~~~the Michael Jackson poll~~~

http://www.imagepourblog.fr/wp-content/uploads/michael-jackson-popcorn.gif

XD

I do not know if Michael Jackson molested kids;I still listen to his music.

Loudon Wainwright molested music; I still listen to his kids

I think he was innocent of the crimes charged, at least in the first case. Him settling didn't look good, but I read the evidence in great detail about ten years ago from the first case, and the evidence was weak. The father displayed shifty behavior, and had a prior shaky relationship with MJ before the criminal case. There were also some (admittedly uncorroborated) reports that the kid was 'horrified' when he found out his dad was filing charges.

some have pointed to the fact that neither kid has come forward after MJ's death (or before) to say the claims were a fraud, but who in their right mind would do that, and face scorn from the world?

we'll probably never know for sure...

love his music 4evah and still listen

I do not know if Michael Jackson molested kids;I still listen to his music.

^^this

if I had to put money on it, my money would be on "did not ever have sex with a child, but did some pretty weird shit"

^^ jesus juice

I feel like being a child in a room alone with Michael Jackson's emotional rollercoaster is traumatic in itself.

but then again, his house having actual rollercoasters kinda makes up for it. as for the molestation thing, uh idk

can't know for sure, but I don't think he molested kids. and I don't listen to his music... occasionally I'll put on a song, but he's not an artist I listen to much.

but I read the evidence in great detail about ten years ago from the first case, and the evidence was weak.

Shortly after his death, I too read a lengthy account of both cases & each reeked of flagrant opportunism iirc. The particularly damning aspects seemed to be numerous psychiatric evaluations, conducted independently from one another, concluding that the children in question did not display telltale signs of having been sexually victimized. Also, the reluctance of almost all of the other kids and families he had befriended over time to jump on the lawsuit bandwagon, despite the obvious monetary spoils, hush money etc. implicit in doing so. settling the first one certainly did not look good, but when you have all the money in the world and just want to get on w. your life & the alternative is a potentially infinite & very public court debacle & airing of untold dirty laundry, well, pretty easy to see why he took the path he did.

still, yeah, there clearly was plenty of WEIRD SHIT, even if it was not of a decidedly sexual nature.

can't know for sure, but I don't think he molested kids. and I don't listen to his music... occasionally I'll put on a song, but he's not an artist I listen to much.

― writing down my vagina’s sorrows for all the world to see (The Brainwasher), Sunday, July 24, 2011 7:13 PM (1 hour ago) Bookmark Suggest Ban Permalink

surprised abt this -- although since DJing more i dont really throw the track on on my own any more, until recently even though i had heard it a hundred times i would still play 'off the wall,' which seems like itd be totally in your aesthetic,

man i cant type today

surprised abt this -- although since DJing more i dont really throw the tracks from it on any more, before that, even though i had heard it a hundred times, i would still play 'off the wall.'

which it seems like bw would enjoy

I do like Off The Wall, certainly it's a classic album, but it's not something I ever feel like listening to. I respect him and his cultural impact and all that, but I guess his ubiquity kind of turns me off a bit? Especially because I didn't really grow up on MJ like that - he was more imporant musically to the generations before mine. For my generation (don't mean to speak so broadly, but this is the only way I can explain it) the focus was more on his public persona/WACKO JACKO, etc. Of course, we'd always hear "Rock With You" or "Beat It" at a BBQ or whatever, and VH1 played his videos all of the time, but he never really connected with me in a major way like he did with so many others. Honestly, I much prefer Janet Jackson to Michael. And I'm more likely to put on Jackson 5 or early solo Michael (Got To Be There or something like that) than Thriller.

The only albums he released during my lifetime were Dangerous (which I like a few cuts on, "Remember The Time" was big, and "Who Is It"... and I used to watch Free Willy on VHS all of the time so that theme song is one of my faves), and Invincible ("Butterflies" is classic, "Break Of Dawn," "Rock My World" remix... that's about it).

haha how old do u think i am??

'dont stop til you get enough' was the one i remember hearing a lot when i was younger, 'rock with you' also but less often, so when i got to hear the entire album for the first time in ... i dunno, late h.s. or early college? i remember it feeling pretty revelatory

ha I'm guess like late 20s, which is old to enough to have felt his massiveness as a musical figure a bit more. You remember when Bad came out, I'm assuming? I wasn't even born yet!

i very vaguely do. i was 4!!

lol well I dunno. Don't get me wrong, I'm not saying MJ sucks or anything. Just that there's lots of stuff I'd rather listen to. But if "Rock With You" or "PYT" or whatever comes on the radio or whatever I won't change the station, and I'll definitely sing along.

I'm only two years older than you and MJ ruled my childhood (not in that way).

Like, when MTV or VH1 had one of their Michael Jackson weekends, our family would sit and watch MJ videos all weekend.

I'm only two years older than you and MJ ruled my childhood (not in that way).

Yep. My parents gave me the cassette of Thriller when I was five. Now I post about it on I Love Music.

well I don't know what to say really

http://media.tumblr.com/tumblr_leuta3MR3p1qzvo62.jpg

my parents played mostly Reggae & soul music... and I listened to Hot 97 so....

I believe he was innocent, although a bit immature to say the least. In spite of his immatureness, however, he still made some wonderful music that I do still occasionally listen to.

Geir Hongro otm

kinda surprised brainwash is under 24!

i still happily bump MJ but i really feel like even given what little we know for certain or that MJ himself has admitted, that stuff alone is enough to qualify him as a child molester

how about "i don't know if he molested children and i still listen to his music"

later for all that reasonable hedge betting shit, be honest about whether you feel in your gut that he did or didn't

it's really easy to forget what MJ fandom was like pre-accusations. I mean the stories were flying around about weird shit he allegedly did long before that, but like, I forget now and then that his entire 80s output occurred during a period where he didn't have that cloud over his head.

(isn't that why he stopped touring the States, too?)

some dude otm

I think he did things with kids that were def. wrong and possibly illegal but I still listen to his music.

I remember when this was on the radio, guess I was 9:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=bPQmHwALAck

i feel like he did stuff that was inappropriate w/ kids, that much is obvious, but i find it easy to believe that he didnt physically molest them.

but obv i genuinely dont know, that some dude post is o_O to me sorry

hmmm

"did stuff that was inappropriate w/ kids" & "child molester" is probably a pretty thin line

not really! i believe he could have never done anything 'sexual' w/ them but its still totally inappropriate to have sleepovers with children

& fwiw sorry but im gonna ride the fence on this one & say i dont really know if he fucked them or not & this 'do you feel it in your gut' -- my gut says ... i have no fucking idea, the guy was crazy & i cant really imagine what his thought process was like

in times like this, i think it's best we turn to katt williams

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=dn_CQKW8Q2w&has_verified=1

iirc the medical examiner's report confirmed that he had vitilgo

(just sayin)

This article by John Jeremiah Sullivan is deeply sympathetic to MJ as an artist and a person, suggests he was essentially martyred by the molestation charges: http://www.gq.com/entertainment/celebrities/200908/michael-jackson-john-jeremiah-sullivan-tribute?printable=true

Automatic thread bump. This poll is closing tomorrow.

Automatic thread bump. This poll's results are now in.

That John Jeremiah Sullivan article is lousy. Saying that MJ's many accusers were 'crazy' and that they were all out for money is the same excuse Team Cosby is using against his accusers.

tbf that's a summary of halperin's thesis