I haven't seen Leaving Neverland yet, but I have seen clips and read articles about it.
MJ had been accused several times in his life of child sex abuse, and was found not guilty in court. But...the accusations persist after his death. At this point, I think that at least some of them are probably true. He can't defend himself this time though, if they're not true.
MJ appealed to kids. Who knows why? I liked him when I was 12, too. I adored him. I had a huge poster of him in my room. As I got older I found the theatrics cheesy and the successive plastic surgery strange...then, I came to appreciate his talent again...while acknowledging that he was pretty weird. There was some eccentricity that seemed to come from arrested development. Yet, I didn't know the guy. Those are just opinions based on very little.
I don't want to believe he was a child molester. But, maybe he was. And if he was, he was a sick individual. His friends say he was gentle and kind and generous...can both be true?
If MJ was an abuser, is it still okay to appreciate his talent for what it was - taking into account the whole scope of his life and personhood- parts of which were sad and abusive for him as a child - he didn't have much of a childhood and his father was strict and authoritarian and groomed he and his siblings into stardom ...or do we have to bury his music? What about other artists and entertainers like Spacey or Louis C.K.?
MJ had been accused several times in his life of child sex abuse, and was found not guilty in court. But...the accusations persist after his death. At this point, I think that at least some of them are probably true. He can't defend himself this time though, if they're not true.
MJ appealed to kids. Who knows why? I liked him when I was 12, too. I adored him. I had a huge poster of him in my room. As I got older I found the theatrics cheesy and the successive plastic surgery strange...then, I came to appreciate his talent again...while acknowledging that he was pretty weird. There was some eccentricity that seemed to come from arrested development. Yet, I didn't know the guy. Those are just opinions based on very little.
I don't want to believe he was a child molester. But, maybe he was. And if he was, he was a sick individual. His friends say he was gentle and kind and generous...can both be true?
If MJ was an abuser, is it still okay to appreciate his talent for what it was - taking into account the whole scope of his life and personhood- parts of which were sad and abusive for him as a child - he didn't have much of a childhood and his father was strict and authoritarian and groomed he and his siblings into stardom ...or do we have to bury his music? What about other artists and entertainers like Spacey or Louis C.K.?
Last edited: