A Twisted Sicko: Should We Shed Tears For Him?

@You Cannot Untoast: Because people don't do evil shit for less money?

[www.woai.com]

My_Latest_Incarnation

@bluemoonday: aside from the racist joke I like your insight. Especially as to why he preferred to hang out with boys. He paid out the family 20 million so that he could avoid publicly addressing the whole thing. 20 mil sounds like a ton for us but for him it was probably not such a big thing.

A friend told my Jackson was hypnotized and asked whether he had relations with the boys and he said no so I truly believe he didn't commit any crime.

The only crime he did commit is hiding from the fact that he was homosexual.

@bluemoonday: Aarrggh. This was meant to be in the non pedo joke thread! It did go off on a bit of a tangent though...

bluemoonday

@Dickdogfood: I posted a joke and it wound up somewhere else. Sorry.

bluemoonday

I have one! Forgive me if you've already heard it...
MJ goes to Heaven and meets Elvis.
He introduces himself by saying "Hey, I married your daughter!"
Elvis says "Oh, thank fuck, I heard she married a n....r!"

To all of you: I have greatly enjoyed reading your discussions about this experience we have all shared over the past week. I always find your commentary thought provoking and intelligent, but especially so with regard to this story. I have tried to read all I can about both sides to try to determine my own point of view. It's taken up a big chunk of the last week. Here are some of my thoughts.

Why would he put bleaching cream on his testicles?
Because the child had seen them and could identify the blotches on them. Was that inappropriate? Hell yeah. Does it automatically follow that the child was molested? Not necessarily. It's a stretch, I know.

Why would he name his elderly mother or Diana Ross as guardian of his beloved children?
Because there were NO other people in his life he could trust. Not his sisters, brothers, or all the old friends that are now sharing the most intimate details of his life with the media. That is so freaking sad.

Was he castrated? I don't think so. I believed Lisa Marie Presley when she said they had a passionate sexual relationship. Why would she lie? For money? Hardly. For credibility? Yeah, she sure got that being married to him.

Should the children be with Debbie Rowe? I think they should definitely have a relationship with their mother. Those children need someone outside the Jackson family to be impartial. Is she motivated by money? I really doubt it. For the reported settlements that she has received, she certainly doesn't seem to have lived the high life or squandered it.

I also have a theory about why he surrounded himself with young boys. If he just wanted to play games and hang out, he could have had a group of male friends his own age. However, inevitably, those other men would have been interested in pursuing women and talking about sex. MJ was notoriously shy about sex and was disturbed by being exposed to his brothers and father cavorting with groupies when he was very young. So, too far out of the comfort zone. Adult women were too threatening and young girls were also too risky to have around due to potential allegations of sexual misconduct.

How do you spend about a million $ a day? The forensic accountant who examined the books at the time of the trial said that he had never seen such a mess, and that MJ was making about $300 million a year but spending about $20 million more than he was earning. He was apparently spending approximately $55,000 a day more than he was earning. I need to lie down now.

bluemoonday

@FormerEnglishMajor: You assume he had any "good sense" to overcome. Dude was showing some seriously eccentric behavior by the late seventies, well before he started becoming the magnetic force of tabloid fervor, due in part (it seems to me) by his mother's and sister's adherence to the Jehovah's Witnesses--a religion which, mind you, encourages social isolation, discourages sexual activity, and has historically been pretty damned hostile to psychology and psychiatry. If he had any good sense it was likely squashed out of him like a grape at an early age.

To his (admittedly very partial) credit, he eventually left the JHs. Even read Freud and Jung later in life. But then again, he did marry a Scientologist. And when you're the biggest tabloid target in the world and you've already got serious issues surrounding trust and authority...well, divulging your deepest darkest secrets to a complete stranger (even the best money can buy) is probably not in the cards even if you can actually bring yourself to get therapy.

I've been in therapy for much of my life. It helps, sure, but it doesn't necessarily impart "sense" where none is.

@irishflyesq: This very thought has been driving me insane. MJ didn't kidnap kids off the street, and they sure as hell didn't drive themselves to Neverland--how'd they end up in his bed in the first place? I couldn't get anywhere when I was 13 without parental assistance, let alone a superstar's mansion...

DahlELama

@You Cannot Untoast: Oh I'm not a fucking troll, you asked a fucking question and I answered it as it was asked. I didn't say it made up for everything, I said it made up for the loss of income that came from making the allegations. Which I don't think anyone would dispute. I also said that the kid is the one having to bear the brunt of the negative outcomes. Also something I doubt anyone would dispute.

If you don't think you'll like the answers to your questions, don't ask them.

My favorite part of this whole thing is the "white teeth trick" ad next her picture. Subtle dig at those yellow candy corn she calls teeth, I think?

Also, whatever lady. People who were young and impressionable during Jackson's Thriller era used to really like him once upon a time. The man made great music and he was a sad creature. He also crossed a lot of racial boundaries in the 1980s, despite whatever happened to his skin afterward.

This is what you baby boomers get for talking about Woodstock all the time. Now it's our turn.

@Novaload Misses Murilee: He'll have more of a shelf life than Brit, but true. 50 years from now, I wouldn't be surprised if he were better known for what an odd bird (if not an out and out pedo) he was than for his music. Maybe it's just me, but his music doesn't exactly feel timeless or classic. It's difficult for me to judge as I was there for (and was sucked into) the Thriller hype, and didn't have much use for any of his later albums.

I can't even compare him to Elvis, because as far as I'm concerned, Elvis was far more influential and had a much better overall quality of musical output. Michael Jackson had one or two decent solo albums and then became a professional weirdo.

jerusalemcricket

The man's not here to defend himself. And it does no good to judge someone based on the worst episode of their life.

Michael Jackson was a totally talented entertainer who did good things for children around the world. He was a loving father, despite his own troubled upbringing. That's how he should be remembered.

Scribblenerd

@FormerEnglishMajor: Of course it isn't an excuse. Help me out here--can you point me to where I said it's an EXCUSE for his behavior?

Genuine sexual predators often have such shitty childhoods I wish I could put the parents on trial, too. Doesn't change how I feel about their crimes.

My point--whether or not he was acquitted, Michael Jackson had some issues with kids, probably because he was as sexually mature (and in some ways, as emotionally mature) as those teen boys. And he despite having unlimited $$$, it was useless to the extent that he never got any real help. Just asshole parents,leeches, and a company of people who never said "no."

To those like Stasi he was a sex offender who got away with molestation.

Was he? Do we ever learn anything from cases like this where the defendant is wealthy (and famous)?

(Yeah...the answer is probably "no".)

maude_flanders

Sounds like Stasi will be glad to hear that Jackson's London "wife," Nona Paris Lola Ankhesenamun Jackson, said "Though he died to this earth he lives with my father [Satan the Devil] Khalid Lucifer."

[www.tmz.com]

@Madge Gristle: Couldn't have said it better myself

somelikeithaute

@You Cannot Untoast:

Allegedly molested.

somelikeithaute

At least we still have Gary Glitter.

Does anyone think it's very odd that Deepok Chopra was such "great friends" with michael even AFTER the trial?

Queen of the Passive Aggressives

I'm channeling Dave Chappelle. The more people attack him, the more I think MJ was innocent.

badass-boi

@thefilth: Ditto. It's a sad story no matter how you slice it. How Linda Stasi can claim to be so certain when even MJ's most malicious biographers are still scratching their heads is beyond me.

@Martyn Jackson: Twas a joke, relax. I couldn't care less if he did or did not want to buy someone's bones, I was just joking about Anxiogenic's statement that "the dance will remain."

Fuzzy Dunlop

@anxiogenic: Oh, yeah, definitely. He'll be one of the immortals with Beethoven and Johnny Mercer--no. He was and is a pop star. He'll be in the curiosity shop with Britt-Britt.

@Better to Eat You With: I shared the full "Thriller" video with my kid last night for the first time. He absolutely loved it and is determined to learn the dance.

He also asked how MJ could be so sad if he had so much money. Ah, kids.

Ok MJ...most people either loved or hated him (far more on the love side if you can believe the media)However it seems that no one is thinking about a very problematic subject...we know MJ was terribly abused during his youth ( I am making NO excuses for his later actions!)By his tyrant father. Now his children are (by his own wishes) being put in that same scenario in the custody of his "sainted" mother. WHERE WAS SHE WHEN ALL THE HORRIFIC ABUSE TOOK PLACE? She was right there and did NOTHING to stop it. In most states the moter of an abused child can be, and frequently IS prosecuted right along with the abuser is she did nothing to prevent or stop the abuse!!! WHY IS THIS WOMAN BEING PUT ON A PEDASTAL? She is every bit as much to blame as MJs father! Will MJs kids be abused also while she sits back and watches? Think about it!And do not even try the "it was the times back then" excuse! I am the same age as MJ and if anyone had abused me in ANY way my mom would have turned into a mix of Jason Voorhees, Freddy Kruger and Bruce Lee and kicked MAJOR ass!!!

paintedangel

@Dickdogfood: Q: Have you heard about the foundation that Michael Jackson and Richard Pryor have started?
A: It's called the Ignited Negro College Fund.

That took like 4 hours of searching through pedophile jokes to find.

I think the saddest thing of all is that he was automatically assumed to be guilty. What real parent do you know would take money for the molestation of their kid and not file criminal charges? Also, the fact that the kid recanted has been completely ignored.

I feel bad for an obviously sickly and tormented man that spent his life trying to regain a childhood he never had and the love of people that mostly didn't give a shit about him.

thefilth

@Wrapitup: ZOMG? Are you trying to be witty here?

Martyn Jackson

@rockandhardPL: Except it was never proven.

Martyn Jackson

@anxiogenic:

No one is saying that an artist doing bad things disqualifies the art itself from veneration. The art stands on its own. Some are saying, however, that when said artist dies, rather than JUST going on and on about how great the art was, the media should also mention "oh, by the way, the guy was messed up," and not just whitewash the more disturbing aspects of his life.

When OJ dies, I think that, in addition to his great football career, the coverage should also mention that he killed someone. Same with Phil Spector (minus the football).

Fuzzy Dunlop

@Fuzzy Dunlop: Pretty ignorant. Have you seen the video for 'leave me alone' where he dances with Elephant Man's bones? He never bought them nor wanted to, it was media bullshit, so why are people still on this shit? Is it too easy?

Martyn Jackson

@Better to Eat You With: Very good point. Art soothes and heals people and in that regard he did a lot of good. I really don't know about the rest of it.

Ellabella

@girlhowdy: Not anyone, only twisted sickos!

@Dickdogfood: Liz Taylor

youreabigjessie

@pssshwhatever: Yes, you're right. As a father, I wouldn't be upset if my child was molested if I got 20 million dollars.

No, that wouldn't haunt me night and day for the rest of my life.

You fucking troll.

I've always thought there are two competing narratives of his life: If he did do it, and if he didn't. Both stories are almost unbearably sad for different reasons.

@Wrapitup: BINGO. May I heart you?

@maude_flanders: Plenty of people have messed-up childhoods and manage to live decent lives. Jackson had access to unlimited amounts of money and got to indulge himself.

You might as well argue that that messed-up childhood and that palpable anger you see in his videos drove him.

"Messed up childhood" is an explanation, but not an excuse, which is what I'm hearing more and more lately.

@anxiogenic: But where do you draw the line? It's OK that maybe he molested some kids - but what if he raped and murdered them? What if he did it at gunpoint?

I don't think it is wrong to be highly disturbed by the adulation for a - at the very least - controversial figure. And let's talk about immoral artists - mostly it was drugs, lasciviousness with women or men. Consenting adults.

Aside from Jerry Lee Lewis - and that still squicks me out - I don't know how you can say "art is better than the artist" and say that while making great art that you can equate Coleridge's opium-eating or Elvis' drug abuse with Jackson's pedophilia.

@girlhowdy: Exactly! Who died and left her boss? (My mothers favorite thing to say to my smart mouth at about age 13.)

@You Cannot Untoast: I was appalled that the dermatologist would want his children (and no it's not just your ejaculate - those are your kids) raised by Jackson. I can't tell you how many people protest to me "He wasn't charged with anything" - though he admits to having boys sleep over in his bed. Where there's smoke....

And DON'T GIVE ME the "he didn't have a childhood" blah blah. He was 50, worth tens if not hundreds of millions, and had access to any help he wanted. Get therapy and get over it. All that "We Are The World" crap and ultimately he gave his money to his own indulgences.

Is the brush with fame/money that intoxicating that it overcomes your good sense?

What annoys me about this is that it's so damn boring. Every facebook status update or blog post that's appreciated him--even a little--has met with this response since ten minutes after he died. You don't want to hear about it? Good for you. I do, 'cause it's been great fun to be reminded of how much Thriller meant to me as a kid, when I used to dance in my room for hours on end and forget how shitty life was getting. Other people's sins are none of my business. But that record mattered to me, and a whole lot of other people.

@Moff: $23M as a payoff rather than $23M towards your defense is another bad move.

@Moff: Well, I love you now.

@TheUptightMidwesterner: Pedophiles do not talk about children in terms of them being actual humans with emotions and feelings."

I don't know about that. If you want to argue about semantics, then yes, someone who molests a child arguably sees that child as a means to an end and nothing else...but I think there are plenty of "pedophiles" (or technically, in Jackon's case...I think the term is ephebophile?) who emotionally and psychologically relate to their victims, or at least, "project" onto them and identify with them.

Sexually and emotionally he might have identified with a 13 or 15 year old boy more than anything else (although after reading what Lisa Marie Presley said...I'll give her some credit; they had SOME emotional connection, not just between beard and "weirdo"). I imagine ALOT of people charged with sex crimes against children emotionally and sexually identify with those far outside their age group...not that that makes it okay.

Without the brute of a father and a mother who was a devout Jehovah's witness...I wonder how things would have turned out. Hell, even with the abuse--his mother, the "nice" parent, probably wouldn't wouldn't have reacted happily if her son openly came out and said he was gay, or that he wanted to seek therapy, or that he'd sexually abused under his father's watch, as many suspect.

It's too late to care now, but yes, while fans understandably mourn....what if something like this happens in the future?

Can a sex offender buy his way not only out of prison time, but out of ANY check on problematic behavior? He stopped inviting kids over after the trial, yes?

Who checked up on his kids? Did he ever seek actual psychiatric/psychological help for his general issues (beyond just getting a refill on the prescriptions he'd become addicted to)?

R. Kelley (far less sympathetic) and piss-on-a-teen tape also come to mind.

maude_flanders

@Madge Gristle: And also, the only people who actually got to weigh the evidence were on the 2003 jury.

@TheUptightMidwesterner: This was my response, too. He never seemed to have the emotional capacity to be a predator. He was just such a mess.

@Dickdogfood: woman/geisha, minimal difference.

YES!!! I've been saying the same thing for a week. Listen, OJ was a really good football player, Roman Polanski made some great movies and Phil Spector was an epic producers. And yet; they're all pieces of shit. The genuflecting over Jacko is way too much.

I mean really now, it's hardly worth congratulating yourselves for pointing out what's already been pointed out nonstop for the last decade-and-a-half-plus. (Ever hear an MJ joke premised on him NOT being a pedo?) Want to strike a mightier blow for good? Go recycle a plastic bottle.

This stuff's just the nervous titters of folks who think race, class, gender, fame, etc. etc. are grosser subjects than nonconsensual sex or self-mutilation.

@this article is an interesting take:

I had started my investigation convinced that Jackson was guilty. By the end, I no longer believed that.

I could not find a single shred of evidence suggesting that Jackson had molested a child. But I found significant evidence demonstrating that most, if not all, of his accusers lacked credibility and were motivated primarily by money.

Jackson also deserved much of the blame, of course. Continuing to share a bed with children even after the suspicions surfaced bordered on criminal stupidity.

@anxiogenic:Agreed. I said I listened to the music while jogging. The art is amazing. His influence on art and the world was far-reaching. But then let us celebrate the art itself, not the man...no?

@Hydroceph: When I first heard he was being taken to hospital, I thought it might be better for everyone - Michael included - if he didn't pull through. I agree with Chillbear that his friends and family may have known a loving, caring, gentle man, but that doesn't mean he didn't have a darker side to him, or that he didn't harm children. How many times have we seen news stories about child molesters and rapists whose families insist that the person they know couldn't have committed such a heinous crime?

jerusalemcricket

@Anthony_Underscore: By touched I meant molest.

"one columnist who's not afraid to tell it like it is"? Ninja please. About 3500 other people blogged basically the exact same sentiments a damn week ago. Including me.

partypants

@irishflyesq: No matter what MJ may have done with the children, aren't the starfucker parents just as much to blame?"

YES, YES, and YES. They were probably praying a sick man, left alone with their minors, would provide a reason to sue.

maude_flanders

@anxiogenic: I just hearted you so hard for that.

@You Cannot Untoast: It makes up for the income lost on those two ventures, absolutely. Probably many times over, and without the dad actually having to DO anything. It was the kid that had to deal with whatever happened.

@Private Hangnail: You have some questionable taste, my friend. She's no raving beauty, but did you see Michael in the last decade and a half?

@maude_flanders: Okay- I hate that I am getting into this, BUT

I watched him talking about children on the Martin Bashir documentary and that is what convinced me that he did not molest anyone. Did he enter into confusing relationships with already vulnerable kids? Yes.

Pedophiles do not talk about children in terms of them being actual humans with emotions and feelings. Pedophiles tend to objectify children, even in their speech. They talk about children like we talk about sport teams or cars. MJ, creepy as shit as he was, talked about kids as actual suffering beings.

He might have been projecting on them, but he was not molesting them.

@Madge Gristle: I read the Smoking Gun regarding the 2003 case.

Doesn't that raise some questions about his having kids (although, by all accounts, he was a decent a father as he could be)?

Even that's not a great comfort...there are plenty of people who are decent parents and are capable of molesting outside of the family.

I just don't know. I sympathize with his fans, who can say he wasn't found guilty, but still...

Sad life.

maude_flanders

@The Real JR: After researching court documents and the facts of the case(s) - yes, I would have let my child hang out with MJ. Mind you - the children also always had their families there at the house too.

He was eccentric, he was a little crazy, and obviously had his demons with his painkillers. But a pedophile, I honestly don't believe he ever was. As Rich (fourfour) put it, I believe he was "strange enough to relate to them in an infantile, affectionate and utterly abnormal but sexless manner."

@Moff: The evil that men do lives after them; the good is oft interred with their bones.

rudi_freude

@rockandhardPL: Wait, I don't see what moral condemnation of his actions has anything to do with his music and whether or not he should be venerated for that. I didn't know him at all. I have no knowledge of whether or not he touched children. I'm sure he was a flawed human being just like me (maybe better and probably worse), but that isn't for me to judge.

If we disqualified artists (or anyone) from veneration for doing immoral things we'd have no one left to talk about. One of the great things about good art is that it is necessarily better than the artist.

@RheaPollstry: That is a really interesting article. Thanks for posting it!

@Wrapitup: I agree - if I had a child and they were molested and raped, as the parent, I'd want that person to be locked up.

And yet twice, 2 families were only after money.. one of which got the money because the insurance company wanted to settle before a trial, and then refused to testify before a criminal trial, even though the settlement's clause was something to the effect of "the child may not discuss his relationship with the offender, EXCEPT FOR IN A COURT OF LAW UNDER OATH"

@Hydroceph: I think I agree with you. I could care less if his fans are all in a flutter over the light being shown on this deranged man's activity. However, I do feel bad for the family and friends that may have known a different side of Jackson and have to read posts like this. The fact that he is dead insures that no children will be emotionally or physically harmed by him any longer. That is good enough for me. If people want to celebrate his career, I will not be the one to stop them. Just don't ask me to join in with the festivities.

A+ Article and Gawker Post.

Everyone. Just take a deep breath and ask yourself this: Would you have left him alone in a room with your kids? Also, if he didn't sing and dance once, would you have ha-ha'ed his batshit crazy away anyway?

@Tattertotter: But one could say the same thing about Barbra.

@maude_flanders: The 2003 trial was even more ridiculous then the 1993. Search for the floacist blog, where she put together the timeline of events, using court (mostly prosecution) documentation and it shows just how fucked up Tom Sneddon was. They literally tried to change their stories and dates to fit the allegations - and it's all documented. It's no wonder he was found not guilty (as I believe he was)

Agreed. The last thing we need on this planet is more compassion and respect for our fellow human beings, especially when they're dead and it no longer matters, and even more especially when they're weirdos.

Point of Information: Number of Ponzi schemes perpetuated by the pederast perp = 0.

@anxiogenic: Well, not so much the dance. Unless they string up the skeleton like a marionette. Maybe his skeleton and the Elephant Man's bones can do a waltz?

Fuzzy Dunlop

No matter what MJ may have done with the children, aren't the starfucker parents just as much to blame?

When I was 13, I'm pretty sure my mother wouldn't have sent me packing with a grown man to Europe. But perhaps my mother was a bit overprotective, I dunno.

irishflyesq

@PandoraSpocks:Sorry, I don't sit around editing everything before commenting. I will note that. Read the article. I think it's ridiculous that people are choosing to forget that he probably did this.

@jbwan: They got 20$ million dollars and skipped town because the son didn't want to perjure himself at a criminal trial... and thus no trials ever took place.

What a loving family who really cared for the welfare of their child.. oh yeah, then he divorced his parents.

@Tattertotter: No Courtney Love allusions, now.

[aviewofthec.files.wordpress.com]

@anxiogenic:Basically basically one is then saying "oh hey, it is OK to touch kids as long as you produce great music. It will all be forgiven!"

@You Cannot Untoast: Second.

I'll shed tears when Twisted Sister dies.

@Wrapitup: YEAH! What YOU said!

I'm suprised Lisa Stasi didnt mention Lisa Marie- a Scientologist on a mission to convert him, and he needed a beard.

Mohamed Ndiaye-Kingué

@MsWinstonSmith: ...don't go and touch a little kid.

I'm still mad that he ruined that evening's Farrah Fawcett retrospective.

@Mount_Prion: awesome.

A lot of people are questioning why this bizarre man is getting so much coverage? He might have been a pedophile, drug addict, and completely insane, but that only adds to his intrigue. Here's one of the most talented entertainers of the 20th century that goes completely coocoo for coco puffs after releasing two of the most commercially innovative pop records and becoming a global celebrity. No matter what he did morally and legally wrong in this life, Michael Jackson's house of horrors story is a completely curious and fascinating one. Who the hell tries to build a private Disneyland as a house? His eccentric behavior, mental illness, and pop genius have made him a legend. Whether you think that's culturally right is up to you. But there's no denying it.

This is from a woman who seemed to have an obsession with Conan O'Brien's "bizarre" hair in her very negative review of his "Tonight Show" premiere.

[www.nypost.com]

Although some of you may agree with some things she says, I think we should all admit she's just an old fuddy-duddy, and not pay any more attention to her. Like we do with Grandma.

@You Cannot Untoast: MJ should've asked Dentist to father a son: he'd get to cash in on the will and would have plenty of material for screenwriting.

@rudi_freude: There isn't enough distance between the two to spit through.

@anxiogenic: And by "touched" you mean...

Anthony_Underscore

@Mount_Prion: ... and her last name is "Stasi".

Ha Ha!

@nozer: GOOD LUCK WITH YOUR POST-COLUMNISTS

Phew. I thought it was just me. Tavis Smiley had two 'commentators' on last night who treated MF like Martin Luther King. Selective memory is amazing. However, am I the only one who finds the paranoid, drug-addict music of the late career Jackson more fascinating than Thriller?

StutiBrinston

I love that her last name is "Stasi," as in, the GDR-era secret police. Just so perfect for a New York Post columnist..

That being said, these bastards have come up with yet another awesome headline. Check out the symmetry and rhythm of "Shed No Tears for This Twisted Sicko"..

snugbug

@rockandhardPL: Take 2 Xanax and get a hold of a dictionary. WTF?

PandoraSpocks

I don't know if the guy was a child-abuser or not. But excusing someone's mind-blowingly heinous behavior simply on the grounds of them being ZOMG! An Artiste without weighing the evidence is utter horse-shit.

There was a lot of pitchfork-waving against pedophiles on some other recent thread on Gawker. Would you be less willing to dismember your kid's molester if said molester was ZOMG! An Artiste who made some memorable hits that like totally transformed your life?

@Macloserboy: Somebody had to present that side of it.

PandoraSpocks

I think this Daily Mail article is very intriguing. It claims that he was gay and dated men. It could explain why he surrounded himself with children rather than say, the Village People.

[www.dailymail.co.uk]

@Dickdogfood:
The difference is that Stasi didn't post her opinions under frazzledbrunettemom.

rudi_freude

@RheaPollstry: ...post it on the internet!

Also, ha ha ha: "white woman." I don't think "white woman" was what MJ was going for. Seems too anodyne a goal for him.

Alright....shitty, shitty childhood aside...was he really a pedophile? (To the extend an emotionally/psychologically regressed man can be a pedophile...There was SOMETHING inappropriate about his relationship with kids at least).

He was a target for vulturous parents, but some of the stuff from the last trial seemed pretty damning.

Pedophile or man with the (sometimes) maturity of a teenage boy, who related to other teen boys as such (in creepy but non-criminal ways)?

Still pity him for the f*cked childhood that set him down the road to a lot of his lifelong troubles...

maude_flanders

@jbwan: Because money makes up for everything, right?

I've been uncomfortable with the whole worship that's been going on too, but the fact she's on my side now makes me question it. Or is it more of a broken clock being right twice a day?

@Hydroceph: Except, of course, the scores unto scores of people on the public forums of the internet. Minor technicality, that!

@Mount_Prion: I'd also like to point out that we have never seen her and that creature from the North Carolina sewer in the same place at the same time.

@rockandhardPL: Why does it matter a hell of a lot?

@MsWinstonSmith: ...come sit next to me.

I hate to say this, but Ms. Stasi might have some good ideas under that 1987 mom hair (at least with respect to unbalanced celebrations of a very probable pederast's life).

By her standards, wouldn't anyone who used a surrogate mother (or as she delightfully puts it, a "brood mare") or an egg or sperm donor be a "child trafficker," then?

girlhowdy

Now, now. If you don't have anything nice to say...

MsWinstonSmith

So she's a maggot, sliming around in a corpse, complaining that it's rotten.

@You Cannot Untoast: I'm glad someone with a public forum has finally said this. I never cared for his music, but whatevs. That said, his hits were a long time ago, and it's been a slow spiral of shame and degradation since then, and yes, the public adulation of this pedoperv is just too much.

altough not exactly a big fan of mj i felt sad watching his video for 'you rock my world',patictulary his use of a fedora to cover up the Catastrophe that became his face.

I read this this morning. If it is true that

a) The father was jumped and beaten bloody after telling authorities, and

b) The father and son got plastic surgery to hide from revenge, and

c) He was already a successful dentist, then

that $20mm was definitely not worth the trouble if it did not happen. I think people who say "it doesn't matter, let's remember the music" are being ridiculous. If it did happen, it matters a hell of a lot. That said, I just listened to him while jogging this morning.

So...Andrea Peyser killed Linda Stasi, and is now wearing her skin as a mask?

NotSafeForLife

It's undeniable, of course, that Michael's best music was recorded before he became an insane white woman.

Tattertotter

I like the part where she says the life of the family who settled for 20 mil was ruined b/c the father's dental practice was destroyed and screenwriting career over.

right, and they had $20 million dollars.

jbwan

long after you and I and anyone he may have touched is dead the music and dance will remain.

I didn't know him, I doubt Linda Stasi did either.

"...literally bought his children with the help of two brood mares and, apparently, his dermatologist - a group of amoral savages who had no problem giving their kids to a man who looked like the Phantom of the Opera and who behaved like a depraved worm."

Somehow, this feels like a Stephen King novel...

She's been reading a little too much Hunter S. Thompson of late, it seems.

In any case, she's right.

She's most troubled by the fact that during his 'white woman' phase, Michael was actually prettier than her.

Fuck yes. I'm so sick of the ped-celebration.