Michael Jackson- Victim or Victimizer?

June 25, 2009

With the passing of Michael Jackson today, one of our generation’s biggest icons, my initial response was sad.

A few minutes later that had passed and I started to think about the child abuse allegations that he had been accused of in the last few years.

I loved Michael Jackson growing up. I think he had talent. I think he was an amazing dancer and entertainer and he took “rock star” to a new level. I still turn the radio up when I hear his songs. I am not questioning his talent nor his contributions to the entertainment industry, but as a mother his child abuse allegations are extremely disturbing to me.

Michael Jackson was a great singer and a pop icon- I liked his music and my family and I actually met him through a family friend in 1984.

However, I feel Michael Jackson (MJ) was a *serial* child molester / pedophile, or whatever term you want to use.

Non-molesters don’t have young boys over to sleep in their beds & then pay out millions to keep it quiet. Michael Jackson befriended young boys, sometimes from disadvantaged backgrounds, and then took them to his ranch, banning their parents.

This is a HUGE red flag. If MJ loved children so much, why didn’t he befriend them at Disneyland? Take them to public places, have their parents along, or just even go hang out at these children’s homes?

Giving MJ the benefit of the doubt, and assuming he was victimized by these families out to destroy him and get money from him, which is what MJ claimed, he should have never had put himself in a situation like this again after the first allegation. But he did, and he chose to do this- still taking the boys to his private ranch.

It is interesting how so many other celebrities like Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Madonna, Meg Ryan, Mia Farrow, etc., can have big hearts for children and work with them, and yet none of them have been “victimized” claiming they have been falsely accused of molestation for money. No child can describe Brad Pitt’s genitalia like one of Michael Jackson’s alleged abuser could. I don’t consider Michael Jackson bigger than “Brangelina”, and there have been no claims of inappropriate sleep overs from the Jolie-Pitt house. So I don’t buy into the money claim.

The FACTS are MJ was arrested once and accused twice of child molestation. He settled out of court once, and found not guilty once. Both times the details have been sealed, and millions of dollars were paid out. If he had nothing to hide, why not let the facts get out there to clear his name? Celebrities get accused of false things all the time, but very few of them get arrested, and hide the details-twice.

The case would never have gone to trial without sufficient evidence in the 2005 case, where Michael and the boy were discovered sleeping in bed together. How many other celebrities are having sleep overs with minor children in their houses with doors locked, and parents banned?

How many just normal parents have sleepovers like this with their children’s friends? I can imagine the outrage if a Boy Scout leader was found sleeping in his tent with boy scouts on on an overnight camping trip. Parents and the public would be outraged-as we should be. But since this is MJ and he could do the moon-walk, these facts are pushed to the background-suddenly a 40 year old man who has 13 year old boys sleep with him in bed, doesn’t matter.

I view this like OJ Simpson. He never got convicted and was found not guilty either of killing his wife and Ron Goldman, but he had a lot of money, and was able to create doubt. Even if he could run with a football. Are there any people out there ten plus years later that don’t think OJ had something to do with the murders of his wife and her friend? Even though the jury said he didn’t?

I don’t care what talent in life you have- if you put yourself in compromising positions when you are under a spotlight, especially with minor children, you create suspicion on yourself. You have to be even more careful. If they ever release the evidence and the facts of the cases about these boys and Michel Jackson comes to light that he was completely innocent, I will be the first to apologize for doubting Mr. Jackson’s innocence.

Michael Jackson’s family has my sympathy- no family should have to lose a loved one, but I am more sorry for the families of MJ’s victims and the position these young boys were put in by an ADULT man who should have known better not to have young boys locked in his bedroom sleeping in the same bed with him. Some things in life, you just don’t get to do- and this is one of them.

I don’t care if you can throw a football, raise money for children in Africa, run with a football, dance, sing, or are the greatest entertainer in the world. Putting yourself in compromising positions over and over again with young children, that raises a question of inappropriate behavior with them is wrong. No matter who you are.

There is no free pass for taking advantage and molesting children. Don’t take them in your bed to sleep with them. Don’t lock the door to the bedroom, and don’t ban the parents. Seems pretty simple to me. We all make mistakes, and no one is perfect. How could MJ NOT have known or had not been advised to do this- but he chose to do it anyway.

The world lost a great entertainer, but his victims have lost their innocence too. They will never get that back. Victimizing the most vulnerable in our society is unforgivable, and I for one, can’t help but feel somewhat relieved that there is one less person putting innocent children in compromising situations.

Note: for more information, read The Smoking Gun: The Case Against Michael Jackson: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/010605jackson.html

**NOTE: If you don’t share my opinion with me fine-feel free to leave your thoughts. I don’t allow swearing or profanity on my blog and if you leave profanity in your comments I will delete the comment and block your IP. Let’s discuss but also be civil. Thank you.**

October 19, 2009-

Thank you for all the respectful comments and discussion. It is very evident from the comments that people feel passionately about MJ’s innocence or guilt, depending on what they personally believe. Many readers provided evidence for both sides, and these added greatly to the discussion. My intention on this post was to never debate the legal matters and dig up every document ever produced on the case. It was my opinion, as a mother, on how I felt about MJ’s behavior with children. It seems more and more people are becoming very hostile, rude, and disrespectful when offering their opinion, and since I have less and less time to monitor the comments closely, I have decided to close the comments on this post. I thank everyone again for the civil discussion.

Heather

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125 Comments

Mary says:

FINALLY! Its so nice to read your point of view. I agree completely! All I’ve heard all day is how sad everyone is. I simply am not.

June 26th, 2009 at 12:45 am
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June 26th, 2009 at 5:17 am
Anita says:

Hearing all these people saying how wonderful he was, the icon, on a par with Elvis etc. is annoying. I am convinced he was a pedo who had the money to create an illusion to support his mindset. If he had been a regular guy down your road you would be keeping a close eye on your kids.
It seems to me that he was a deviant who was blessed with pure talent, he capitalised on this to feed his obsessions and fancies like his looks, what a mess up, Neverland what a smokescreen, his millions what a ledger, family life…Well, let’s not start mocking the dead.
When I last saw Michael Jackson performing he seemed unable to sing a note, he just pointed the microphone at the crowd, the pathetic crowd went along like they always do, yeh..I thought.. God gave it to you and now he’s taken it away.
The news is that he was on tranquilizers, pain relief and anti-depressants!…The two biggest killers are EGO and GREED and I bet they figure in this story line too, they’re usually in there somewhere.
If you ask me he was a let-down of a “super star”, I’ll always remember the weird sound when he talked. Everything about him seemed false.

June 26th, 2009 at 6:17 am
Halala Mama says:

I do agree with you. I think he was an enormous musical talent, but his personal demons took over and ate away at his entire life and those whom he victimized. I am watching bits of the coverage and just thought, “I wonder what his victims are thinking?” They probably have had to just turn the television off to avoid all of the “news.”

June 26th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Lis says:

Amen to that.

June 26th, 2009 at 3:14 pm
Gregory says:

There are a lot of facts about Mr. Jackson that may surprise you.

Read the legal cases and study the evidence and facts about him before you make a conclusion.

For example, I think plastic surgery is for weirdos, but it is clear that his plastic surgery was bought to manage skin diseases that he possessed. Seems reasonable.

I am against unnatural relationships between adults and children, but Neverland was built as a place for him to live the childhood he never had -having been repeatedly beaten by his father (who had been a boxer) while on tours. No evidence was found by any investigator of the property of anything at all involving pedophilia or homosexuality. That is interesting considering the accusations and considering the essence of the Neverland Ranch.

Also, consider the MOTHER of the first accuser sided with Jackson, and it came out 3 years later that the accuser’s father (later sued by the son as abusive) induced the statement of alleged misconduct from his son using drug-like chemicals. Consider that another accuser admitted his accusation was false to a school official, two other accusers recounted an accusation with contradicting details, and that Mr. Culkin, on site for a long time said that everything was completely false. Lastly, there is publicly available evidence showing that the accusers implicitly remarked they were “out for the money.” These people have not suffered psychological harm evident in other victims of abuse.

Obviously celebrities get away with things that non-celebrities cannot–however there are a lot of facts about Mr. Jackson that have been distorted.

June 26th, 2009 at 3:26 pm
Heather says:

Michael Jackson was not a pedophile. He changed childrens lives. He took these kids to Disneyland and everything else. But that obviously wasnt good enough for the two mothers who brought up false accusations against him. He was acquitted! I strongly believe that if Michael Jackson hadnt had all that plasic surgery (and looked like a “weirdo”) none of that ever would have happened. Look at R Kelly… total pedophile… and nothing was said about what he did, over and over again. I feel that Michael Jackson had a horrible childhood. BUT! He really did make the world a better place… and he will truly truly be missed.

June 26th, 2009 at 5:12 pm
Sarah says:

I believe Michael Jackson was the Victim of greed and grifters. He was an incredible talent and a very odd duck. He was a shrewd business man (owning a major portion of the Beatles catalogue etc) and a very naive, child like person.He was different. Very different and that makes people very uncomfortable. But he loved children and may very well have wanted to live vicariously through them. I find his behavior strange but is that a reason to believe the very worst charge that can be levied against another human being? He gave millions of dollars to children’s causes. He met the second boy because the boy was supposedly dying with terminal cancer (he is still very much alive and living in Atlanta) and MJ paid all the hospital bills. These people were, are, grifters. Last November the mother was charged with Welfare Fraud. Unfortunately for Michael Jackson, he made some very bad choices in his personal life and the people he trusted. These choices carried over until his death. RIP, Michael Jackson. May you finally have the Peace on the Other Side that you were never able to find here.

June 26th, 2009 at 5:42 pm
victoria says:

well said i agree with totally

June 26th, 2009 at 5:58 pm
victoria says:

i too loved him as a child back in 1985 then i became a mum.his misic was good but he was no saint.its about time people realised that

June 26th, 2009 at 5:59 pm
James says:

To Sarah, who said Jackson was a “shrewd businessman”, I’m afraid that was a misguided statement. A ‘shrewd businessman’ would not overspent by $20-30m dollars a year (as stated by his former accountant) and would not have suffered debts of over $300 million.

June 26th, 2009 at 6:26 pm
Lisa says:

I’m really not sad to see him go… I firmly believe in karma and that MJ got exactly what he deserved in the end.

June 26th, 2009 at 7:28 pm
Sharon says:

What exactly did Michael get that he deserved? Death? We’re all going to get that if Jesus delays his coming? None of us really know if MJ molested those boys. We only know what’s put in the media. It’s sad how we’re always ready to believe the worst in somebody. I guess its our human nature – sin nature. I pray that before we stand ready to accuse anyone we take a good look at the man in the mirror.

June 26th, 2009 at 8:35 pm
A Mama's Blog says:

Personally, the way Michael Jackson looked, has no bearing on how I feel about this.

He had every right to build a ranch for himself- but he did not have the right to have children stay in his bed with him naked.

There is a lot of information and evidence from the 2005 case that leads me to believe his intent was not pure towards children. The BBC reported during the trial the judge blocked porn pictures that had been found on MJ’s computer because it wasn’t during the time frame of the case, but there were hundreds of pictures, mostly of teenagers. http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/4376959.stm

Of course we don’t know if MJ was looking at all of these hundreds of pictures or not, but again- if his intentions were so pure, he would have never put himself or these children in situations like this that would call his motives into question. If MJ’s motives were so pure, he would have been the first to understand this.

Why would he ever risk his reputation and disappoint so many fans by these doubts of molestation HE created? He brought the boys to his ranch and banned their parents. He locked the door to the bedroom and slept naked with the boys.

No one can say for sure what happened, but to me this isn’t an idol- someone who should be remembered as loving children. I don’t feel grown adults who love children put them in compromising situations like Michael Jackson did.

Michael Jackson was a grown man, who made very unwise decisions involving children, that will haunt his reputation forever.

This isn’t about people wanting to believe the worst about him, but especially in this case, actions speak louder than words. Michael Jackson’s actions towards children speak loud and clear.

June 27th, 2009 at 1:31 pm
Ire says:

I am very sad about the news of his passing.
The first thing I thought, since the internet news said he had some cardiac arrest, he had too much and so much going on that is badly affecting him inside (and probably outside). And he had to take it all on him. Can you imagine all that stress and stretch it over the years… Even if from the start of his stress, let’s try to assume he was taking medications, those things HAVE SIDE EFFECTS.

Nobody’s perfect. Mike’s not perfect – I can say that in the POV in his personal life (marriage). And also, from the POV of his ‘surgeries’. To me, surgeries weren’t necessary for him (hate the nose, Mike, why you have to do it) – if it wasn’t for medical reasons.
I HONESTLY don’t know all the details regarding the pedo case of MJ but I STRONGLY don’t believe that Michael’s a pedo. I think those accusers are just in for the money.
And of course the media. The MEDIA would LOVE TO SELL out such a NEWS and a LOT OF PEOPLE WOULD JUST BELIEVE WHAT is SAID BY THE MEDIA – whether true or not. You can easily be falsely accused of being a BAD person and be surprise that whenever you’re out on the street, people will throw rocks at you.

There’s a lot to love about Michael. There’s just something about him that although you never seen him in concerts or bought an album of his, something (for some people like me perhaps) like a part of them died when Michael passed on.

Michael is a victim. Sometimes, what you see outside is a reflection of the inside. I HONESTLY hate the weird NOSE, I think that’s one good evidence that something’s going on inside but Michael just never told anyone about it. Took it all in, affected his physical health over the years, and died.

June 27th, 2009 at 2:01 pm
Lynn says:

Wow…this country just lost one of the most talented musicians we will see in our lifetime and as opposed to celebrating his life and legacy many are choosing to dwell on the darkest times of his life. I for one do not believe any of the allegations. If I thought for one moment that any of the allegations were true I would never have sent a child of mine to his home – for anything – sick or not. I believe this man was an easy target and unfortunately this was his downfall. As are millions of fans, I am choosing to remember him for the 35+ years of magnificence that was Michael Jackson. That can never be taken away from him. For those of you who choose not….what a shame.

June 28th, 2009 at 1:16 pm
Dawn says:

Michael is strange but *NOT GUILTY* of child molestation. Please watch this and learn the truth about Michael in his own words. http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvhwWDCV9Bo

The first allegation was from a family that REFUSED to press charges, would only accept money. Michael is definitely a target, given his proximity to kids. So are teachers, by the way, and many INNOCENT teachers have had their careers destroyed by kids/parents with a personal vendetta. I have witnessed this.

The second allegation came after journalist Martin Bashir cast suspicion on Michael, in his documentary which they are replaying after Michael’s death. PLEASE WATCH THE VIDEO,from Michael’s own cameras, during the making of the Bashir video. Bashir blatantly omits portions of Michael’s interview, making him look like a criminal. If you want to know the truth, please watch at youtube, it’s in several parts-

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=xvhwWDCV9Bo

June 28th, 2009 at 1:53 pm
Alex says:

I agree with you Dawn. Unfortunately the tabloid mentally will always be with us.

June 28th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
remy says:

seriously? what is WRONG with you people? the man’s dead, and you’re all pissed that we’re not talking about how he touched on little kids and gave them alcohol???the reason why nobody’s bringing that up is because death is supposed to be looked at from a good perspective. and michael jackson changed so much for african americans and much more. so he went down a bad road, but we’re all not perfect. and NONE of you can prove that he is a child molester. so stop. he IS an icon and will be remembered by the way he reached out to people &- gave them hope and joy. so im so sorry to burst your bubble by not talking about him like he’s a sicko. why can’t we just remember him &- celebrate what he left behind?

June 28th, 2009 at 11:47 pm
therealsandyboo says:

Romans 6:7) . . .For he who has died has been acquitted from [his] sin.

Let it go people! No one has lived the life of Michael Jackson – NO ONE. Elvis, Sinatra, Marlon Monroe, The Beatles they all had childhoods. Michael Jackson never matured past the age of 12 (if that)and should have received help way back then – but nobody was concerned about that. He was a young sensation a money maker. Where were the Nancy Graces and Gloria Allreds advocating for child rights and protection?

The man child never experienced true happiness or any sort of normalcy so why should be expect him to be normal.

I’m the parent of an adult son and I would have never allowed my son to spend the night with any man or man child. The parents are just as responsible for the inappropriate behavior.

June 29th, 2009 at 6:02 pm
Jesmi says:

Michael Jackson was a grown man, who made very unwise decisions involving children, that will haunt his reputation forever.

This isn’t about people wanting to believe the worst about him, but especially in this case, actions speak louder than words. Michael Jackson’s actions towards children speak loud and clear.

June 30th, 2009 at 2:03 am
Heather C. says:

It’s obvious that the media doesn’t want to focus on all aspects of MJ’s life. That’s all I have seen on the news was about his life through fame. I’m tired of hearing about him.

Michael Jackson was a pedophile and an entertainer. He was very talented in his younger years but his career as he became older wasn’t that impressive to me.

For those that claim…”He didn’t have a childhood” as an excuse as to why he acted like a child during the allegations of sexual misconduct with children….Please.
A pedophile acts like a child in order to gain the trust and sympathy of a child.

If you are going to glorify someone then could it at least be someone worthy?

June 30th, 2009 at 9:18 am
kay says:

it is so sad that people focus there thoughts accusation against micheal jackson. He gave so much to people. People used his accusations to make a great man a monster. let god be the judge its in his hands no

June 30th, 2009 at 9:24 am
Leila says:

You “perfect” people take your minds out of the gutter and stop acting like judgemental puritans. Every culture of social economic background brings inherent differences to situations that may be perceived as abnormal to some, but are not out of the ordinary to others. I came from an impoverished family. With a sainted single mother who worked two jobs,she had been abandoned by our dad and we grew up in a two bedroom house, my mom rented out one room and we all slept with her in another. I know this to be true from experience, that not all of us grew up in middle class families with big lawns and a bedroom for each sibling. Later in life I still don’t see it as taboo. Michael grew up with seven siblings in a tiny 2bd home, prior to fame and fortune and probably never thought twice about having sleepovers, especially when the consenting parents were in the same house on most of these sleepovers. Why did he not go to Disney with them instead? Well I guess you have never been famous. McCauly Kaulkin had sleep overs and said, there were never any impoprieties by Michael, he just played games and sang songs and performed for them. Although attorneys tried to get him to testify(lie)against him. We are in a society where greed and lies are linked hand in hand. I read today that the child who had brought the accusations stated he had lied and had been coerced along with other witnesses. Some people will lie for 100 bucks, 20 million will bring out the worst of people. Although we should protect children, not all cases are true. Michael was a passive,generous and charitable human being. He was non-confrontational and it was in his nature to want to just give these people the money. Not out of guilt but because he was a vulnerable and scared (child like) person. Let us stop throwing stones. Hopefully you will never (God willing) be accused wrongly of any crime. Now about the testimony on the genital, who knows maybe perceiving a law suit in the works, he was spied on. In any case being a libra, I have been born with this strong sense of justice and have had intuitive feelings about people and this case has always made me feel uneasy. I really detest mob mentalities and witch hunts. Please people be a little more open minded and stop being so darn critical. Did you ever ask yourself this question why did the buck stop at the money, where were the criminal charges or outrage. It wasn’t hush money, because as a parent no money would shut me up if I believed my child was abused!

June 30th, 2009 at 6:34 pm
Ley says:

So now what? MJ paid the kid $22 mil and the kids fam came forward saying they lied bc they WERE POOR!!!! Are you serious? This family ruined Mikes life, reputation, etc. Will there be repercusions? Should there be? Is it a hoax?
I have not seen this on CNN.

June 30th, 2009 at 7:49 pm
Nandi says:

People really need to read about the cases before casting their judgments. The father of the first accuser had Michael prepare a wing in his mansion for him and his family to move into. He was tape recorded,and this recording was played in court,talking about how he basically wanted to ruin Michael’s career and how he could gain anything he wanted by doing so.What loving, caring,parent would accept money from a pedophile who molested their kid? Any real parent would fight to see that pig rot in prison.The second accuser’s mother had a history of welfare fraud and also on coaching her kids to lie on her behalf. In an incident at a JC Penny’s where her kids were caught stealing, she accused the store’s security of beating her and sexually harrassing her,and of course she had her kids lie to back her up.These topics were all brought up when she was cross examined.She pled the fifth to welfare fraud as well. Before the trial even came about though, she ran to the lawyer of the first victim to file a civil suit against MJ..why would a parent run to the same lawyer who got the first accuser money in a civil trial instead of going to someone who could help convict the alleged pedophile? It doesnt make any sense.I cant say I know MJ is innocent of ever touching a child but as far as those two cases go, if you go to TheSmokingGun.com, and read the documents and the testimony you’ll see that those parents were nothing but rats and roaches.

July 1st, 2009 at 7:06 am
Lovely says:

MJ was a great entertainer and he was an American icon. However, he didn’t live a decent life and he was very mentally ill. This world is so “celebmerized” that a famous person can and have gotten away with murder. MJ ‘s life needs to be looked at in proper perspective. He made great contributions to this nation, but if the chid molestation accusations are true he did great harm. Mother Teresa needs to be glorified and sacantified, not Mr. Jackson. I hope God heals his wounded soul.

July 1st, 2009 at 10:35 am
Lovely says:

I researched Roman 6:7 and my study bible says that you are free from sin because you are no loner in the flesh and dealing with fleshly issues. It also says that being acquitted from sin is referring to legal proceedings. Let no man think you could do dirt and harm and go to God and not have to review your live’s deeds-good deeds and bad. The Bible says that you have to pay for the deeds done in the Bible.

July 1st, 2009 at 10:48 am
Lovely says:

Correction: Deeds done in the body.

July 1st, 2009 at 10:50 am
Manuel says:

Ok, long post ahead, it just kills me to read this kind of ignorant and hate-filled articles. The woman who writes these is an absolute idiot. The parts that bothered me the most are:

Non-molesters don’t have young boys over to sleep in their beds…
(It’s your mind that’s in the gutter. Dr. Stan Katz, the psychiatrist appointed by the accusers, concluded that Jackson had become a regressed 10-year-old and did not fit the profile of a pedophile)

Michael Jackson befriended young boys, sometimes from disadvantaged backgrounds, and then took them to his ranch…
(He took children of all backgrounds, even famous ones like that Macaulay kid. Was he supposed to take only rich kids?)

Banning their parents.
(NOT TRUE. There were no reports on any banning and some parents even claimed they never left their kids alone with MJ. There was no locking either, like you say in another part)

If MJ loved children so much, why didn’t he befriend them at Disneyland?
(Because he’s Michael freakin Jackson! He can’t go anywhere without it becoming a media circus. That’s the reason he has his own Disneyland in the first place)

Giving MJ the benefit of the doubt, and assuming he was victimized by these families out to destroy him and get money from him, which is what MJ claimed…
(The family had a long history of attempting to extort celebrities)

No child can describe Brad Pitt’s genitalia like one of Michael Jackson’s alleged abuser could.
(The description didn’t match)

The FACTS are MJ was arrested once and accused twice of child molestation. He settled out of court once, and found not guilty once.
(NOT GUILTY. What does that tell you?)

If he had nothing to hide, why not let the facts get out there to clear his name? Celebrities get accused of false things all the time, but very few of them get arrested, and hide the details-twice.
(NOT TRUE. Big companies and celebrities settle out of court ALL THE TIME, and they often get arrested. And actually, he didn’t hide the details the second time, he went through with the trail and WON, even if it killed him)

The case would never have gone to trial without sufficient evidence in the 2005 case, where Michael and the boy were discovered naked in bed together.
(NOT TRUE. Nobody found anyone sleeping naked. Do you have any sources for any of the things you says?)

I view this like OJ Simpson.
(I’m guessing you are a white woman)

If they ever release the evidence and the facts of the cases about these boys and Michel Jackson comes to light that he was completely innocent, I will be the first to apologize for doubting Mr. Jackson’s innocence.
(The facts and the evidence exists, you just didn’t bother to read them)

July 2nd, 2009 at 9:12 am
Lovely says:

Manuel,

We get it your a fan of MJ. I hope you don’t consider this a “hate-filled” article. I don’t mean to have that spirit, I am just trying to look at buth sides of the situation. I also beleive in giving credit when it is due and earned. Michael the entertainer was great, Michael the man… You ommited to say that 2 of the jurors in his trial later changed their opinions and said they believed he was guilty. They just didn’t have the courage to come up against the other jurors, and the millions of die-hard fans that they would have encountered on a daily basis. Brad and Angie, Oprah, Madonna, and many other “stars” love and help children. But no one is accussing them of child rape. Why did MJ get “accussed” not once but twice. Common sense would have told him to change his behaviour the first time, right? You need to read the Smoking Gun story. MJ fans need to keep it real!! Love the man’s legacy as an artist, but admit he was sick and had some deep-seated issues. P.S. I am not a white woman, I am black!!!

July 2nd, 2009 at 10:58 am
Hedda says:

well I AM a white woman, as white as a cloud, and I LOVED Michael Jackson. I grew up with his music, my dance troupe as a pre-teen teenager ..my dance teacher would have us warm up to his music all the time. I am heartbroken that people cannot just trust their instincts that he was a good man, and have to believe all this horrible stuff and that people are basically just dancing on his grave. well I’m happy to say that where he is, he finally doesn’t care and it finally doesn’t break his good heart anymore.

I actually have a theory that Michael was a victim of sexual abuse himself while a child. I bet a lot of psychologists may have had this theory based on things about his life. However, although being a victim of sexual abuse can be one of several factors that can lead to being an abuser, most victims never become perpetrators.

I know all this because I have done a lot of research. I started having nightmares about my dad a few years ago. Then my dad started saying “weird” things at dinner, he is mentally ill, but he has many times mentioned things about children and sex…sometimes very subtle like the other night he brought up the move “the professional” with Natalie portman when she was young and borderline pedophlic themed movie. the rest of my family thinks I’m crazy but it happens again and again that he brings up things like this that seem to have no bearing on the conversation…we were talking about a totally unrelated movie….almost like he is giving us hints.

If y ou don’t believe in repressed/recovered memories, then just stop reading here. Actually I still have had no actual memories and don’t know if I ever will, just horrible dreams every once in a while.

well my dad is a computer geek, fairly smart works for the government. He is a pretty boring guy, not a lot of friends, but no one would ever suspect him of being a pedophile because he is so bland and “normal”.

well my dad is not obsessed with childhood and doesn’t lure children with candy. he doesn’t have a single toy except maybe a couple special ones he saved from his own childhood in a box somewhere in the basement for keep’s sake. he has adult guy toys, historical fiction books, iphone like most american men do these days, especially geeks .star trek. he is a trekky. google “star trek pedophiles”…it may sound bizarre but these are real possibilities of commonalities of pedophiles. I think that the old luring kids with lost puppies thing and a grown man being obsessed with toys and childhood thing is outdated, and may not be all that accurate psychology wise…although I am sure it is still true for some pedophiles.

but that is not to say a man who had a very pressure filled childhood, who possibly was abused himself, could not be obsessed with childhood, perhaps in an unhealthy way but it not have anything to do with sexuality or taking advantage of innocent children in such a predatory way…sex and power ..hunting. both are part of pedophilia. as much as we don’t like to admit it actually has to do with sexual desire for some people, it does..but it’s true it also has to do with power and preying on someone weaker than themselves. I don’t think either of these things applied to Michael.

July 2nd, 2009 at 5:34 pm
Hedda says:

…I don’t want to ever ever say that it is impossible that Michael did these horrible things he was accused of..because my family hasn’t believed me, and just in case, I don’t want to ever be one to say that something some child said happened didn’t happen and to make them powerless like I have been…especially when I was only a fan like many others and of course I never met Michael in person. I also don’t want to ever be a part of a society that doesn’t listen to kids because even though I don’t believe Michael ever did these things, it’s quite possible another celebrity case could come up someday in which the person really was guilty, and precedents are set even outside of a courtroom in the way our society handles these things…not just for celebrities but for every case where a child was wronged.

That said, in my heart I just don’t believe that michael did those things. and it’s not just because i don’t want to let go of the music.

July 2nd, 2009 at 5:45 pm
A Mama's Blog says:

Based on the Smoking Gun Story: The Case Against Michael Jackson: http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/010605jackson.html,

I have edited the original post from Michael Jackson sleeping naked in bed with boys to sleeping with them in the same bed. This was an oversight on my part, and I can’t seem to find any claims from the police that MJ slept naked with boys, but there is plenty of claims that he did share his bed with young boys.

July 2nd, 2009 at 10:26 pm
Lori says:

I married a pedophile. My so-called husband perped on his ( our ) own children! I also cried when I realized MJ died. then, i honestly didn’t know how to feel! Personally, I would like THE TRUTH! I DO NOT CARE WHO YOU ARE! NEVER MESS WITH A MOTHER,S CUBBS! If Michael Jackson is INNOCENT then I would actually consider him as a SAINT! So, I do believe…
THIS MATTERS!!!!!!!!!

July 3rd, 2009 at 8:30 am
Lisa says:

I don’t consider myself a MJ fan, but I have enjoyed his music over the last thirty eight years. When he was accused of pedophilia and admited to having boys sleep in his bed, I tuned out. I did not listen to the “evidence” and wrote him off. I am ashamed to say that I gave O.J. the benefit of the doubt. However, once Michael Jackson died, i actually looked at the “evidence” and was stunned to realize that the “evidence” was purely testimonial–he said-she said. There was no physical evidence. It’s amazing that the LA prosecutors didn’t dump the 2005 case at the outset. I think that they had to pursue it because people were weirded out by his public admission that boys slept in his bed. Would a pedophile really publicly admit to having young boys sleep in his bed? We all know that MJ’s childhood was stolen. We all knew that he identified and trusted children more than adults. I don’t think that it’s so difficult to make the leap that he had truly regressed to a child-like personality.
I believe that when a crime as horrific as pedophilia is alleged, we all tune out and are not as objective as we should be. I know I was and I hope that I don’t rush to such judgments in the future. By writing MJ off, I just missed the gift and talent of his music.
Final note, as an attorney, I can tell you that there are a host of reasons for settling a case. It is my understanding that the money for the original settlement was not MJ’s but rather, insurance money. Further, he was persuaded to settle out of Court by friends Lisa Marie Presley and Liz Taylor after he had a near breakdown. When you look at the actions of the parents of the alleged victims and the fact that there was no physical evidence of a crime, I believe that these people were grifters.

July 3rd, 2009 at 10:23 am
Lisa says:

Lisa:

One last note, when a confidential memo regarding the LA’s DEpartment of Children and Family Services finding that there was no merit to the claims was “leaked” in 2004, the accuser’s family brought suit seeking monetary damages.

http://i.abcnews.com/GMA/Story?id=127810&page=1

The original memo can be located at http://www.thesmokinggun.com/archive/dcfsmemo1.html

July 3rd, 2009 at 1:04 pm
Alex says:

If any of you anti-MJ pro-pedophiles can present facts that can prove your claims that he was a pedophile, then present them or forever hold your peace. The man is dead now and there is no room for opinion/reason.

All I have read on the anti-MJ side here are mere opinions, all based on what appears to be emotions and not facts.

The facts are, he was served due process and was found “innocent on all charges.” That means he committed no crimes.That means he was not a pedophile. That means you need to let it go and stop trying to infer guilt.

Perhaps you should focus your attention and energy on the real child abusers in this case and they are the ones who used their children for their own personal gain while destroying the life of a true benefactor who gave more life to all and less to none.

July 3rd, 2009 at 4:07 pm
Alex says:

Correction: anti-MJ pro-pedophiles theorists*;please not I wasn’t inferring a support of pedophilia but the theory that MJ was one.

July 3rd, 2009 at 4:32 pm
Karen says:

I agree totally. Now there are so many out there publishing lies about Jordan Chandler, saying he lied and is now admitting it. If you read his complaint on The Smoking Gun website, its a very typical description of how pedophiles operate. I’ve read time and again that MJ paid off many boys and their families, upwards of two hundred million dollars over the years. No doubt, he was a talented man, but also a tormented person and obviously a pedophile. But if you day say a word against him they will tell you that you will burn in hell. The sad thing is that these kids that were molested, many of them grown now have a very different point of view of Jackson. the kids that were victimized are being victimized again by the people that vilify them for telling the truth. As a victim of child molestation myself, I can tell you that it is a lifelong battle to overcome. The scars never go away. The people that turn and attack child abuse victims are truly wicked.

July 4th, 2009 at 10:32 am
Common Sense says:

Why would Michael want to settle out of court if he was not guilty?

Perhaps to save the years of possible cout battels that would be accompanied with continued bad publicity and public scorn and further damage his career. Most lawyers would recommend settlement for a celebrity client. Seeing it through to court and being proven innocent would not have prevented public scorn as so many claimed. After all he was found innocent in 2005 but we still accuse him and associate guilt.

Why would a parent whose child has been molested settle out of court? Beats me – they could have prosecuted and sent MJ to jail and still sued him and got millions. What parent would not see the person who ruined their child’s live through to justice.

Mike was never convicted of anything so if he was a molester he got away with it. So where are the victims now that they are adults who can speak for themselves – on their own behalf? Why have they not come forth and declared him a molester or to seek the justice they have not gotten? The victims of the Catholic Priest came out decades later and won justice for themselves – where are the supposed MJ victims?

Someone call him a serial molester on here – that’s funny because serial molester do not molest once every 10 years – they molest every chance they get. Molester do not pick and choose their victims – they molest any child they have access too. If MJ was a serial molester or a molerster at all common sense dictates there would be loads of victims givien the fact that he had access to hundresds of children throughout the years.

I know a teacher that was accussed of molesting a student. He was offered a plea bargain because of the victims questionable past of false accusations. He refused it and defended himself in court and won!!! However, he was never able to get a job as a teacher again and now sells insurance for a living. He lost everything defending himself including his marriage due to the financial strain of the legal fees as well as not be able to find a job.

Moral – in a society where we live adn breath gossip adn innuendo – all it takes is a accusation to ruin someone. Truth only matter in eternity. MJ now has his truth whether we know it or not.

July 4th, 2009 at 1:17 pm
Alex says:

I simply asked if anyone can produce direct evidence of their opinion and others who share it that in fact Michael Jackson was a pedophile.

I am not talking about hearsay, opinions, out of court settlements, which by the way are not an admission of guilt, just ask any insurance company. They make them every day of the week to avoid long drawn out costly litigation. Just simply the facts.

I don’t believe anyone can. So we are left to “our own personal feelings” about what really went on.

In the end it simply comes down to how we were conditioned to think about people who may be different.

People can be different, quite different then what we are used to. They may do things that make eyebrows raise but that doesn’t in itself make them criminals. It just simply makes them different and that’s what I believe was the case with Michael Jackson: He was different

I invite you to read the following. I think you will find it quite interesting:

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/james-arthur-ray/no-one-who-was-normal-eve_b_222024.html

Best regards,
Alex

July 4th, 2009 at 5:49 pm
Lawanda says:

I am reading some of the blogs and am not surprised at the tone of some of these. “He got what he deserved.” How can someone deserve death. I am a Christian and I was not there and I look at the evidence. Okay, the first so called molestation charges were paid off, not a good mood, but with how the media takes everything and to try to save his image, understandable. He wanted this to go away. But even after the so called doubt was put there, who would allow their children to go to his home and be alone with him after this. This sounds like a ploy from the beginning. Then the 2nd accuser’s own mother said that nothing had happened and that her son’s father had put him up to it. Come on people, this is a classic case of believing what the media says, not the facts. Evidently there was not believable evidence to convict him because the jury looked at the evidence and found him “NOT GUILTY.”
That is a problem with people and believing everything that is said. But when someone lies on you and it is believed by everyone how will you feel.

Think about this before you cast judgment.

July 4th, 2009 at 6:41 pm
Lovely says:

I agree with Hedda about MJ possibly being sexually abused. The Jackson family is quite weird sexually. Jermained married Randy’s ex-wife and had two kids by her. Now the kids from both brothers are first cousins and brother and sisters. Latoya was in that strange S&M marriage. Latoya said MJ was sick and needed help and she also said that the father had sexually abused her. Later she recanted her statements due to family pressure. Joe Jackson has a seperate family. Janet had a “secret” marriage, and was known to be a freaky chick (I do love Janet, though). One of the Jackson’s ex-wives died mysteriously in the swimming pool. The Jackson’s have so many secrets. I beleive that is why MJ got so sick, and why he hated his father.

July 5th, 2009 at 10:51 pm
Lovely says:

Tito’s wife (the one that drowned) was murdered by her boyfriend. Tito was instrumental in bringing the prep to justice.

July 5th, 2009 at 11:13 pm
Manuel says:

Lovely: I’m not an MJ fan, you are very quick at jumping to conclusions. My indignation doesn’t come from appreciation of his music or robot-dancing abilities, it comes from people’s readiness to assume the worst from others. Everyone basically says “He was a great musician, but also quite probably, a pedo”, as if a fact and and opinion belonged in the same category in the first place. It’s incredible that nobody here notices the difference. Mama’s Blog says “If he did these things to those kids, then…”, as if the man was still on trial. The man is dead, he died from a health condition that was worsened by the type of rumors and misinformation found in her very blog.

July 6th, 2009 at 8:06 am
Lovely says:

Manuel,

Thanks for responding back. I thought you were a fan because of your blog,maybe I was wrong. I think people look at poor Michael’s decline and weirdness. The transformaton of his face and the fact he said he only had two surgeries is obviously a lie, the public watched him grow up and we know how his face looked. The strange behaviours,and lies makes people feel like this–if you lied about his you might have lied about that. Lying about being the biological father of the kids, those kids are not black. Those types of things make you wonder and go, huuum. Thats what makes people automatically believe he sexually abused children. I do feel sad that he is dead, and that is probably why I am blogging for the first time. Anyway, he didn’t die of health conditions he died of drug abuse and not eating well. Like so many other “stars” that died before him. If you don’t have a strong mental foundation before your become famous your inner demons will kill you.

Peace out,

July 6th, 2009 at 1:45 pm
Lovely says:

I don’t know if people are aware that many people have killed themselves because MJ died. I find this totally absurd, but many people idolized him and they were obviously mentally unstable as well. His dying just pushed them over the edge. It is good to tell the truth and be real on these websites to help the people that are still alive and might be reading these blogs can get a fresh prespective. When you are an icon the world looks at the good, bad and the ugly of your life,but they want to sweep bad stuff under the rug and give you a free pass. That is the reality of fame and fortune. Only God, and the parties involved,know what MJ did with those children, and even though he is dead I can’t get past that and pretend he was this great postive force in the world, a part of him was and the other part was self-destructive. When the second allegatgions came down and it happened twice he lost my vote of confidence. I am here to say loud and clear he is NOT worth killing yourselves over no one is. So if anyone reading this blog feels like that please call someone and get help.

July 6th, 2009 at 3:15 pm
jo says:

funny thing is you are only pointing out crimes from blacks, u do know there are many whites who have gotten away with many crimes who are celebritys.

July 6th, 2009 at 9:05 pm
marcus says:

the world like MJ said needs heal…and some people too…leave michael jackson R.I.P. now…well….now he is…..so talk whatever we want he is R.I.P. now…..thanks God for it…and only god can judge .remeber that..cuz tomorrow is
another day and could happen the same thing with us….so be carefull…the divine justice dont fail never…dudes…

July 6th, 2009 at 11:36 pm
mrs. right says:

I usually dont reply or comment on others peoples opinions BUT you have your facts wrong . Please dont try to humiliate people in public if you dont even take time to list the correct facts that are public knowledge and public records. You sound like a silly, fast judging person who DOES judge first and ask questions later.

July 7th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
LuLu says:

I came across this blog while watching some of the mj memorial coverage. I like so many poeple have grown up with mj. I was a fan from his Jackson 5 years and through out the eighties. I wouldn’t call myself a huge fan, but i do own Off the Wall, Thriller, and I think his best Bad. After that album I did not really pay too much attention to him after that. He was off my radar for at least the past 15 years. I suppose I did not want to have to look at what he had done to his face(always thought he was such a cute guy when he was younger. When the abuse charges started cropping up I was surprised but not shocked. I always thought he was asexual. That whatever sexual energy he had it was brought out through his performances, which I always enjoyed. I suppose I wrote him off for being a freak. He did do freaky things. On the other hand I mourn the younger MJ before his demons got to him. I always thought of him as having a restless soul. Most restless souls have a driving force to succeed in whatever they do. I believe he is being judged right now for whatever wrongs he may have done in his life. Was he a victim or a monster? I really do not know. I do know that I feel very sad about his death and don’t understand why. I also feel sad for who ever he may have hurt during his lifetime. I just hope he will rest in peace.

July 7th, 2009 at 1:34 pm
marcus says:

RIGHT…… the answer was for me?
if yes what do you think you are…you and only you are silly…I have my opinion…whats the problem? public knowledge???? c’mon – hype knowledge!!!! Michael Jackson R.I.P now and nothing…nothing can change it… WELL ONE MORE THING FOR YA…..
“Great spirits have always encountered violent opposition from mediocre minds” and leave MJ in peace….if u “usually dont reply or comment on others peoples opinions”..do me favor dont reply..cuz the other time I will not be so polite..this is b******t respect my opinion plz…

July 7th, 2009 at 6:54 pm
venus says:

It is interesting to me how some people can compare MJ to OJ. What exactly do these two have in common except for their race? I find it insulting that people would even say their names in the same sentence. MJ was a musical genius who was a great humanitarian. OJ Simpson played football, big woop! I am saddened to see that no matter how far we think we have come as a people, statements like some of the ones above set us back 40 years. If you want to compare OJ to someone, compare him to Robert Blake or Phil Specter! And let me be very clear….I don’t like to speak for a whole race, but I feel confident as an african american saying, we don’t give a sh*t about OJ Simpson, and we are just as afraid of him as you guys. Please do not compare him to Michael Jackson!

July 7th, 2009 at 10:54 pm
A Mama's Blog says:

I was not using race comparing OJ to Michael Jackson because they are African American- I was using to compare how OJ was found not guilty, even though many thought he was. Just like there are some that think MJ was guilty of child molestation even though he was found not guilty.

Race in my mind has nothing to do with it. This post was not about race. There are white people that get off for crimes as well too, even though many think they are guilty. Phil Spector was found guilty of murder, so that wouldn’t have been a relevant example to use. http://www.nytimes.com/2009/04/14/us/14spector.html

In the end, no one really knows what happened with MJ and the children- I think it was odd, and that he should have known better- especially after being accused once of it. If you don’t share that opinion with me fine-feel free to leave your thoughts.

I don’t allow swearing or profanity on my blog and if you leave profanity in your comments I will delete the comment and block your IP.

Let’s discuss but also be civil. Thank you.

July 8th, 2009 at 11:52 am
Lisa says:

I also did not use OJ as a reference because of his race. I just thought that it was interesting in looking at the “evidence” after the MJ trial that there was none. With OJ, all of the really damaging evidence was suppressed because of the unlawful search conducted by the LAPD. In MJ’s case, the PD had a search warrant and conducted an extensive lawful search, but found nothing.

July 8th, 2009 at 4:46 pm
pramilla says:

I am a mother of 4 kids and I hear the maternal instinct in this post advocating for the alleged child victims. But I don’t see any maternal compassion for the child victim that was Michael Jackson. Thrust into celebrity at age 5 with probably a full spectrum of “wierd” adults surrounding him. Who knows his real story. I tend to think he was naiive and yes trying to re-live his childhood through other children. But I don’t know if he actually molested kids himself. I do know for sure that he was a victim, indeed a child victim. I hope his tormented soul is finally at peace.

July 8th, 2009 at 11:43 pm
Victor says:

You can research the allegation against Mr. Jackson as well as the information on the trial. We also have to admit Michael Jackson never made the best life choices because let’s face it, he did not live a ‘normal’ life in a normal word. His vision of the world was vastly different from yours and mine. This is evident by his life style. In 1993, Jordan Chandler told a psychiatrist and police that he and Jackson had engaged in sexual acts that included oral sex, the boy gave detailed description of Jackson’s genitals. The case was settled out of court for a reported $22 million. According to his publicist Michael just wanted this to go away, even though he proclaimed his innocence. However, in the court of public opinion, he became a very guilty child molester.

Here this interesting part that just never sank to his recent accusers. Perhaps they missed this part. Recently Jordan confessed that the molestation NEVER HAPPENED. “I never meant to lie and destroy Michael Jackson but my father made me to tell only lies. Now I can’t tell Michael how much I’m sorry and if he will forgive me.” Evan Chandler, his father was tape-recorded saying amongst other things, “If I go through with this, I win big-time. There’s no way I lose. I will get everything I want and they will be destroyed forever…”

As for the other alligations…only time will tell

July 9th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Lovely says:

Why are people trying to act like people comparing O.J. and M.J. is racial. It has nothing to do with race, they just happened to be black. Those of us that make the reference, are referring to innocent verdicts when it clearly should have been guilty verdicts. Men that declined into a form of insanity in their latter years, men that no matter what the obvious facts were–they were still worshipped and held above reproach. There is a video in which MJ does the sign of the cross and then grabs his groin. That right there should tell you what he felt about the church. It is so sad to see a whole world blinded by evil, because it could dance and sing, never mind the drug abuse, hedonistic lifestyle and boys in the bed. This is a sad day in the world when we can’t find better role-models in our world.

July 9th, 2009 at 12:58 pm
Lovely says:

Mama’s blog! You go girl–you keep it real, factual and on point. You try to be fair and impartial. Lets here it for us mamas. My three sons are grown now, but it is all about the children and making the world a safer, better place for them to thrive in; it is up to we mothers to be the voice of reason. Keep up the good work!

July 9th, 2009 at 1:03 pm
Lovely says:

Parmilla,

The Golden Rule is do unto others as you want it done to you. Not do to others what has been done to you. I do agree the MJ has some unsavory things happen to him in his youth. That would explain his oddness and sexual perversions. However, he found Doctors when he needed his drugs refilled, he should have reached out to those same MDs to address his mental health issues. He had all the money in the world to get the best medical treatments offered. If you or I destroy our body with bad plastic surgery, abuse drugs, strave ourselves and run around talking about we are like a Peter Pan we are going straight to the mental hospital. If families and societies would hold our “stars” to this same standard they wouldn’t be killing themselves left and right.

July 9th, 2009 at 2:26 pm
Lisa says:

Let’s just remember that we all know that Michael Jackson invited boys to sleep in his room because Michael Jackson told us on national television that he did. This was not uncovered by the police or revealed by the accusers but by MJ himself. Do you really think that a pedophile would do that?

For anyone who says that they don’t understand why he settled in 1993, I ask you, what did he gain? The whole world already knew about the allegations. The whole world knew that Jordie Chandler had supposedly described the appearance of MJ’s penis. Jordie Chandler or his father could have gone to the police and after a criminal trial, commence a civil lawsuit as was done against OJ.

July 9th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Lisa says:

He was branded a child molester from 1993 on.

I ask just one person to explain to me what he gained by settling.

July 9th, 2009 at 4:06 pm
Lovely says:

He admitted this on TV because it was public knowledge, and he was trying to make it seem innocent and pure. He gained his freedom from a court trail by settling out-of-court.(with a couple of different cases). Insurance companies settle when their insuredsl are guilty, or they have a good chance of losing in a court battle. They want to do damage control by settling for less than a jury trial might award. Money and fame bought MJ an acquittal. In the end his deeds tore him up from the inside out and he slowly destroyed himself.

July 9th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Lisa says:

Lovely

You don’t sound like an attorney to me. I am an attorney and have represented clients through their insurers for over ten years. You are just wrong to speculate what insurance companies do and don’t do for their own business interests. MJ was not you or I, people who would get an attorney for $150/hour. He was a superstar who would have had a team of $600/hour attorneys. Twenty million dollars is nothing to an insurance company under those circumstances.

Most importantly, you have failed to answer my very simple question: what did he gain? What did he gain?

July 9th, 2009 at 6:55 pm
Lovely says:

I never said I was an Attorney. But kudos to you if you are. I have 10 years of experience working in the insurance industry. He gained not having to go to court, hushing up the incident, and trying to salvage his image. That is what he gained.

July 9th, 2009 at 8:47 pm
Lovely says:

Oh, he also gained the police pictures that showed the spots on his penis that the child described kept hidden. He did not want all the evidence to come out in discovery and during a trial. Ms. Lisa, that sounds like a win, win for him. He also settled with his maid for approx. 2 million for moletsing her son. Wow, he sure found hisself in the same situation over, and over again. How did that happen?

July 9th, 2009 at 9:02 pm
Lovely says:

Read the Vanity Fair articles about MJ. The magazine talked to many families that turned over their children to MJ, and then they were abused. The magazine said that none of MJ lawyers have disputed their story.

July 9th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
Bruno says:

Anyone who makes an accusation that an adult has fondled a child without evidence or witnesses should place themselves in the same situation.

Lets suppose that the neighbor girl has accused your husband of touching her inappropriately, he is then arrested and charged…taken to trial and found not guilty. Is he now a pedophile?

So get real, in America, guilt has to be proven beyond a reasonable doubt. No amount of money can change that…PERIOD!

July 10th, 2009 at 12:18 am
Bruno says:

And another thing to consider…the families who were suing MJ for sexual abuse would not have settled out of court for 22m if MJ really was guilty.

In summary, if my child was molested by someone of his stature, no amount of money would allow me to settle out of court as I would want him to be found guilty rather than avoid the verdict altogether by accepting a cash settlement.

But alas, losers seem to find a way to take advantage of someone who has the generosity that MJ had towards children by ruining the one thing he tried to re-create…his own childhood.

July 10th, 2009 at 12:23 am
Lovely says:

First of all, only a nut would try to recreate something that can never be recaptured. All of that nonesense was just a lore for children. Every pedophile buys toys, games, puppies, etc. MJ just did it on a grand scale because he had money. Every parent is not decent (as we see in the world) some people would sell their children for money–as we see in Debbie Rowe and the “surragate mother” of Michael’s children. They were all bought and paid for. The parents of MJ ‘s victims were usually unstable (the better to manipulate them and seduce their youngsters). If one person accused a person, that is different. If many people are saying the same thing and accurately describing your private body parts, well, that is a whole different story. A sane person would have stopped putting themself in the same position the first time. A sick person is driven by their strange lusts, and they are out-of- control. Couple that with drug abuse and alcohol and children get hurt and sexually abused. IF the general public would stop financially supporting celebrities, and make them pay for their crimes and live in truth they wouldn’t be destroying their lives, and the lives of others. Michael WAS a victim–he was a victim of fame, and this sick nation that accepted him despite his perversions. Jail would have gotten him clean, and maybe he would have changed, once he realized that he was no more special than the rest of us. In the end he learned that lesson the hard way.

July 10th, 2009 at 10:20 am
Manuel says:

@Lovely:
You seem really angry in that last post, what happened? You tried to stay “fair and balanced” for a while but you fell back on the “I hated MJ and he got what he deserved” bandwagon. That’s a shame.

July 10th, 2009 at 1:47 pm
Lisa says:

Lovely, you’re again misstating the facts and relying upon media speculation. Jordie Chandler very clearly said that Michael Jackson had been circumcised. Michael Jackson was not circumcised. That would be an impossible mistake to make had Jordie Chandler really viewed MJ’s penis.

You may recall that upon hearing this, little Amy Fisher sitting in a jail cell said that she could identify Joey Buttafocco’s penis. Shortly after, Joey Buttafucco went off to jail.

Do you see a difference yet, Lovely?

July 10th, 2009 at 2:25 pm
Lovely says:

Manuel, Never said I hated him, I hate what he did. Anyone that takes advantage of a child is a monster, so if my tone is harsh, well there you go. On top of that this nation wants to idolize him like he was a god-like figure, and he was a common or should I say uncommon dope fiend. Lisa, now lets talk about all the other children he molested. I am sure you have a valid excuse for their abuse as well. Oh, lets also talk about him purchasing children, keeping them from their mother (if that is their mother) and slowly poisioning hisself while they were in the house. Wow, Mr. Jackson was just a peach of a man–oops, I mean boy/man, or should I just call him “Peter Pan”. Another thing, what is the story on the maid that got the 2 million for her son being touched. Darn, he sure had the worst luck with children. This happened to poor Mike over and over and over and over again. WOW such a bummer, well it is good it can’t happen anymore.

July 10th, 2009 at 2:57 pm
Lovely says:

Manual,

I do think that Michael got what he deserved, and he did it to himself. I believe he had insomnia because he had dirt on his hands, and a guility conscience. He didn’t want to live. He said it best, “I am looking at the man in the mirror, I am asking him to change his ways.” I wish he would have taken his own advice. The world would have been a better place with him here and in his right state of mind.

July 10th, 2009 at 3:06 pm
A Mama's Blog says:

I have to say that I agree with a lot of Lovely’s reasonings- like I stated in the original post. Why aren’t Angelina Jolie, Brad Pitt, Madonna, Meg Ryan, and other countless celebrities that adopt children having these same issues come up again and again with children?

The only other example that comes to my mind with weird kid/celebrity stuff was Woody Allen marrying one of Mia Farrow’s adopted daughters, Soon Yi Previn. But Woody Allen was 62 and Soon Yi was 27 when they got married- quite a difference-she wasn’t 13. http://www.nydailynews.com/archives/news/1997/12/24/1997-12-24_woody_marries_soon-yi_in_ita.html

NO one has a perfect childhood. NO one has perfect parents, and some would even argue that Angelina and Brad Pitt are a bit off. Jolie kept a vile of Billy Bob Thornton’s blood around her neck, and they continue to keep having and adopting children. Yes, people are weird and they do things for reasons we don’t understand.

But for MJ, to me it is odd, like Lovely points out that these child molestation accusations just kept happening to Michael Jackson again and again. Other people with money- celebrities or not who adopt children or hang out with children, just don’t have these allegations continue to happen to them.

July 10th, 2009 at 3:54 pm
Lovely says:

Frank Girardot: Michael Jackson’s life not worthy of celebration
Posted: 07/06/2009 03:04:26 PM PDT

Blog
Go behind the yellow tape in the Crime Scene blog
Call me old-fashioned, but I don’t get the whole Michael Jackson adoration thing.
Perhaps the hundreds of thousands of people heading downtown this morning really want to take part in something that has nothing to do with the still-dead King of Pop.

If they are not going to Staples to remember Jackson, they are there to be part of something bigger than life.

It’s not clear.

But why waste an entire day stuck in traffic? Why get pushed around by cops? Why fight sweaty dudes in wife-beaters in what is sure to be a mosh pit outside of Staples Center?

Let’s get something straight. Regardless of how much joy Jackson’s music may have brought to the masses, he was a sicko.

If there’s any proof it probably lies in the multimillion-dollar settlements Jackson reached with purported victims. One of those claimed the singer molested him at age 7 and again at age 10.

That kid’s mother was Jackson’s maid. Jackson reportedly reached a $2.4 million settlement with the family.

In 1993, Jackson paid $20 million to a 13-year-old who claimed the pop star sexually abused him.

The boy’s mother explained later how Jackson begged her to let him sleep with the boy, according to court documents and testimony at trial.

The star and the mom argued about it, but ultimately the boy’s mom gave in and allowed her teen to spend nights in Jackson’s bed.

After the mom relented, Jackson bought her a Cartier bracelet. Clearly, this was a man who thought he could hurt whomever he wanted and do what he wanted because he had the means to buy his way out of trouble.

The boy may have been molested over a six-month period of time after that.

In 2003, police arrested Jackson and charged him with sex crimes against a 13-year-old boy who had cancer.

At his trial in 2005, prosecutors detailed how Jackson showed porn to young boys on the grounds of his Neverland Ranch. They spelled out how he gave the kids wine, which he called “Jesus Juice.”

The state documented how Jackson preyed on the teen cancer survivor and the boy’s family – for his own self-gratification.

The victim, a resident of El Monte, told a jury how Jackson groped and fondled him.

A member of the jury that ultimately acquitted Jackson said later he thought Jackson was a child molester. Another said Jackson should stop sleeping with kids.

If Jackson were any other 46-year- old man in that situation, he’d probably still be in prison fending off predators who take no mercy on pedophiles.

Certainly, he’d be listed on the Megan’s Law Web site once he got out of the joint.

I guarantee if he was the creepy guy living down the street from any one of us, we’d be repulsed and sickened by his behavior.

If anything, Wacko Jacko’s life story should be a cautionary tale about the price of fame and the parents who subject their kids to foul and unspeakable acts.

It’s a story about the danger of prescription drug abuse and the doctors who are nothing more than educated street corner pushers.

It’s an epic filled with details of bad decision-making by a whole host of people – including those making a pilgrimage Downtown on this summer day.

Frank Girardot is metro editor of the San Gabriel Valley Newspaper Group. Read his blog at http://www.insidesocal.com/sgvcrime.

July 10th, 2009 at 4:05 pm
Heather says:

I agree with the points that you make, and could add many other red flags and reasons why he is a pedophile in my mind. Yes he is a fabulous entertainer, but it is all overshadowed by the sinister, deviant aspects of who he is. On another note, it is like two people wrote this piece on your blog…the first few paragraphs are grammatically correct, and towards the end there are many incomplete sentences, run-on sentences and improper punctuation. I’m just saying that it would be far more credible if your well-thought and sensible points of view were properly written and checked using grammar checkers…just a word to the wise!

July 10th, 2009 at 9:33 pm
Lovely says:

Heather,

Duh, two people did write those comments. The second one is a cut and paste from a newspaper article. Anyway, for all of you proof-seekers, I have a goldmind for you! Here are the documents of the ACTUAL MJ trial: http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org/docs/ctdocs/060804sdsheet.pdf.
We have such an educationed community on this blog, we have Attorneys and English teachers. I am so impressed.

July 10th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Lovely says:

correction: (Just for Heather) educated. Word of wisdom, settle your stomachs before you read the evidence, it WILL make you sick!

July 10th, 2009 at 10:03 pm
Lisa says:

Lovely:

(a) Those are not the real trial transcripts;

(b) You’re still relying upon speculation and media for your information.

(c) Considering Michael Jackson was branded a pedophile after 1993–he gained nothing by the settlement; and

(d) He did not get the 1993 photos back.

WHAT DID HE GAIN, Lovely?

July 11th, 2009 at 10:35 am
Lovely says:

LISA,

You obviously are NOT an Attorney and you are as fake as the LATE Michael Jackson. If you were an Attorney you would Know that those are the real documents. If you go to http://www.sbscpublicaccess.org it will show that it is the OFFICIAL Sheriffs website. Some of the sensitive material is blacked out–just like government documents are when they are submitted for public access. I am sorry that you want to remeber the fantasy that you had of “Peter Pan”. But, the intelligent memebers of the world say this: Glad he can’t hurt another baby. You fans keep saying: Duuh, I like the music, Duuuh man could he moonwalk. I DON’T CARE what he gained, all I care about is that the world gained one less child molestor.

July 11th, 2009 at 10:55 am
DC says:

I like how people keep up with the OJ comparison but then failing to mention that OJ LOST a civil suit for wrongful death or that the prosecution was completely inept or the glove issue was nothing more than OJ not taking his arthritis medication that day. Or the photographic evidence that OJ beat the hell out of his ex-wife.

Oh then there’s the issue, years later of that book he wrote called “if I did it”. Finally, tell me, do you think, in a description of a guys penis that whether he was circumcised or not is a big detail to get right or wrong? Because Chandler got it wrong.

July 11th, 2009 at 11:03 am
Lovely says:

Lisa can’t be helped on this blog, because she is in “Neverland”. She is talking about circumcised or uncircumcised. That poor young man that identifed Michaels private area was a frightened child not a doctor. As I mentioned the documents ARE real and they tell the true story. Thank goodness for the free world where we can SEE for ourselves what is true and fabricated by “Peter Pan”.

Speaking of OJ he got convicted for his new trial on the anniversary of his acquittal for the murders of his ex-wife and Ron Goldman. It is good to know that justice happens slowly but surely. Yeahh!!Hip Hip Hooray!

July 11th, 2009 at 11:31 am
Lovely says:

Speaking of loss and gains,peep this. Bible quote: What does it profith a man to gain the whole world and lose his soul. What did he lose Lisa, what did he lose?

July 11th, 2009 at 12:38 pm
Lovely says:

NEWS FLASH FOLKS!!

Jordon Chandler never recanted his story. It is a rumur spread by MJ fans and Michael’s dysfunctional family. Read the article @ http://www.examiner.com. And the truth shall set us free.

July 11th, 2009 at 2:32 pm
Lovely says:

Michael loved to invite children to Neverland and razzle, dazzle them with all the thrills and excitment. Once they entered into his chambers–the chambers of horrors–they never, never were the same again. He gave them wine and called it “Jesus juice”. This is what Neverland really stood for. He liked to give them weird, strange names to try to dismantle their self-image and to make them conform to what he wanted: A young, innocent, fresh boy-toy. Some of the names he used were: blowhole, boo-boo head, and applehead. Well, I have renamed him, just like he renamed them. Here are some remix words and phrases for the LATE Michael Jackson: Caricature of his former self; I wanna “King of Pop” your sons; Dirty Diana a.****.a. dirty deeds done in he dark; man in the mirror is oh so scary; liar, “I only had 2 surgeries and I would never hurt a child”; sociophathic; over-consumption; body dysmorphic disorder; hate my black self; child rapist; pedophile; idolator; hedonist; insomniac–couldn’t sleep because of all the boys he molested; Peter Pan wanna be; poor me–my childhood was sooo sad, so let me destroy someone elses; perverted; drug addict, and last but not least famous freak. Now how do you like them apples all you “Applehead” stupid **** fans.

While the child molestations were going on the fans said, “duhhh, I like the music; duuuuh, I like music; Duuduuhhh, he can sure moonwalk; duuuh, I like the music. Duuuh, he can sure dance good.”

This is what our society has been reduced to, trying to elevate a man,such as he, to a status he clearly did not deserve or earn. He was a fallen icon, one to be pitied not praised.

July 12th, 2009 at 11:47 am
Lovely says:

Mama’s blog,

Ooops, I said the word that means a donkey. I forgot to edit that one, sorry.

July 12th, 2009 at 1:12 pm
Lovely says:

Anyway, the eventual molestation trial was a freak show, with Arvizo’s mother ending up on trial rather than Jackson, a terrible example of jurisprudence in which the prosecution just about proved that Jackson molested seemingly every little boy in Los Angeles except the one in the witness box.
Let us go down the Albert Goldman road for a moment. (And the parallels between Graceland and Neverland are expected and wholly unsurprising: it is what happens when incredible fame, fortune and near-limitless power are bestowed on young men with no real education and no intellectual interests. The pleasures of the inhabitants of the two mansions are near-identical: lying in bed, attended by lackeys, while you indulge your sensory pleasures: food, small boys, whatever.)
Let us picture what was, by all accounts – that of the staff, of the parents and siblings of various young accusers – this grown man’s idea of a good time. We descend into the chilled, darkened bowels of Neverland, passing the Mickey Mouse posters, the discreet alarm systems (rigged to give advance warning of anyone approaching his chambers), we punch in the keypad security code required for access to the inner sanctum and we find the King of Pop: he lies on an enormous bed, numbed by opiates, smudged with wine or bourbon (“Jim Bean” one of the boys called it, a malapropism that might be charming in other circumstances) and surrounded by half-naked pre-pubescent boys.
A laptop is showing pornography, opened bottles of Pinot Noir and SKYY vodka are strewn around. Jackson is watching Disney’s Fantasia over and over again, drifting off up to the ceiling as a wave of the Dilaudid or Demerol hits him. He cuddles the nearest boy. His newest, most special friend. The medical bag in the corner glistens darkly, filled with brown tubs of prescription candy and pre-loaded hypodermics. Man, sweet dreams for the King of Pop.
“Michael,” an ex-adviser claims to have said to him once, “you’re going to wind up in a lot of trouble. Why don’t you stop all this stuff with the young boys?”
“I don’t want to,” Jackson replied.
His answer has the acrid whiff of the dismissiveness of the potentate, the emperor. It reeks of “I like not this news. Bring me some other news.” Finally, thankfully, for Jackson there will be no more news of any kind.
The author is a writer and former A&R (artist and repertoire) man whose novel ‘Kill Your Friends’ tells the murky story of a young record industry executive during the Britpop era.

July 13th, 2009 at 2:19 pm
tony says:

new proves was MJ WAS not a pedophile, and has PROOF

July 13th, 2009 at 9:34 pm
tony says:

new book proves MJ WAS not a pedophile,

July 13th, 2009 at 9:35 pm
Lovely says:

Hmmmm, let me see a sensationilized book (who wrote it, what were their motives). Or a whole website of the offical legal documents. Ummmmm, I’ll take the documents behind door number 3, please.

July 14th, 2009 at 12:10 pm
Estrella says:

Michael Jackson was an incredible humanitarian through so many years. I feel like he truly loved to help children but at the same time he knew he could benefit from it. It gave him the opportunity to be around children. Based on what one reads one can assume that he might have molested kids. I dont believe he molested many kids, but I believe he did have an obsession with kids. This obsession was his downfall.

July 14th, 2009 at 5:05 pm
Estrella says:

There have been extensive interviews to find out if he had molested boys he had sleepovers with. Most of the boys said that he never molested them, although there might have been inappropriate behavior. The inappropriate behavior is not fully explained, but it can be considered an explanation on why he did have sleepovers. One of the reasons was that he enjoyed boys’ company to fill his obsession and possibly a void. Even after getting accused several times did not stop him for having sleepovers because that obsession was too strong.

July 14th, 2009 at 5:13 pm
Estrella says:

DOES ANY PERSON KNOW ANY INFORMATION OF JAMES SAFECHUCK?

July 14th, 2009 at 10:14 pm
Lovely says:

A Mamas Blog, I am praying for your speedy recovery. My heart and prayers are with you and for you. Take them as your strength and be well.

Estrella,

Have you taken the time to look at the evidence list at the Sheriffs’ office. His obssession bordered on straight child sexual abuse, ya think?

July 14th, 2009 at 10:48 pm
Estrella says:

A bed represents intimacy for adults. Children view a bedroom as their home and their sleep. Their should never be a reason for a person to always be sharing a bedroom with children. I am quite sad that Michael Jackson had a tragic upbringing and I could feel that when he was with children it was a release. Yet the release was also a mask for supressed feelings he had toward children. For how long can a person excuse their behavior on their childhood. Life teaches us what is inappropriate and what is. But we make a choice wheather we want to follow it. When we dont follow it is because the desire is clearly stronger.

July 15th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
BAD MAn LYNXXX says:

WELL FOR ALL YOU HYPOCRITES AND DESTRUCTIVE CRITICS… Jordan Chandler THE FIRST ALLEDGE VICTIM THEY SAY THAT MJ MOLESTED HAS GONE PUBLIC AND ADMITED THAT HE WAS LYING, MICHAEL DID NOT MOLESTED HIM!!! READ FOR FACTS HERE

http://www.techbanyan.com/4554/jordan-chandler-admits-lied-about-michael-jackson/

July 17th, 2009 at 7:59 am
Lovely says:

Estrella,

Yes Girl!

BAD Man…

If he would have came out and said anything it would have broken the confidentiality agreement he had to sign to bet paid the millions of dollars he got paid. http://WWW.Examiner.com

July 17th, 2009 at 1:11 pm
thegirlcanwrite says:

I actually think it’s horrible that you would print something like this based on righteous indignation, without bothering to make any research efforts. A quick perusal of even wikipedia trial notes would cancel out a great number of your statements.

Jordan Chandler did NOT describe the genitalia correctly, and the payout was forced by Jackson’s insurance company- he wanted to go to trial. But no trial happened because Chandler refused to testify against him. During the second set of allegations by new greedy parents, Chandler refused again to act as witness to nail Jackson.

Jackson saved Gavin’s life by buying him organ transplant when he had little time to live. The boy’s mother decided to earn a few million like Chandler’s father had after she saw the documentary Living With Michael Jackson. Martin Bashir insinuated that Neverland children were in danger, so she lept on that, hiring the same team as the first family had used.

During raids of all of Jackson’s properties, nothing remotely related to child lust was found. Just a bunch of nudie mags- including Mature, Barely Legal, Plumpers, Over 50, and Club. No, Barely Legal does not feature young boys. It features naked women. Seems Jackson liked the same banal variety as every other man.

Jackson also spent more time on charity work and hospital visits than he did on his entertainment work. So your statement that if he wanted to do something for the children, he should have taken them to Disneyland, is profoundly lacking. He was on the front lines with his time and money. I can happily send an itemized list of a few of his projects- it’s 24 pages long.

No, he couldn’t just take them to Disneyland. Look what happened when he tried to go to the zoo. The man was trampled wherever he went.

What bothers me most is exactly what one commenter mentioned above- no one launched a witchhunt or hounded to death others who were PROVEN child diddlers. Elvis himself courted Priscilla when she was 14! Jerry Lee Lewis married a 13 year old. Gary Glitter- not that anyone cares about him- had 4000 child porn pics in the raid and spent time in jail. R. Kelly ’nuff said. But we’re all “ho hum.”

Let’s face it- we only picked on Jackson because he was different and fragile and strange. Now it comes out that he had lupus and vitiligo and that after the Pepsi burning he went bald and had reconstruction surgery on his scalp and face. No wonder he didn’t want to talk about his surgery “problem.” He just tried to fix things, as his esteem took a beating. He also had lupus and a rare lung disease and so the umbrellas and the face masks had a purpose we had never considered- on bad days, he had to avoid inhaling certain fumes. He had to avoid the sun on his skin. Vitiligo and lupus can both lead to skin cancer, which he had.

With all that physical pain, of course the man took drugs. Once the terror of prison and the humiliation of having pictures taken of your genitalia and the violation of being accused by the parents children whose lives you saved, there’s nowhere to turn but to oblivion. He did his best to prove his innocence but people like you keep saying hateful things without bothering to learn the facts.

The truth is we raped and murdered Michael Jackson. The truth is the real pedophiles don’t look like sci fi fairy tale creatures- they look like our husbands and brothers and ministers. Why not talk about these cases- 10 thousand in the church alone?

Thanks for listening.

July 19th, 2009 at 5:35 pm
thegirlcanwrite says:

sorry, I meant to source this above: In January 1994, USA Today printed an article confirming that, “photos of Michael Jackson’s genitalia do not match descriptions given by the boy who accused the singer of sexual misconduct.”

July 19th, 2009 at 5:36 pm
Lisa says:

Was Michael Jackson Framed?
The Untold Story
Mary A. Fischer
GQ, October 1994
Did Michael Do It?

The untold story of the events that brought down a superstar

Before O.J. Simpson, there was Michael Jackson—another beloved black celebrity seemingly brought down by allegations of scandal in his personal life. Those allegations—that Jackson had molested a 13-year-old boy—instigated a multimillion-dollar lawsuit, two grand-jury investigations and a shameless media circus. Jackson, in turn, filed charges of extortion against some of his accusers. Ultimately, the suit was settled out of court for a sum that has been estimated at $20 million; no criminal charges were brought against Jackson by the police or the grand juries. This past August, Jackson was in the news again, when Lisa Marie Presley, Elvis’s daughter, announced that she and the singer had married.

As the dust settles on one of the nation’s worst episodes of media excess, one thing is clear: The American public has never heard a defense of Michael Jackson. Until now.

It is, of course, impossible to prove a negative—that is, prove that something didn’t happen. But it is possible to take an in-depth look at the people who made the allegations against Jackson and thus gain insight into their character and motives. What emerges from such an examination, based on court documents, business records and scores of interviews, is a persuasive argument that Jackson molested no one and that he himself may have been the victim of a well-conceived plan to extract money from him.

More than that, the story that arises from this previously unexplored territory is radically different from the tale that has been promoted by tabloid and even mainstream journalists. It is a story of greed, ambition, misconceptions on the part of police and prosecutors, a lazy and sensation-seeking media and the use of a powerful, hypnotic drug. It may also be a story about how a case was simply invented.

“This attorney I found, I picked the nastiest son of a bitch I could find,” Chandler said in the recorded conversation with Schwartz. “All he wants to do is get this out in the public as fast as he can, as big as he can, and humiliate as many people as he can. He’s nasty, he’s mean, he’s very smart, and he’s hungry for the publicity.”
Neither Michael Jackson nor his current defense attorneys agreed to be interviewed for this article. Had they decided to fight the civil charges and go to trial, what follows might have served as the core of Jackson’s defense—as well as the basis to further the extortion charges against his own accusers, which could well have exonerated the singer.

Jackson’s troubles began when his van broke down on Wilshire Boulevard in Los Angeles in May 1992. Stranded in the middle of the heavily trafficked street, Jackson was spotted by the wife of Mel Green, an employee at Rent-a-Wreck, an offbeat car-rental agency a mile away. Green went to the rescue. When Dave Schwartz, the owner of the car-rental company, heard Green was bringing Jackson to the lot, he called his wife, June, and told her to come over with their 6-year-old daughter and her son from her previous marriage. The boy, then 12, was a big Jackson fan. Upon arriving, June Chandler Schwartz told Jackson about the time her son had sent him a drawing after the singer’s hair caught on fire during the filming of a Pepsi commercial. Then she gave Jackson their home number.

“It was almost like she was forcing [the boy] on him,” Green recalls. “I think Michael thought he owed the boy something, and that’s when it all started.”

Certain facts about the relationship are not in dispute. Jackson began calling the boy, and a friendship developed. After Jackson returned from a promotional tour, three months later, June Chandler Schwartz and her son and daughter became regular guests at Neverland, Jackson’s ranch in Santa Barbara County. During the following year, Jackson showered the boy and his family with attention and gifts, including video games, watches, an after-hours shopping spree at Toys “R” Us and trips around the world—from Las Vegas and Disney World to Monaco and Paris.

By March 1993, Jackson and the boy were together frequently and the sleepovers began. June Chandler Schwartz had also become close to Jackson “and liked him enormously,” one friend says. “He was the kindest man she had ever met.”

Jackson’s personal eccentricities—from his attempts to remake his face through plastic surgery to his preference for the company of children—have been widely reported. And while it may be unusual for a 35-year-old man to have sleepovers with a 13-year-old child, the boy’s mother and others close to Jackson never thought it odd. Jackson’s behavior is better understood once it’s put in the context of his own childhood.

“Contrary to what you might think, Michael’s life hasn’t been a walk in the park,” one of his attorneys says. Jackson’s childhood essentially stopped—and his unorthodox life began—when he was 5 years old and living in Gary, Indiana. Michael spent his youth in rehearsal studios, on stages performing before millions of strangers and sleeping in an endless string of hotel rooms. Except for his eight brothers and sisters, Jackson was surrounded by adults who pushed him relentlessly, particularly his father, Joe Jackson—a strict, unaffectionate man who reportedly beat his children.

Jackson’s early experiences translated into a kind of arrested development, many say, and he became a child in a man’s body. “He never had a childhood,” says Bert Fields, a former attorney of Jackson’s. “He is having one now. His buddies are 12-year-old kids. They have pillow fights and food fights.” Jackson’s interest in children also translated into humanitarian efforts. Over the years, he has given millions to causes benefiting children, including his own Heal The World Foundation.

But there is another context—the one having to do with the times in which we live—in which most observers would evaluate Jackson’s behavior. “Given the current confusion and hysteria over child sexual abuse,” says Dr. Phillip Resnick, a noted Cleveland psychiatrist, “any physical or nurturing contact with a child may be seen as suspicious, and the adult could well be accused of sexual misconduct.”

Jackson’s involvement with the boy was welcomed, at first, by all the adults in the youth’s life—his mother, his stepfather and even his biological father, Evan Chandler (who also declined to be interviewed for this article). Born Evan Robert Charmatz in the Bronx in 1944, Chandler had reluctantly followed in the footsteps of his father and brothers and become a dentist. “He hated being a dentist,” a family friend says. “He always wanted to be a writer.” After moving in 1973 to West Palm Beach to practice dentistry, he changed his last name, believing Charmatz was “too Jewish-sounding,” says a former colleague. Hoping somehow to become a screenwriter, Chandler moved to Los Angeles in the late Seventies with his wife, June Wong, an attractive Eurasian who had worked briefly as a model.

Chandler’s dental career had its precarious moments. In December 1978, while working at the Crenshaw Family Dental Center, a clinic in a low-income area of L.A., Chandler did restoration work on sixteen of a patient’s teeth during a single visit. An examination of the work, the Board of Dental Examiners concluded, revealed “gross ignorance and/or inefficiency” in his profession. The board revoked his license; however, the revocation was stayed, and the board instead suspended him for ninety days and placed him on probation for two and a half years. Devastated, Chandler left town for New York. He wrote a film script but couldn’t sell it.

Months later, Chandler returned to L.A. with his wife and held a series of dentistry jobs. By 1980, when their son was born, the couple’s marriagewas in trouble. “One of the reasons June left Evan was because of his temper,” a family friend says. They divorced in 1985. The court awarded sole custody of the boy to his mother and ordered Chandler to pay $500 a month in child support, but a review of documents reveals that in 1993, when the Jackson scandal broke, Chandler owed his ex-wife $68,000—a debt she ultimately forgave.

A year before Jackson came into his son’s life, Chandler had a second serious professional problem. One of his patients, a model, sued him for dental negligence after he did restoration work on some of her teeth. Chandler claimed that the woman had signed a consent form in which she’d acknowledged the risks involved. But when Edwin Zinman, her attorney, asked to see the original records, Chandler said they had been stolen from the trunk of his Jaguar. He provided a duplicate set. Zinman, suspicious, was unable to verify the authenticity of the records. “What an extraordinary coincidence that they were stolen,” Zinman says now. “That’s like saying ‘The dog ate my homework.’ ” The suit was eventually settled out of court for an undisclosed sum.

Despite such setbacks, Chandler by then had a successful practice in Beverly Hills. And he got his first break in Hollywood in 1992, when he cowrote the Mel Brooks film Robin Hood: Men in Tights. Until Michael Jackson entered his son’s life, Chandler hadn’t shown all that much interest in the boy. “He kept promising to buy him a computer so they could work on scripts together, but he never did,” says Michael Freeman, formerly an attorney for June Chandler Schwartz. Chandler’s dental practice kept him busy, and he had started anew family by then, with two small children by his second wife, a corporate attorney.

At first, Chandler welcomed and encouraged his son’s relationship with Michael Jackson, bragging about it to friends and associates. When Jackson and the boy stayed with Chandler during May 1993, Chandler urged the entertainer to spend more time with his son at his house. According to sources, Chandler even suggested that Jackson build an addition onto the house so the singer could stay there. After calling the zoning department and discovering it couldn’t be done, Chandler made another suggestion—that Jackson just build him a new home.

That same month, the boy, his mother and Jackson flew to Monaco for the World Music Awards. “Evan began to get jealous of the involvement and felt left out,” Freeman says. Upon their return, Jackson and the boy again stayed with Chandler, which pleased him—a five-day visit, during which they slept in a room with the youth’s half brother. Though Chandler has admitted that Jackson and the boy always had their clothes on whenever he saw them in bed together, he claimed that it was during this time that his suspicions of sexual misconduct were triggered. At no time has Chandler claimed to have witnessed any sexual misconduct on Jackson’s part.

Chandler became increasingly volatile, making threats that alienated Jackson, Dave Schwartz and June Chandler Schwartz. In early July 1993, Dave Schwartz, who had been friendly with Chandler, secretly tape-recorded a lengthy telephone conversation he had with him. During the conversation, Chandler talked of his concern for his son and his anger at Jackson and at his ex-wife, whom he described as “cold and heartless.” When Chandler tried to “get her attention” to discuss his suspicions about Jackson, he says on the tape, she told him “Go fuck yourself.”

“I had a good communication with Michael,” Chandler told Schwartz. “We were friends. I liked him and I respected him and everything else for what he is. There was no reason why he had to stop calling me. I sat in the room one day and talked to Michael and told him exactly what I want out of this whole relationship. What I want.”

Admitting to Schwartz that he had “been rehearsed” about what to say and what not to say, Chandler never mentioned money during their conversation. When Schwartz asked what Jackson had done that made Chandler so upset, Chandler alleged only that “he broke up the family. [The boy] has been seduced by this guy’s power and money.” Both men repeatedly berated themselves as poor fathers to the boy.

Elsewhere on the tape, Chandler indicated he was prepared to move against Jackson: “It’s already set,” Chandler told Schwartz. “There are other people involved that are waiting for my phone call that are in certain positions. I’ve paid them to do it. Everything’s going according to a certain plan that isn’t just mine. Once I make that phone call, this guy [his attorney, Barry K. Rothman, presumably] is going to destroy everybody in sight in any devious, nasty, cruel way that he can do it. And I’ve given him full authority to do that.”

Chandler then predicted what would, in fact, transpire six weeks later: “And if I go through with this, I win big-time. There’s no way I lose. I’ve checked that inside out. I will get everything I want, and they will be destroyed forever. June will lose [custody of the son]…and Michael’s career will be over.”

“Does that help [the boy]?” Schwartz asked.

“That’s irrelevant to me,” Chandler replied. “It’s going to be bigger than all of us put together. The whole thing is going to crash down on everybody and destroy everybody in sight. It will be a massacre if I don’t get what I want.”

Instead of going to the police, seemingly the most appropriate action in a situation involving suspected child molestation, Chandler had turned to a lawyer. And not just any lawyer. He’d turned to Barry Rothman.

“This attorney I found, I picked the nastiest son of a bitch I could find,” Chandler said in the recorded conversation with Schwartz. “All he wants to do is get this out in the public as fast as he can, as big as he can, and humiliate as many people as he can. He’s nasty, he’s mean, he’s very smart, and he’s hungry for the publicity.” (Through his attorney, Wylie Aitken, Rothman declined to be interviewed for this article. Aitken agreed to answer general questions limited to the Jackson case, and then only about aspects that did not involve Chandler or the boy.)

To know Rothman, says a former colleague who worked with him during the Jackson case, and who kept a diary of what Rothman and Chandler said and did in Rothman’s office, is to believe that Barry could have “devised this whole plan, period. This [making allegations against Michael Jackson] is within the boundary of his character, to do something like this.” Information supplied by Rothman’s former clients, associates and employees reveals a pattern of manipulation and deceit.

Rothman has a general-law practice in Century City. At one time, he negotiated music and concert deals for Little Richard, the Rolling Stones, the Who, ELO and Ozzy Osbourne. Gold and platinum records commemorating those days still hang on the walls of his office. With his grayish-white beard and perpetual tan—which he maintains in a tanning bed at his house—Rothman reminds a former client of “a leprechaun.” To a former employee, Rothman is “a demon” with “a terrible temper.” His most cherished possession, acquaintances say, is his 1977 Rolls-Royce Corniche, which carries the license plate “BKR 1.”

Over the years, Rothman has made so many enemies that his ex-wife once expressed, to her attorney, surprise that someone “hadn’t done him in.” He has a reputation for stiffing people. “He appears to be a professional deadbeat… He pays almost no one,” investigator Ed Marcus concluded (in a report filed in Los Angeles Superior Court, as part of a lawsuit against Rothman), after reviewing the attorney’s credit profile, which listed more than thirty creditors and judgment holders who were chasing him. In addition, more than twenty civil lawsuits involving Rothman have been filed in Superior Court, several complaints have been made to the Labor Commission and disciplinary actions for three incidents have been taken against him by the state bar of California. In 1992, he was suspended for a year, though that suspension was stayed and he was instead placed on probation for the term.

In 1987, Rothman was $16,800 behind in alimony and child-support payments. Through her attorney, his ex-wife, Joanne Ward, threatened to attach Rothman’s assets, but he agreed to make good on the debt. A year later, after Rothman still hadn’t made the payments, Ward’s attorney tried to put a lien on Rothman’s expensive Sherman Oaks home. To their surprise, Rothman said he no longer owned the house;three years earlier, he’d deeded the property to Tinoa Operations, Inc., a Panamanian shell corporation. According to Ward’s lawyer, Rothman claimed that he’d had $200,000 of Tinoa’s money, in cash, at his house one night when he was robbed at gunpoint. The only way he could make good on the loss was to deed his home to Tinoa, he told them. Ward and her attorney suspected the whole scenario was a ruse, but they could never prove it. It was only after sheriff’s deputies had towed away Rothman’s Rolls Royce that he began paying what he owed.

Documents filed with Los Angeles Superior Court seem to confirm the suspicions of Ward and her attorney. These show that Rothman created an elaborate network of foreign bank accounts and shell companies, seemingly to conceal some of his assets—in particular, his home and much of the $531,000 proceeds from its eventual sale, in 1989. The companies, including Tinoa, can be traced to Rothman. He bought a Panamanian shelf company (an existing but nonoperating firm) and arranged matters so that though his name would not appear on the list of its officers, he would have unconditional power of attorney, in effect leaving him in control of moving money in and out.

Meanwhile, Rothman’s employees didn’t fare much better than his ex-wife. Former employees say they sometimes had to beg for their paychecks. And sometimes the checks that they did get would bounce. He couldn’t keep legal secretaries. “He’d demean and humiliate them,” says one. Temporary workers fared the worst. “He would work them for two weeks,” adds the legal secretary, “then run them off by yelling at them and saying they were stupid. Then he’d tell the agency he was dissatisfied with the temp and wouldn’t pay.” Some agencies finally got wise and made Rothman pay cash up front before they’d do business with him.

The state bar’s 1992 disciplining of Rothman grew out of a conflict-of-interest matter. A year earlier, Rothman had been kicked off a case by a client, Muriel Metcalf, whom he’d been representing in child-support and custody proceedings; Metcalf later accused him of padding her bill. Four months after Metcalf fired him, Rothman, without notifying her, began representing the company of her estranged companion, Bob Brutzman.

The case is revealing for another reason: It shows that Rothman had some experience dealing with child-molestation allegations before the Jackson scandal. Metcalf, while Rothman was still representing her, had accused Brutzman of molesting their child (which Brutzman denied). Rothman’s knowledge of Metcalf’s charges didn’t prevent him from going to work for Brutzman’s company—a move for which he was disciplined.

By 1992, Rothman was running from numerous creditors. Folb Management, a corporate real-estate agency, was one. Rothman owed the company $53,000 in back rent and interest for an office on Sunset Boulevard. Folb sued. Rothman then countersued, claiming that the building’s security was so inadequate that burglars were able to steal more than $6,900 worth of equipment from his office one night. In the course of the proceedings, Folb’s lawyer told the court, “Mr. Rothman is not the kind of person whose word can be taken at face value.”

In November 1992, Rothman had his law firm file for bankruptcy, listing thirteen creditors—including Folb Management—with debts totaling $880,000 and no acknowledged assets. After reviewing the bankruptcy papers, an ex-client whom Rothman was suing for $400,000 in legal fees noticed that Rothman had failed to list a $133,000 asset. The former client threatened to expose Rothman for “defrauding his creditors”—a felony—if he didn’t drop the lawsuit. Cornered, Rothman had the suit dismissed in a matter of hours.

Six months before filing for bankruptcy, Rothman had transferred title on his Rolls-Royce to Majo, a fictitious company he controlled. Three years earlier, Rothman had claimed a different corporate owner for the car—Longridge Estates, a subsidiary of Tinoa Operations, the company that held the deed to his home. On corporation papers filed by Rothman, the addresses listed for Longridge and Tinoa were the same, 1554 Cahuenga Boulevard—which, as it turns out, is that of a Chinese restaurant in Hollywood.

It was with this man, in June 1993, that Evan Chandler began carrying out the “certain plan” to which he referred in his taped conversation with Dave Schwartz. At a graduation that month, Chandler confronted his ex-wife with his suspicions. “She thought the whole thing was baloney,” says her ex-attorney, Michael Freeman. She told Chandler that she planned to take their son out of school in the fall so they could accompany Jackson on his “Dangerous” world tour. Chandler became irate and, say several sources, threatened to go public with the evidence he claimed he had on Jackson. “What parent in his right mind would want to drag his child into the public spotlight?” asks Freeman. “If something like this actually occurred, you’d want to protect your child.”

Jackson asked his then-lawyer, Bert Fields, to intervene. One of the most prominent attorneys in the entertainment industry, Fields has been representing Jackson since 1990 and had negotiated for him, with Sony, the biggest music deal ever—with possible earnings of $700 million. Fields brought in investigator Anthony Pellicano to help sort things out. Pellicano does things Sicilian-style, being fiercely loyal to those he likes but a ruthless hardball player when it comes to his enemies.

Given the facts about sodium Amytal and a recent landmark case that involved the drug, the boy’s allegations, say several medical experts, must be viewed as unreliable, if not highly questionable.“It’s a psychiatric medication that cannot be relied on to produce fact.”
On July 9, 1993, Dave Schwartz and June Chandler Schwartz played the taped conversation for Pellicano. “After listening to the tape for ten minutes, I knew it was about extortion,” says Pellicano. That same day, he drove to Jackson’s Century City condominium, where Chandler’s son and the boy’s half-sister were visiting. Without Jackson there, Pellicano “made eye contact” with the boy and asked him, he says, “very pointed questions”: “Has Michael ever touched you? Have you ever seen him naked in bed?” The answer to all the questions was no. The boy repeatedly denied that anything bad had happened. On July 11, after Jackson had declined to meet with Chandler, the boy’s father and Rothman went ahead with another part of the plan—they needed to get custody of the boy. Chandler asked his ex-wife to let the youth stay with him for a “one-week visitation period.” As Bert Fields later said in an affidavit to the court, June Chandler Schwartz allowed the boy to go based on Rothman’s assurance to Fields that her son would come back to her after the specified time, never guessing that Rothman’s word would be worthless and that Chandler would not return their son.

Wylie Aitken, Rothman’s attorney, claims that “at the time [Rothman] gave his word, it was his intention to have the boy returned.” However, once “he learned that the boy would be whisked out of the country [to go on tour with Jackson], I don’t think Mr. Rothman had any other choice.” But the chronology clearly indicates that Chandler had learned in June, at the graduation, that the boy’s mother planned to take her son on the tour. The taped telephone conversation made in early July, before Chandler took custody of his son, also seems to verify that Chandler and Rothman had no intention of abiding by the visitation agreement. “They [the boy and his mother] don’t know it yet,” Chandler told Schwartz, “but they aren’t going anywhere.”

On July 12, one day after Chandler took control of his son, he had his ex-wife sign a document prepared by Rothman that prevented her from taking the youth out of Los Angeles County. This meant the boy would be unable to accompany Jackson on the tour. His mother told the court she signed the document under duress. Chandler, she said in an affidavit, had threatened that “I would not have [the boy] returned to me.” A bitter custody battle ensued, making even murkier any charges Chandler made about wrong-doing on Jackson’s part. (As of this August [1994], the boy was still living with Chandler.) It was during the first few weeks after Chandler took control of his son—who was now isolated from his friends, mother and stepfather—that the boy’s allegations began to take shape.

At the same time, Rothman, seeking an expert’s opinion to help establish the allegations against Jackson, called Dr. Mathis Abrams, a Beverly Hills psychiatrist. Over the telephone, Rothman presented Abrams with a hypothetical situation. In reply and without having met either Chandler or his son, Abrams on July 15 sent Rothman a two-page letter in which he stated that “reasonable suspicion would exist that sexual abuse may have occurred.” Importantly, he also stated that if this were a real and not a hypothetical case, he would be required by law to report the matter to the Los Angeles County Department of Children’s Services (DCS).

According to a July 27 entry in the diary kept by Rothman’s former colleague, it’s clear that Rothman was guiding Chandler in the plan. “Rothman wrote letter to Chandler advising him how to report child abuse without liability to parent,” the entry reads.

At this point, there still had been made no demands or formal accusations, only veiled assertions that had become intertwined with a fierce custody battle. On August 4, 1993, however, things became very clear. Chandler and his son met with Jackson and Pellicano in a suite at the Westwood Marquis Hotel. On seeing Jackson, says Pellicano, Chandler gave the singer an affectionate hug (a gesture, some say, that would seem to belie the dentist’s suspicions that Jackson had molested his son), then reached into his pocket, pulled out Abrams’s letter and began reading passages from it. When Chandler got to the parts about child molestation, the boy, says Pellicano, put his head down and then looked up at Jackson with a surprised expression, as if to say “I didn’t say that.” As the meeting broke up, Chandler pointed his finger at Jackson, says Pellicano, and warned “I’m going to ruin you.”

At a meeting with Pellicano in Rothman’s office later that evening, Chandler and Rothman made their demand – $20 million.

On August 13, there was another meeting in Rothman’s office. Pellicano came back with a counteroffer—a $350,000 screenwriting deal. Pellicano says he made the offer as a way to resolve the custody dispute and give Chandler an opportunity to spend more time with his son by working on a screenplay together. Chandler rejected the offer. Rothman made a counterdemand—a deal for three screenplays or nothing—which was spurned. In the diary of Rothman’s ex-colleague, an August 24 entry reveals Chandler’s disappointment: “I almost had a $20 million deal,” he was overheard telling Rothman.

Before Chandler took control of his son, the only one making allegations against Jackson was Chandler himself—the boy had never accused the singer of any wrongdoing. That changed one day in Chandler’s Beverly Hills dental office.

In the presence of Chandler and Mark Torbiner, a dental anesthesiologist, the boy was administered the controversial drug sodium Amytal—which some mistakenly believe is a truth serum. And it was after this session that the boy first made his charges against Jackson. A newsman at KCBS-TV, in L.A., reported on May 3 of this year that Chandler had used the drug on his son, but the dentist claimed he did so only to pull his son’s tooth and that while under the drug’s influence, the boy came out with allegations. Asked for this article about his use of the drug on the boy, Torbiner replied: “If I used it, it was for dental purposes.”

Given the facts about sodium Amytal and a recent landmark case that involved the drug, the boy’s allegations, say several medical experts, must be viewed as unreliable, if not highly questionable.

“It’s a psychiatric medication that cannot be relied on to produce fact,” says Dr. Resnick, the Cleveland psychiatrist. “People are very suggestible under it. People will say things under sodium Amytal that are blatantly untrue.” Sodium Amytal is a barbiturate, an invasive drug that puts people in a hypnotic state when it’s injected intravenously. Primarily administered for the treatment of amnesia, it first came into use during World War II, on soldiers traumatized—some into catatonic states—by the horrors of war. Scientific studies done in 1952 debunked the drug as a truth serum and instead demonstrated its risks: False memories can be easily implanted in those under its influence. “It is quite possible to implant an idea through the mere asking of a question,” says Resnick. But its effects are apparently even more insidious: “The idea can become their memory, and studies have shown that even when you tell them the truth, they will swear on a stack of Bibles that it happened,” says Resnick.

Recently, the reliability of the drug became an issue in a high-profile trial in Napa County, California. After undergoing numerous therapy sessions, at least one of which included the use of sodium Amytal, 20-year-old Holly Ramona accused her father of molesting her as a child. Gary Ramona vehemently denied the charge and sued his daughter’s therapist and the psychiatrist who had administered the drug. This past May, jurors sided with Gary Ramona, believing that the therapist and the psychiatrist may have reinforced memories that were false. Gary Ramona’s was the first successful legal challenge to the so-called “repressed memory phenomenon” that has produced thousands of sexual-abuse allegations over the past decade.

As for Chandler’s story about using the drug to sedate his son during a tooth extraction, that too seems dubious, in light of the drug’s customary use. “It’s absolutely a psychiatric drug,” says Dr. Kenneth Gottlieb, a San Francisco psychiatrist who has administeredsodium Amytal to amnesia patients. Dr. John Yagiela, the coordinator of the anesthesia and pain control department of UCLA’s school of dentistry, adds, “It’s unusual for it to be used [for pulling a tooth]. It makes no sense when better, safer alternatives are available. It would not be my choice.”

Because of sodium Amytal’s potential side effects, some doctors will administer it only in a hospital. “I would never want to use a drug that tampers with a person’s unconscious unless there was no other drug available,” says Gottlieb. “And I would not use it without resuscitating equipment, in case of allergic reaction, and only with an M.D. anesthesiologist present.”

Chandler, it seems, did not follow these guidelines. He had the procedure performed on his son in his office, and he relied on the dental anesthesiologist Mark Torbiner for expertise. (It was Torbiner who’d introduced Chandler and Rothman in 1991, when Rothman needed dental work.)

The nature of Torbiner’s practice appears to have made it highly successful. “He boasts that he has $100 a month overhead and $40,000 a month income,” says Nylla Jones, a former patient of his. Torbiner doesn’t have an office for seeing patients; rather, he travels to various dental offices around the city, where he administers anesthesia during procedures.

This magazine has learned that the U.S. Drug Enforcement Administration is probing another aspect of Torbiner’s business practices: He makes housecalls to administer drugs—mostly morphine and Demerol—not only postoperatively to his dental patients but also, it seems, to those suffering pain whose source has nothing to do with dental work. He arrives at the homes of his clients—some of them celebrities—carrying a kind of fishing-tackle box that contains drugs and syringes. At one time, the license plate on his Jaguar read “SLPYDOC.” According to Jones, Torbiner charges $350 for a basic ten-to-twenty-minute visit. In what Jones describes as standard practice, when it’s unclear how long Torbiner will need to stay, the client, anticipating the stupor that will soon set in, leaves a blank check for Torbiner to fill in with the appropriate amount.

Torbiner wasn’t always successful. In 1989, he got caught in a lie and was asked to resign from UCLA, where he was an assistant professor at the school of dentistry. Torbiner had asked to take a half-day off so he could observe a religious holiday but was later found to have worked at a dental office instead.

A check of Torbiner’s credentials with the Board of Dental Examiners indicates that he is restricted by law to administering drugs solely for dental-related procedures. But there is clear evidence that he has not abided by those restrictions. In fact, on at least eight occasions, Torbiner has given a general anesthetic to Barry Rothman, during hair-transplant procedures. Though normally a local anesthetic would be injected into the scalp, “Barry is so afraid of the pain,” says Dr. James De Yarman, the San Diego physician who performed Rothman’s transplants, “that [he] wanted to be put out completely.” De Yarman said he was “amazed” to learn that Torbiner is a dentist, having assumed all along that he was an M.D.

In another instance, Torbiner came to the home of Nylla Jones, she says, and injected her with Demerol to help dull the pain that followed her appendectomy.

On August 16, three days after Chandler and Rothman rejected the $350,000 script deal, the situation came to a head. On behalf of June Chandler Schwartz, Michael Freeman notified Rothman that he would be filing papers early the next morning that would force Chandler to turn over the boy. Reacting quickly, Chandler took his son to Mathis Abrams, the psychiatrist who’d provided Rothman with his assessment of the hypothetical child-abuse situation. During a three-hour session, the boy alleged that Jackson had engaged in a sexual relationship with him. He talked of masturbation, kissing, fondling of nipples and oral sex. There was, however, no mention of actual penetration, which might have been verified by a medical exam, thus providing corroborating evidence.

The next step was inevitable. Abrams, who is required by law to report any such accusation to authorities, called a social worker at the Department of Children’s Services, who in turn contacted the police. The full-scale investigation of Michael Jackson was about to begin.

Five days after Abrams called the authorities, the media got wind of the investigation. On Sunday morning, August 22, Don Ray, a free-lance reporter in Burbank, was asleep when his phone rang. The caller, one of his tipsters, said that warrants had been issued to search Jackson’s ranch and condominium. Ray sold the story to L.A.’s KNBC-TV, which broke the news at 4 P.M. the following day.

After that, Ray “watched this story go away like a freight train,” he says. Within twenty-four hours, Jackson was the lead story on seventy-three TV news broadcasts in the Los Angeles area alone and was on the front page of every British newspaper. The story of Michael Jackson and the 13-year-old boy became a frenzy of hype and unsubstantiated rumor, with the line between tabloid and mainstream media virtually eliminated.

The extent of the allegations against Jackson wasn’t known until August 25. A person inside the DCS illegally leaked a copy of the abuse report to Diane Dimond of Hard Copy. Within hours, the L.A. office of a British news service also got the report and began selling copies to any reporter willing to pay $750. The following day, the world knew about the graphic details in the leaked report. “While laying next to each other in bed, Mr. Jackson put his hand under [the child’s] shorts,” the social worker had written. From there, the coverage soon demonstrated that anything about Jackson would be fair game.

“Competition among news organizations became so fierce,” says KNBC reporter Conan Nolan, that “stories weren’t being checked out. It was very unfortunate.” The National Enquirer put twenty reporters and editors on the story. One team knocked on 500 doors in Brentwood trying to find Evan Chandler and his son. Using property records, they finally did, catching up with Chandler in his black Mercedes. “He was not a happy man. But I was,” said Andy O’Brien, a tabloid photographer.

Next came the accusers—Jackson’s former employees. First, Stella and Philippe Lemarque, Jackson’ ex-housekeepers, tried to sell their story to the tabloids with the help of broker Paul Barresi, a former porn star. They asked for as much as half a million dollars but wound up selling an interview to The Globe of Britain for $15,000. The Quindoys, a Filipino couple who had worked at Neverland, followed. When their asking price was $100,000, they said ” ‘the hand was outside the kid’s pants,’ ” Barresi told a producer of Frontline, a PBS program. “As soon as their price went up to $500,000, the hand went inside the pants. So come on.” The L.A. district attorney’s office eventually concluded that both couples were useless as witnesses.

Next came the bodyguards. Purporting to take the journalistic high road, Hard Copy’s Diane Dimond told Frontline in early November of last year that her program was “pristinely clean on this. We paid no money for this story at all.” But two weeks later, as a Hard Copy contract reveals, the show was negotiating a $100,000 payment to five former Jackson security guards who were planning to file a $10 million lawsuit alleging wrongful termination of their jobs.

On December 1, with the deal in place, two of the guards appeared on the program; they had been fired, Dimond told viewers, because “they knew too much about Michael Jackson’s strange relationship with young boys.” In reality, as their depositions under oath three months later reveal, it was clear they had never actually seen Jackson do anything improper with Chandler’s son or any other child:

“So you don’t know anything about Mr. Jackson and [the boy], do you?” one of Jackson’s attorneys asked former security guard Morris Williams under oath.

“All I know is from the sworn documents that other people have sworn to.”

“But other than what someone else may have said, you have no firsthand knowledge about Mr. Jackson and [the boy], do you?”

“That’s correct.”

“Have you spoken to a child who has ever told you that Mr. Jackson did anything improper with the child?”

“No.”

When asked by Jackson’s attorney where he had gotten his impressions, Williams replied: “Just what I’ve been hearing in the media and what I’ve experienced with my own eyes.”

“Okay. That’s the point. You experienced nothing with your own eyes, did you?”

“That’s right, nothing.”

(The guards’ lawsuit, filed in March 1994, was still pending as this article went to press.)

[NOTE: The case was thrown out of court in July 1995.]

Next came the maid. On December 15, Hard Copy presented “The Bedroom Maid’s Painful Secret.” Blanca Francia told Dimond and other reporters that she had seen a naked Jackson taking showers and Jacuzzi baths with young boys. She also told Dimond that she had witnessed her own son in compromising positions with Jackson—an allegation that the grand juries apparently never found credible.

A copy of Francia’s sworn testimony reveals that Hard Copy paid her $20,000, and had Dimond checked out the woman’s claims, she would have found them to be false. Under deposition by a Jackson attorney, Francia admitted she had never actually see Jackson shower with anyone nor had she seen him naked with boys in his Jacuzzi. They always had their swimming trunks on, she acknowledged.

The coverage, says Michael Levine, a Jackson press representative, “followed a proctologist’s view of the world. Hard Copy was loathsome. The vicious and vile treatment of this man in the media was for selfish reasons. [Even] if you have never bought a Michael Jackson record in your life, you should be very concerned. Society is built on very few pillars. One of them is truth. When you abandon that, it’s a slippery slope.”

The investigation of Jackson, which by October 1993 would grow to involve at least twelve detectives from Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties, was instigated in part by the perceptions of one psychiatrist, Mathis Abrams, who had no particular expertise in child sexual abuse. Abrams, the DCS caseworker’s report noted, “feels the child is telling the truth.” In an era of widespread and often false claims of child molestation, police and prosecutors have come to give great weight to the testimony of psychiatrists, therapists and social workers.

Police seized Jackson’s telephone books during the raid on his residences in August and questioned close to thirty children and their families. Some, such as Brett Barnes and Wade Robson, said they had shared Jackson’s bed, but like all the others, they gave the same response—Jackson had done nothing wrong. “The evidence was very good for us,” says an attorney who worked on Jackson’s defense. “The other side had nothing but a big mouth.”

Despite the scant evidence supporting their belief that Jackson was guilty, the police stepped up their efforts. Two officers flew to the Philippines to try to nail down the Quindoys’ “hand in the pants” story, but apparently decided it lacked credibility. The police also employed aggressive investigative techniques—including allegedly telling lies—to push the children into making accusations against Jackson. According to several parents who complained to Bert Fields, officers told them unequivocally that their children had been molested, even though the children denied to their parents that anything bad had happened. The police, Fields complained in a letter to Los Angeles Police Chief Willie Williams, “have also frightened youngsters with outrageous lies, such as ‘We have nude photos of you.’ There are, of course, no such photos.” One officer, Federico Sicard, told attorney Michael Freeman that he had lied to the children he’d interviewed and told them that he himself had been molested as a child, says Freeman. Sicard did not respond to requests for an interview for this article.

All along, June Chandler Schwartz rejected the charges Chandler was making against Jackson—until a meeting with police in late August 1993. Officers Sicard and Rosibel Ferrufino made a statement that began to change her mind. “[The officers] admitted they only had one boy,” says Freeman, who attended the meeting, “but they said, ‘We’re convinced Michael Jackson molested this boy because he fits the classic profile of a pedophile perfectly.’ ”

“There’s no such thing as a classic profile. They made a completely foolish and illogical error,” says Dr. Ralph Underwager, a Minneapolis psychiatrist who has treated pedophiles and victims of incest since 1953. Jackson, he believes, “got nailed” because of “misconceptions like these that have been allowed to parade as fact in an era of hysteria.” In truth, as a U.S. Department of Health and Human Services study shows, many child-abuse allegations—48 percent of those filed in 1990 —proved to be unfounded.

“It was just a matter of time before someone like Jackson became a target,” says Phillip Resnick. “He’s rich, bizarre, hangs around with kids and there is a fragility to him. The atmosphere is such that an accusation must mean it happened.”

The seeds of settlement were already being sown as the police investigation continued in both counties through the fall of 1993. And a behind-the-scenes battle among Jackson’s lawyers for control of the case, which would ultimately alter the course the defense would take, had begun.

By then, June Chandler Schwartz and Dave Schwartz had united with Evan Chandler against Jackson. The boy’s mother, say several sources, feared what Chandler and Rothman might do if she didn’t side with them. She worried that they would try to advance a charge against her of parental neglect for allowing her son to have sleepovers with Jackson. Her attorney, Michael Freeman, in turn, resigned in disgust, saying later that “the whole thing was such a mess. I felt uncomfortable with Evan. He isn’t a genuine person, and I sensed he wasn’t playing things straight.”

Over the months, lawyers for both sides were retained, demoted and ousted as they feuded over the best strategy to take. Rothman ceased being Chandler’s lawyer in late August, when the Jackson camp filed extortion charges against the two. Both then hired high-priced criminal defense attorneys to represent them.. (Rothman retained Robert Shapiro, now O.J. Simpson’s chief lawyer.) According to the diary kept by Rothman’s former colleague, on August 26, before the extortion charges were filed, Chandler was heard to say “It’s my ass that’s on the line and in danger of going to prison.” The investigation into the extortion charges was superficial because, says a source, “the police never took it that seriously. But a whole lot more could have been done.” For example, as they had done with Jackson, the police could have sought warrants to search the homes and offices of Rothman and Chandler. And when both men, through their attorneys, declined to be interviewed by police, a grand jury could have been convened.

“It was just a matter of time before someone like Jackson became a target. He’s rich, bizarre [and] hangs around with kids…
In mid-September, Larry Feldman, a civil attorney who’d served as head of the Los Angeles Trial Lawyers Association, began representing Chandler’s son and immediately took control of the situation. He filed a $30 million civil lawsuit against Jackson, which would prove to be the beginning of the end.

Once news of the suit spread, the wolves began lining up at the door. According to a member of Jackson’s legal team, “Feldman got dozens of letters from all kinds of people saying they’d been molested by Jackson. They went through all of them trying to find somebody, and they found zero.”

With the possibility of criminal charges against Jackson now looming, Bert Fields brought in Howard Weitzman, a well-known criminal-defense lawyer with a string of high-profile clients—including John DeLorean, whose trail he won, and Kim Basinger, whose Boxing Helena contract dispute he lost. (Also, for a short time this June, Weitzman was O.J. Simpson’s attorney.) Some predicted a problem between the two lawyers early on. There wasn’t room for two strong attorneys used to running their own show.

From the day Weitzman joined Jackson’s defense team, “he was talking settlement,” says Bonnie Ezkenazi, an attorney who worked for the defense. With Fields and Pellicano still in control of Jackson’s defense, they adopted an aggressive strategy. They believed staunchly in Jackson’s innocence and vowed to fight the charges in court. Pellicano began gathering evidence to use in the trial, which was scheduled for March 21, 1994. “They had a very weak case,” says Fields. “We wanted to fight. Michael wanted to fight and go through a trial. We felt we could win.”

Dissension within the Jackson camp accelerated on November 12, after Jackson’s publicist announced at a press conference that the singer was canceling the remainder of his world tour to go into a drug-rehabilitation program to treat his addiction to painkillers. Fields later told reporters that Jackson was “barely able to function adequately on an intellectual level.” Others in Jackson’s camp felt it was a mistake to portray the singer as incompetent. “It was important,” Fields says, “to tell the truth. [Larry] Feldman and the press took the position that Michael was trying to hide and that it was all a scam. But it wasn’t.”

On November 23, the friction peaked. Based on information he says he got from Weitzman, Fields told a courtroom full of reporters that a criminal indictment against Jackson seemed imminent. Fields had a reason for making the statement: He was trying to delay the boy’s civil suit by establishing that there was an impending criminal case that should be tried first. Outside the courtroom, reporters asked why Fields had made the announcement, to which Weitzman replied essentially that Fields “misspoke himself.” The comment infuriated Fields, “because it wasn’t true,” he says. “It was just an outrage. I was very upset with Howard.” Fields sent a letter of resignation to Jackson the following week.

“There was this vast group of people all wanting to do a different thing, and it was like moving through molasses to get a decision,” says Fields. “It was a nightmare, and I wanted to get the hell out of it.” Pellicano, who had received his share of flak for his aggressive manner, resigned at the same time.

With Fields and Pellicano gone, Weitzman brought in Johnnie Cochran Jr., a well-known civil attorney who is now helping defend O.J. Simpson. And John Branca, whom Fields had replaced as Jackson’s general counsel in 1990, was back on board. In late 1993, as DAs in both Santa Barbara and Los Angeles counties convened grand juries to assess whether criminal charges should be filed against Jackson, the defense strategy changed course and talk of settling the civil case began in earnest, even though his new team also believed in Jackson’s innocence.

Why would Jackson’s side agree to settle out of court, given his claims of innocence and the questionable evidence against him? His attorneys apparently decided there were many factors that argued against taking the case to civil court. Among them was the fact that Jackson’s emotional fragility would be tested by the oppressive media coverage that would likely plague the singer day after day during a trial that could last as long as six months. Politics and racial issues had also seeped into legal proceedings—particularly in Los Angeles, which was still recovering from the Rodney King ordeal—and the defense feared that a court of law could not be counted on to deliver justice. Then, too, there was the jury mix to consider. As one attorney says, “They figured that Hispanics might resent [Jackson] for his money, blacks might resent him for trying to be white, and whites would have trouble getting around the molestation issue.” In Resnick’s opinion, “The hysteria is so great and the stigma [of child molestation] is so strong, there is no defenseagainst it.”

Jackson’s lawyers also worried about what might happen if a criminal trial followed, particularly in Santa Barbara, which is a largely white, conservative, middle-to-upper-class community. Any way the defense looked at it, a civil trial seemed too big a gamble. By meeting the terms of a civil settlement, sources say, the lawyers figured they could forestall a criminal trial through a tacit understanding that Chandler would agree to make his son unavailable to testify.

Others close to the case say the decision to settle also probably had to do with another factor—the lawyers’ reputations. “Can you imagine what would happen to an attorney who lost the Michael Jackson case?” says Anthony Pellicano. “There’s no way for all three lawyers to come out winners unless they settle. The only person who lost is Michael Jackson.” But Jackson, says Branca, “changed his mind about [taking the case to trial] when he returned to this country. He hadn’t seen the massive coverage and how hostile it was. He just wanted the whole thing to go away.”

On the other side, relationships among members of the boy’s family had become bitter. During a meeting in Larry Feldman’s office in late 1993, Chandler, a source says, “completely lost it and beat up Dave [Schwartz].” Schwartz, having separated from June by this time, was getting pushed out of making decisions that affected his stepson, and he resented Chandler for taking the boy and not returning him.

“Dave got mad and told Evan this was all about extortion, anyway, at which point Evan stood up, walked over and started hitting Dave,” a second source says.

To anyone who lived in Los Angeles in January 1994, there were two main topics of discussion—the earthquake and the Jackson settlement. On January 25, Jackson agreed to pay the boy an undisclosed sum. The day before, Jackson’s attorneys had withdrawn the extortion charges against Chandler and Rothman.

The actual amount of the settlement has never been revealed, although speculation has placed the sum around $20 million. One source says Chandler and June Chandler Schwartz received up to $2 million each, while attorney Feldman might have gotten up to 25 percent in contingency fees. The rest of the money is being held in trust for the boy and will be paid out under the supervision of a court-appointed trustee.

“Remember, this case was always about money,” Pellicano says, “and Evan Chandler wound up getting what he wanted.” Since Chandler still has custody of his son, sources contend that logically this means the father has access to any money his son gets.

By late May 1994, Chandler finally appeared to be out of dentistry. He’d closed down his Beverly Hills office, citing ongoing harassment from Jackson supporters. Under the terms of the settlement, Chandler is apparently prohibited from writing about the affair, but his brother, Ray Charmatz, was reportedly trying to get a book deal.

In what may turn out to be the never-ending case, this past August, both Barry Rothman and Dave Schwartz (two principal players left out of the settlement) filed civil suits against Jackson. Schwartz maintains that the singer broke up his family. Rothman’s lawsuit claims defamation and slander on the part of Jackson, as well as his original defense team—Fields, Pellicano and Weitzman—for the allegations of extortion. “The charge of [extortion],” says Rothman attorney Aitken, “is totally untrue. Mr. Rothman has been held up for public ridicule, was the subject of a criminal investigation and suffered loss of income.” (Presumably, some of Rothman’s lost income is the hefty fee he would have received had he been able to continue as Chandler’s attorney through the settlement phase.)

As for Michael Jackson, “he is getting on with his life,” says publicist Michael Levine. Now married, Jackson also recently recorded three new songs for a greatest-hits album and completed a new music video called “History.”

And what became of the massive investigation of Jackson? After millions of dollars were spent by prosecutors and police departments in two jurisdictions, and after two grand juries questioned close to 200 witnesses, including 30 children who knew Jackson, not a single corroborating witness could be found. (In June 1994, still determined to find even one corroborating witness, three prosecutors and two police detectives flew to Australia to again question Wade Robson, the boy who had acknowledged that he’d slept in the same bed with Jackson. Once again, the boy said that nothing bad had happened.)

The sole allegations leveled against Jackson, then, remain those made by one youth, and only after the boy had been give a potent hypnotic drug, leaving him susceptible to the power of suggestion.

“I found the case suspicious,” says Dr. Underwager, the Minneapolis psychiatrist, “precisely because the only evidence came from one boy. That would be highly unlikely. Actual pedophiles have an average of 240 victims in their lifetime. It’s a progressive disorder. They’re never satisfied.”

Given the slim evidence against Jackson, it seems unlikely he would have been found guilty had the case gone to trial. But in the court of public opinion, there are no restrictions. People are free to speculate as they wish, and Jackson’s eccentricity leaves him vulnerable to the likelihood that the public has assumed the worst about him.

So is it possible that Jackson committed no crime—that he is what he has always purported to be, a protector and not a molester of children? Attorney Michael Freeman thinks so: “It’s my feeling that Jackson did nothing wrong and these people [Chandler and Rothman] saw an opportunity and programmed it. I believe it was all about money.”

To some observers, the Michael Jackson story illustrates the dangerous power of accusation, against which there is often no defense—particularly when the accusations involve child sexual abuse. To others, something else is clear now—that police and prosecutors spent millions of dollars to create a case whose foundation never existed.

July 20th, 2009 at 6:22 pm
Lisa says:

Now all of the supporters are coming out of the woodwork. Now no one (except Lovely and Mama thinks that Michael was guilty.

http://www.cnn.com/video/#/video/bestoftv/2009/07/20/jvm.jackson.confession.cnn

July 20th, 2009 at 7:16 pm
Lisa says:

J. C. Penney: alleged assault, litigation and psychiatric analysis

In August 1998 the Arvizo family was detained on a shoplifting charge at a J.C. Penney department store in West Covina, California. According to J.C. Penney, Gavin and Star Arvizo were sent out of the store by their father with an armload of stolen clothes, the family was detained and Janet started a “scuffle” with security officers. The shoplifting charge was dropped, but Janet filed a lawsuit for $3 million, saying that when she was detained she was “viciously beaten” by three security officers, one of whom was female. The psychiatrist hired by J. C. Penney to evaluate Janet Arvizo found her to have rehearsed her children into supporting her story and to be both “delusional” and “depressed,” although Janet’s own doctor found her to be only the latter. More than two years after the original alleged incident Janet added a further charge that one of the male officers had “sexually fondled” her breasts and pelvis area for “up to seven minutes”. Ultimately the department store settled out of court with the family for $137,000.

July 20th, 2009 at 8:14 pm
Lisa says:

Iam SICK and TIRED of people calling him a pedophile. If that Chandler kid was so “innocent” as he was portrayed why would his family run with the money?! WHY DON”T you answer that!!

July 22nd, 2009 at 4:43 pm
Total Workout says:

There’s too much evidence pointing to some sketchiness in MJ’s past. That said, nobody can dispute was one of the world’s greatest entertainers ever. The great ones always have some weird baggage!

July 23rd, 2009 at 11:23 pm
Sad Mommy says:

I have a 2 year old and if I thought someone molested him, I would do everything in my power to see that person behind bars.

Who are any of us to judge? So what if he was a little odd, put yourself in his shoes. What if you couldn’t step out your front door without being mobbed by fans and the media. The sad thing is that the media can print whatever they choose. The only way the media pays for false allegations is if the person has the money and time to fight them. I do believe in our freedom of speech, but Michael is a human being, just as the rest of us. He was beaten down in the tabloids constantly. Every move he made was analyzed under a microscope.

Have any of you accusers read his book “Moon Walk”? This might open your eyes to what he endured throughout his short life.

I am truly saddened by the loss of this musical genius. I believe that Michael was a tortured soul and I pray that he may finally rest in peace. The ones left to suffer are his innocent children. I pray for them, they have a hard road ahead of them.

July 25th, 2009 at 10:55 am
Carole says:

I do not believe Michael was a pedofile. I do believe he was a talentend, troubled individual who had good intentions but did not see what a vulnerable position he was putting himself in. He had such childlike qualities and wanted to live in a childlike world. This makes him different but not a monster.

He adored his children and they in turn loved him. This tells you he was not a bad man. RIP Michael.

July 27th, 2009 at 12:00 am
ttt3 says:

A Mama’s Blog,

I’m not trying to attack you or your opinion. I just want to point out that the link to the case against Michael Jackson is the grand jury proceedings, where evidence and witness’s testimony cannot be challenged. It essentially gives the prosecution a chance to present their take on the case without any opposition. Jackson and his lawyers weren’t even present for it.

The trial testimony was quite different. The prosecution witnesses whose testimony went unchallenged in the grand jury were found to have major credibility issues under cross examination. Each of the three Arvizo siblings had changed their stories in the interim on at least one point..even then they still conflicted with their established timeline and with each other’s testimony.

Of the four boys that the prosecution claimed were molested in addition to Gavin Arvizo, one skipped the country to avoid testifying and three (now adults) took the stand vehemently denied it.

I’m sorry if I’m just a broken record giving you information you’ve already been told …from the amount of comments above me, I’d say you’ve been getting an earful from Jackson’s fans.

July 29th, 2009 at 6:51 pm
Lovely says:

Could someone explain why MJ paid his maid two million dollars regarding her son’s molestation? The good news is we never have to hear about him molestating another young innocent boy (phew).

July 30th, 2009 at 4:20 pm
Lovely says:

Lisa,

You need to read other blogs, there are millions of people (besides the children) that know he was a sick, wacko that loved to touch and hurt little boys. But it really doesn’t matter now, does it? It is over, it gives me faith in God’s law and Karma that you reap what you sow.

July 30th, 2009 at 4:24 pm
Lovely says:

This is my question for the day. Was MJ high on Diprivan when he hung “blanket” out of the window? Maybe he was tripping and thought he was a real “blanket” instead of a baby. Hmmmm, sounds like child endangerment to me. You go Gloria Allread! You tried to help the children, ahhh, but then, his money stopped you. Just like in various court cases, money and high-paid lawyers make guilty people look innocent.

July 31st, 2009 at 10:45 am
ttt3 says:

Lovely,

To answer your questions

Jackson paid the maid two million dollars for the same reason that JC Penney paid the Arvizos when they falsely claimed sexual abuse: it’s cheaper for high profile persons and corporations to open their wallets and settle rather than deal with the lost income and damaging bad press which inevitably comes from a lawsuit.

A better question would be why the maid, Blanca Francia, instead of going to police with the molestation she said she witnessed many times, used her story to get money.

Also, one cannot get high from Diprivan. If it’s in your system you’re knocked out cold. It does not affect you after you wake up.

July 31st, 2009 at 12:14 pm
Lovely says:

MJ paid many people hush money to keep his ugly deeds quiet. People are greedy and they do not like the court system. On top of that, many clueless(including jurors) idiots “loved” Mj despite the fact he was a child rapists. They choose to be in denial, rather than face the facts of who he was. No one would want to come up against that blindless devotion and a million dollar law team. In fact, the jurors in his trial later said they believed he was a pedophile. Many of the victim’s families probably felt the damage is already done, might as well get paid for the abuse–I’m not saying that is the right attitude, but it is what it is.

Regarding the diprivan, true. Maybe he was high on demerol or cocaine or maybe it was the “Jesus juice” he used to get the kids drunk so he could molest them. Whatever the substance was, he was a known drug addict and drunk with many secrets and perversions.

August 4th, 2009 at 10:49 am
PMonz says:

Believe what you want, his fans will always love him and support him to their deaths. Nothing anyone says will change that. His fans and those people out there who may not be fans but have good logic understand him and know he was a victim of greed.
Even if think there are redflags, accept the fact that non of it is solid proof of guilt.
I’m sad he’s gone but I’m glad he won’t have to deal with the crap anymore.

RIP MJ, we love you and know you did nothing wrong.

August 14th, 2009 at 10:53 pm
Lovely says:

Oh, he did nothing wrong is that why the FBI had a 600 page file on him? Hmmm, interesting. You could stay in denial until hell freezes over, but the fact remains he was a weird, strange, pedophile. Like attracts, like so I can see your love for the late MJ is valid in your mind.

August 20th, 2009 at 10:44 am
Lovely says:

If you loved MJ just say that you loved him unconditionally. Don’t try to negate what the poor boys went through. EVERYONE he paid off was not greedy. Do your research, follow the links above to Sheriff’s office and look at the evidence they took from his house. You sound so ignorant, “you did nothing wrong.”

August 20th, 2009 at 10:49 am
Lovely says:

Sidenote:

A lot fo the “crap” people have do deal with they bring upon themselves because of their actions. It is called cause and effect. Somethings do happen out-of-the-blue, but in MJ’s case it was cause and effect at work in the universe.

August 22nd, 2009 at 12:33 pm
Ty says:

My suggestion for those who think MJ is guilty – read all the transcripts and court reports. Do not trust what you’ve seen or read in the media. It may or may not change you opinion, but it certainly will leave you asking many more questions, especially knowing what we know about MJ death.

August 29th, 2009 at 11:04 pm
Carole says:

You cannot call Michael a pedophile just because you feel like it. That slanders his name – he was proven NOT GUILTY. As far as evidence goes, there is evidence to prove you guilty and there is evidence to prove you not guilty. The verdict was NOT GUILTY.
RIP MJ.

September 7th, 2009 at 12:02 am
Lovely says:

Sometimes the jury doesn’t get it right. Rest in peace Nicole Simpson and Ron Goldman. Rot in jail Oj, and deal with the deeds done in your life MJ.

September 10th, 2009 at 1:25 pm
Kim says:

MJ is INNOCENT~~~~~ before I go any further I am victim of a serious sexual assault as a child and a mother of 4.

MJ would NEVER have harmed a child and thanks to people who think like you and the media and the blood money leeches Michael was destroyed !!!!!!!!!!!!! then murdered.

I hope all you nay sayers get yours I know michael is in a better place now, he sure wasn’t here on earth, it is the nay sayers that helped kill him.

October 4th, 2009 at 10:58 am
Carole says:

Michael was found innocent and the jury does get it right.
He was guilty of being a bad judge of people and hooking up with people with doubtful characters. There are a lot of headcases out there and it only takes a couple to ruin your life.
Michael was a kind person and could not see bad in people until it was too late.
RIP MJ

October 6th, 2009 at 10:43 pm
shock says:

You used the Smoking Gun as your research???? What a amateur writer you are. There is more to the case then what you write abou. Do better research and come back with better evidence and not just your opinion. Geez! I will agree to one thing you wrote, he should have know better since he was the adult. That does not, however make him a pedophile. Michael is not OJ Simpson get real, please!

October 14th, 2009 at 9:01 pm
A Mama's Blog says:

Shock,

I actually found the Smoking Gun story referenced from the Guardian in the UK http://www.guardian.co.uk/world/2003/dec/19/usa.michaeljacksontrial, and on Wikipedia (under Grand Jury Proceedings and indictments) http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/People_v._Jackson

The reason why the Smoking Gun is cited and used as a reference in the case against MJ, is because they published the secret transcript of the court proceedings. If you feel the avenue of where the transcript was published, discounts the merit of what the transcript contains, and use that to criticize my research that is your prerogative. I used The Smoking Gun as a source that published transcripts of the court procedure that was not published elsewhere, so that the information was there, for others to form their own opinions with facts.

Thanks to all the comments, many readers have provided further documents, research, and information. There is no shortage of information on this case. The Smoking Gun however, in my opinion, provided a key to the case when they published the secret transcripts that had not been published elsewhere.

October 14th, 2009 at 11:29 pm

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