boys or other such popular international entertainers, most (over 90%) of Indian population knows MJ but a very lesser population (mostly restricted to youth) would be aware of various other artist. I would not go into giving you general details about MJ, but would like to share my thoughts on the various of his aspects.

MJ holds the title of “Most successful Entertainer of All Times” (as of today) with 13 Grammy Awards and 13 number 1 singles. But, his success was attached with lots of controversial happenings, aqusitions and rumors. I would like to throw some light on a few controversies:

Moonwalk, was MJ the inventor?

No, MJ was not the first one to perform moonwalk. Billy Bailey, a foot tap dancer, stars in the oldest record video of moonwalking. MJ had moonwalked in a video song, Billie Jean (Album: Thriller) which lead to many such performances of moonwalk. MJ was not the inventor of mookwalk, but he perfected it in his own way.

Is 1984 fire accident at Pepsi commercial a true story?

Yes, it is confirmed by various news sources (click here to read an article from The Telegraph) that the accident actually took place on 27th January, 1984 which left second and third degree burns on MJ face and scalp. The video had unearthed recently but the news of such accident rumored for over 2 decades now (Rahul had informed me of the incident quite sometime ago). Pepsi had paid MJ a sum of $1.5 million which MJ donated to a burn centre named after him.

Did MJ undergo skin lighting treatments?

There are many articles (click here to read one from MTV) which are published over the internet which states that MJ underwent skin lightening treatments and use to bleach his skin. This, to my knowledge, isn’t true as it was confirmed that MJ suffered from vitiligo and lupus which was the cause of change in MJ’s complexion.

In 1986, there were images revealed of Michael sleeping in a oxygen chamber which during that time was claimed that he did so to slow the ageing process. Apparently, later it was found that it was done so to treat the skin disorder he was suffering from.

Were the sexual abuse allegations on MJ true?

1993: The most controversial question of MJ’s life, which was the prime reason for the decline of his metal peace, public image and to some extent, his career. However, there are many comments on the topic with the recent rumors that Jordan Chandler (the child who accused MJ) has confirmed that he had then lied (click here to read one of them). But, there have been no such announcement by any news (or other such dependent) sources. Anyways, with the amount of resources present, I would infer that the charges were false because the description provided by Jordan of MJ’s genitals didn’t not match (as a result of 25 minutes strip search). Also,the financial condition of Jordan’s father, Evan Chandler, also indicates that it was a way to extort.

MJ had settled the case out of court because of health issues with a financial set back of $22 million ($20m to Jordan and $1m to each parent).

2005: Gavin Arvizo, 13, accused MJ for sexual abuse which dragged him into People Vs Jackson. He was accused for four counts of intoxicating a minor, one count of abduction, and one count of conspiring to hold the boy and his family captive. The trial began on 31st January, 2005 and the vertict was announced on 13th June, 2005 by Superior Court of the State of California. The jury determined that he was not guilty of any charges.

Did Michael convert into Islam?

No, though there are articles (click here to read one from The Telegraph) on the internet which state that he converted to Islam but there is no official confirmation from MJ that he did.

Was Michael killed or did he suicide?

(Still working on this section, please contribute)

All the above are very controversial topics and everything mentioned is purely my view on them. No matter what the case may be but 1 thing is absolutely clear, MJ was used as a object to gain publicity by people like Evan Chandler, Gavin Arvizo, Press & Media and many others. Media had always highlighted the darker side of him and created negitive ripples amongst neutral audience. MJ, at a point of time was so frustrated with reporters that he stated:

Why not just tell people I’m an alien from Mars. Tell them I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight. They’ll believe anything you say, because you’re a reporter. But if I, Michael Jackson, were to say, “I’m an alien from Mars and I eat live chickens and do a voodoo dance at midnight,” people would say, “Oh, man, that Michael Jackson is nuts. He’s cracked up. You can’t believe a damn word that comes out of his mouth.”

I can keep on writing about him for ages but now, I would close by just wishing that his soul rests in peace.