Michael Jackson - Innocent or Guilty?

[HP]

Okay, so the jury have now acquitted him of ALL charges. But do you agree with their verdict? It seems to me that technically it may be the right decision, but I have my doubts. This, I admit, is not based on hard evidence of wrongdoing on his part, but on seeing those clips of him dangling his son from a hotel balcony, the baby thrashing wildly beneath a blanket covering its head - I mean just wtf was THAT all about? - and having watched with dismay as Jackson attempted to bottle-feed a baby (the same one? - poor little mite) during the Bashir interview. On that occasion, the baby was supported on Jackson's lap, with some kind of net curtain over its face. Unfortunately, Jackson's knee was jiggling so frantically the baby looked absolutely terrified - staring up at Jackson in wild-eyed alarm. These difficult, worrying images are hard to shift. Images so disturbing that, leaving aside the whole mire of possible/alleged sexual abuse, you have to wonder if such a man is sane or balanced enough to be trusted with the company of kids without supervision, anyway.

Anyhoo - what say you?

[gil]

I'm torn here. I think the accusers were dirtbags, and the case was not proven.

I think MJ is seriously immature, and can't fully be trusted around children. It's like putting a twelve-year old in loco parentis. And I don't think he's going to grow up.

Someone mature should be managing his life and cereer, someone who isn't dedicated to robbing him blind. If he'd had a proper trustworthy minder, none of this would have happened.

[Wavid]

He may not have been guilty, but he cleary isn't innocent either. I agree with gil that the accusers were money-grabbing ne'erdowells, but Jackson has been shown to be even weirder than many of us could be bothered to imagine. I just hope, in vain no doubt, that we never have to hear of the man again.

[HP]

Unfortunately, that's unlikely, Wavid. Thanks to the trial and a career that is seriously in decline, Jackson is now in so much debt the media vultures will be gathering en masse to tut over his death throes as a celebrity. The biggest wrangle seems likely to centre around his battle with Sony over full ownership of the Beatles catalogue. At present, both Sony and Jackson own 50% each. In order to pay off his debt, it's thought Jackson may well have to sell his half to Sony - something he's sworn never to do. Of course, there's also the Neverland estate. How much that is worth, lord knows, but there's bound to be several rich nutcases happy to own such a spooky slice of Wacko Jacko.

[amner]

It was a sobering evening indeed, watching the Martha Stewart documentary Martha and Me, and then turning over to News24 to see the Jackson trial verdict. The deranged squealing (is there a better word?) when the verdicts were read out for Jackson, and the crazily dedicated supporters of Stewart in thrall to their heroine, show a wider picture of misplaced priorities that must surely concern observers. What is happening here? Why are there people in this world who hold strangers they don't know and have never met and will never meet, in such dangerously high regard? That sort of unhinged idolatry really rather scares me.

On a related, but lighter note, there was a great line in Martha and Me. For those that don't know, or didn't watch it, Martha Stewart would appear to represent the epitome of domesticity and wholesome living in the US - until last year, that is, when she was found guilty of making false statements and sentenced to five months in prison. Anyway, film maker Jamie Campbell (a very charming and Theroux-alike dissembler) moved to the United States to investigate the story. He met some bizarre people, all of them just crazy about this woman.

One chap he met was besotted with her, and told Jamie how to decorate his trailer (he'd rented a trailer opposite the prison for the duration of her sentence) in Martha-endorsed paraphernalia. Later, as they ate dinner and talked, this guy explained why he loved Martha so much but insisted she was not a god, and certainly not perfect.

'There is only one person who has walked this earth, who can claim to be perfect,' he said.

With perfect timing, Jamie asked: 'Oprah?'

:lol:

[ono no komachi]

I agree that Martha & Me was fascinating, but I had exactly the same reservations watching it as those expressed in Sam Wollaston's TV review (http://media.guardian.co.uk/broadcast/comment/0,7493,1505717,00.html)today.

It was quite a good Louis Theroux impersonation, but I found myself disliking Campbell much more - I think 'sneery' is exactly the word for how he came across. And Michael, the big Martha fan, for all his peculiar devotion to the supposed domestic goddess, seemed like a perfectly nice chap. Campbell even seemed to be mocking the apparently industrious workers who came to put up his Martha Stewart white picket fence.

I was a little impatient as well, when he seemed to practically railroad a psychologist into coming up with 'borderline personality disorder' in a pseudo-hypothetical diagnosis of Stewart; the psychologist then very quickly saw what he was up to and sought to disassociate herself from the conversation.

Sorry, all very off-topic. Michael Jackson: preyed-upon sociopath who needs serious medical help but wouldn't surprise me if he was indeed innocent of all current charges.

[amner]

I don't know, ono, I think I probably liked him a little more than you in that case. I was a little shocked by the chicken decapitation though! Who expected that?

So, yes, back to Jacko. Medical help a must, definitely. Oh, and some serious cosmetic surgery, too, the guy just looks so weird!

[John Self]

I kept expecting a Private Eye cartoon during the run of the trial, in their Scenes We Seldom See series. It would have a bunch of people outside the courthouse, holding up placards saying things like "We're Withholding Our Judgement Until All The Evidence Is Heard."

[Maggie]

As for Jacko

The parents should be on trial right along with him. I would not, I repeat, would NOT let my kid stay over night with a 40 something yr old man who wants to be 10. A man who wants to be a girl. A black man who wants to be white, a man whose best friend is a monkey. What is with that ? These people are nuts.

Michael may have been found innocent on all charges but his plastic surgeon should surely be found guilty on something !

Maggie