[BC] Michael Jackson, R.I.P.

[Donna Halper]

I knew Michael's manager, when I was still in radio full-time, and we 
had several conversations about what Michael was really like.  His 
manager made the comment that if Michael were a girl and he liked to 
play with toys and play with kids, people would have said "she'll 
make a wonderful kindergarten teacher."  But when Michael did those 
things, people said he was a pervert.  Sadly, Michael had no 
childhood.  The downside of being a child pop star is you are never 
permitted to be a kid yourself.  His manager said that, based on his 
dealings with Michael, it was obvious the guy never really grew 
up.  His body was biologically normal, he was capable of having 
relationships with women... but his emotions and his way of looking 
at life were frozen at about eight years old -- and remained that 
way.  The accusations of molestation were made at the behest of a 
father who was in financial trouble and figured with Michael's weird 
habit of enjoying the company of kids, it would be easy to get some 
money from him.  Esquire magazine and several newspapers did very 
fair and accurate reporting on the case, but the tabloids had a field 
day with it, and to this day, the perception lingers that Michael was 
doing bad stuff with kids.

As a broadcaster, what's amusing is how two other celebrity stories 
totally vanished.  The scandal of Governor Mark Sanford and his 
adulterous affair (which dominated the news yesterday), and the 
tragic death from cancer of Farrah Fawcett (which dominated the news 
earlier in the day) were both totally overshadowed by Michael 
Jackson-- most stations, including MSNBC canned their political shows 
and went all-Michael all the time, and the local oldies station in 
Boston went to all-Michael songs.

I hope that Michael is at peace now.  He had fame and lots of money, 
but I don't know if he ever enjoyed any of it...