Quote:
Originally Posted by Itse
In comparison Charles Chaplin had publicly well-known and trivially provable thing for underage girls, but I don't see people shouting "pedophile, pedophile" every time his name is mentioned.
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In an obituary in the LA Times today, they indicate Michael Jackson "
studied the sad Hollywood exile of Charlie Chaplin."
http://www.latimes.com/news/obituari...8.story?page=1
Maybe Jackson found some solicitude in the perceived unjust persecution of a fellow clown.
I think Jackson was close to releasing a version of Chaplin's "Smile" just before his death.
Maybe 30 years from now people won't be chanting "pedophile, pedophile" when Jackson's name comes up but they probably won't forget the multiple accusations, cash payments, charges, trials, etc either.
As with Chaplin, it's part of the whole and part of the permanent record.
Edit: A media commentator looks at where the media has focussed . . . the music legacy or the overall record:
I had figured, when TMZ confirmed Michael Jackson's death before everyone else, that the media would focus mainly on the wildly successful singer he once was. There tends to be a subconscious airbrushing when someone famous passes.
But that didn't happen.
Even in the first, frantic hours, cable commentators talked about the plastic surgery, sharing a bed with young kids, the child abuse allegations, the trial, the Neverland seclusion, the dangling baby, the essential weirdness. It has, after all, been many years since Jackson was known mainly for his performing.
There is a generational split in the reaction to MJ's untimely death. Those who came of age during the era of the Jackson Five, Thriller, the moonwalk, are devastated because they have lost a piece of their childhood. Somewhat older folks were less enthralled by those early years and more likely to dwell on how he frittered away his success and his fortune.
http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn...l?hpid=topnews
Cowperson