"Leaving Neverland" alleges Michael Jackson was a paedophile

Yeah, whatever it was, it definitely did a number on him. Sad to see :/

 

I think the Heard vs Depp case has shown that. Both were abused by each other and abusive towards each other.

 

Yes I thought the dudes were credible. What is horrifying is that their parents were basically starstruck and paid to let the boys stay w/Jackson. IDGAF who you are—my kids ain’t staying at an adults house by themselves.

Jackson had some serious issues, obviously.

 

Of course a black man who was a runaway success and the most successful recording artist in history is going to be accused of something like this. But it's not true. Jackson himself said that he'd rather die than do something like that. It's just envy mixed up with racism. And it ain't right to try to ruin a person's life with accusations like this.

 

It was true! And, there's just too much other corroborating stories from staff and some family members.

 

The accusations are false. The case was closed without criminal charges filed, and the grand jury that investigated the claims disbanded after failing to find any evidence of molestation. And the FBI files on Michael Jackson released after his death noted that the prosecution had not outstanding leads. And yet these pernicious rumors continue to circulate.

There's a simple explanation for what happened. The accusers and their families wanted to make a buck off of Jackson. And they did. Jordan got about 15 million in a settlement deal. And the rest of society's glee on jumping on the accusations and labeling Jackson as a paedo is just simple racism.

 

I have a lot of thoughts about that... lol probably best not to go off on that here, because it's not what this thread is about. But I absolutely do not believe Johnny was ever physically or sexually abusive to her, as she claimed. I'm not even sure there is any evidence of emotional or verbal abuse either, but that is a little more of a complicated area (for example, certain texts he sent may have said cruel things about her, but some of those were after she divorced him and destroyed his life, so that's pretty understandable that someone might say cruel things).

Anyway, it was a 24 day trial, and I watched the entire thing, every day, so yeah, I've got a lot of thoughts. lol I'll save them for if anyone ever makes a thread about it

 

Yeah, I agree. I don't see how this has anything to do with racism. Especially considering the fact that a lot of people probably don't even think of Michael as being a "black man" because of his skin condition. If you are only familiar with his later work and don't know much about him or his family, you wouldn't even know he was black.

Edit: not that that matters, obviously. Just in case anyone gets the wrong impression by this. I'm not saying it's a good thing or a bad thing if people don't realize he's black. I'm just recognizing the reality of the situation.

 

There may have been false accusations or lawsuits, too - maybe or maybe not. And, there have been sealed settlements - whatever that means. But, not being able to prove something beyond a reasonable doubt (a high legal standard), and if there's even one sympathetic juror, does not make a person innocent or prove it didn't happen. Acquittal only means the high criminal bar of proof couldn't be obtained or other juror sympathies overridden - hence a person is labeled "not guilty" (a legal meaning), but is not labeled "innocent"; a civil court could still establish guilt on a preponderance of the evidence (a lower standard) for monetary damages, if not criminal conviction. I suppose you think OJ was innocent, too, just because he was acquitted in criminal court, but not civil court. Anyhow, the documentary outlines extensive histories of two men who never sued the Jacksons, therefore nothing to gain. Also, there were personal maids/staff at Neverland who reported unwholesome remains of sex acts on bed linen and clothes and things. Michael's sister Latoya also had some interesting reports in her tell-all book, which even implicated the mother as knowing what was going on with Michael's sexual orientation and his propensity for wrongdoing. The moral proof is more likely than not. Personally, I've otherwise enjoyed his music, recognize his musical genius, and highly preferred that the accusations were false, especially when the trials were going on. There was just too much that came out afterward that overwhelmed common sense. I realize many don't have such sense and will never admit wrongdoing, especially fans (short for "fanatics" - nothing rational there). So what! It really means nothing to me.

 

Probably because he was blind.

There's a racist trope about black men being uninhibited and hypersexual. The accusations against Jackson feel to me like a reiteration of this trope.

Look, I realize that a lot of people don't feel that racism is behind the response to the accusations. That's okay. But even leaving that aside, the facts are:

1. Only 4 people ever accused Jackson of making unwanted sexual contact with them
2. The police and the court system investigated the accusations and found no evidence
3. Jackson was friends with some child actors during that time, including Macaulay Culkin. They stood up for him in the trial and said that he never approached them sexually or made them feel uncomfortable. Brett Barnes even denied the claims from other witnesses that Jackson had touched him inappropriately.
3. 2 of the people who accused Jackson got massive payouts from Jackson after making his life miserable for years
4. The payouts weren't an admission of guilt, Jackson said he just wanted to move on with his life
5. The investigation and grand jury looking into the accusations were closed without any charges being filed
6. Jackson was acquitted of all charges during the 2005 trial.
7. One of the witnesses for the defense, Wade Robson, originally testified that Jackson had done nothing inappropriate to him in the 2005 trial. After Jackson's death in 2009 he had only glowing praise for him. He reversed himself in 2013 though saying he had been "brainwashed".

It's clear to me that what really happened was that the accusers and their families made the accusations against Michael Jackson to get some money from him. This is the same reason Wade Robson reversed his original testimony. None of the other children who testified in Jackson's favor have reversed their testimonies. Only Wade Robson.

 

Why? People don't expect blind people to act out sexually. So if anyone though of accusing Stevie Wonder of anything- and this is all theoretical of course- they probably figured it wouldn't stick.

Anyways this is beside the point. One famous black man not being accused of sexual predation does not bely my point that black men are uniquely susceptible to be accused of sexual misconduct because of racial prejudice.

 

Your focusing on ancillary things I say and ignoring the substance.