Michael Jackson accused an English journalist he gave a TV interview of fraud. Michael Jackson: Lifelong Loneliness Michael Jackson Interview with Bashir

A couple more excerpts from a conversation with Bashir.

The first video was posted on the French site ElusiveShadow.com and was accompanied by a very interesting article looking at manipulation tactics in journalism using the example of Bashir's behavior in this interview, as well as revealing the topic of the restriction of freedom of speech in modern media. I give her translation in a slightly abridged form. Perhaps he is not entirely accurate in details, since at first he translated from French into English with Google, but in general the meaning is preserved.

This footage was taken on January 14, 2003, a few weeks before the first broadcast of Bashir's film. Michael Jackson is in Miami and has just learned of the sudden death of Maurice Gibb, a member of The Bee Gees. The day before the funeral, which he is going to attend, Michael answered questions from Martin Bashir - including about plastic surgery and the birth of his children. At some point that morning, the reporter decided to pause and stop filming, and only Michael Jackson's camera continued to record. As a result, we see what we should not see.

In this video, you can see that the artist is holding much less tense than during the interview. He recalls cinema and jokingly refers to his old passion - "cockney slang": a special way of speaking, characteristic of the lower classes in London. The essence of slang is to replace English words in sentences with rhyming phrases. For example, "stairs" becomes "apple and pears". Keith Badgery, who worked as Michael's driver during the Dangerous tour, inspired Michael's passion for cockney slang even then.

However, behind the laughter and external ease of the interlocutors, a clear manipulation of the singer’s mood is visible: Bashir openly laughs with Michael, but does not hesitate to openly remind him that his best friend may die soon, because she is no longer young. The pause that followed and the sad expression on Michael Jackson's face speaks volumes about the impact these words had on him. A few minutes later, when the interview resumes, Bashir will choose Michael's friendship with Elizabeth Taylor as his next topic of conversation.

This example allows us to consider in detail the methods of manipulation used in journalism. The media is often considered the "fourth power" (after the executive, legislature and judiciary), and it is believed that they can control the crowd at will. Indeed, the risks of abuse of this power are many, and the history of journalism is full of examples of how information is distorted at various links in the chain: in the choice of an eyewitness, the manner in which questions are worded, the skillful editing of answers, and deciding which answers to keep and which to leave out.

However, another problem that the general public tends to overlook is the pressure that today's journalists transgress ethical norms, ignore certain facts, and favor one viewpoint over another.

Manipulation in journalism

The Journalist's Bill of Rights and Duties requires "respect the truth no matter the consequences," "not withhold material information," "not using dishonest methods to obtain information, photographs, and documents," and even "force oneself to respect a person's privacy."

If on paper everything is obvious and simple, then in reality no one is immune from ethical flaws, and in front of the camera the interviewee is often in the position of a victim, even if the interview suggests the opposite. If a person is frightened by sudden attention, he may be more malleable, agree with someone else's opinion and not defend his point of view as strongly as usual. If, on the other hand, he is aroused by the presence of the camera, he may show an overconfidence that he would not show under other circumstances.

The journalist is naturally in the position of being responsible for assessing the importance of the spoken words and their correct use. Abuse can occur without violating the rules professional ethics, simply due to insufficiently deep questions. For example, a journalist may highlight an interviewee's incomplete life experience. Bound by restrictions on the length of the interview, he may prefer aspects of the story that the interviewee would like to highlight.

For example, in the spring of 2009, the France 2 channel released a report about the postponement of the dates of Michael Jackson's concerts, which had just been reported to fans. A team of reporters looked for a variety of people's reactions to the event, from upset fans and angry viewers to those who were calm and understanding. The journalist was unable to gather feedback on his own and eventually turned to the team at this site (ElusiveShadow.com) to help out and act as "experts on fan reactions". The site administrator agreed to answer questions by phone and commented in detail on the postponement of dates, the new schedule and the reactions of the public for twenty minutes.

In the evening during the broadcast, none of this was reflected in the program. Factual errors corrected in telephone conversation were still present. The journalist was not a novice: he had 25 years of experience behind him and a good track record ... and yet. Deadlines, problems finding witnesses, a hasty editing, an intern assigned to field work collecting feedback... and here's the result: a story told wrong, despite the reporter taking the time to interview.

But there are cases when journalistic excesses are directly related to the deliberate manipulation of a witness. There are many studies on the topic of psychological manipulation, especially in the context of studying the phenomenon of sectarianism. The fact that men and women who are sane and capable of critical thinking end up in the hands of guru leaders and adopt irrational beliefs has raised many questions about the mechanisms by which certain people gain control over others.

The "Guru" gains influence over his victim gradually, as a result of a multi-stage process of "brainwashing". It would be premature to conclude that the journalistic episode with Jackson and Bashir is a typical example of brainwashing, but it contains a mechanism for inducing a victim into a certain psychological state, based on well-known tactics to get the opponent to agree with the reasoning that the manipulator needs.

Manipulation begins with the act of seduction. Since it is important for the interlocutor to think that an emotional relationship has been established with him, we pay attention to everything that he says. The explanation is simple: if the victim can fall in love with the manipulator, she will be much more receptive to his demands.

In the case of Jackson's interview with Bashir, the "seduction" is illustrated by a number of examples: the journalist flatters Michael Jackson to no end, especially in matters where he feels insecure, such as when discussing his appearance. In an interview, the singer admitted that he does not like to look in the mirror. Martin Bashir reassures him, says that he is "sexy", so much so that "women will throw panties at the TV screen."

Likewise, anyone who looks at Michael Jackson's public statements will notice his desperate need to be loved. This need came to the fore one day when the singer, who was then staying in a London hotel, threw a pillowcase out the window with "Please Love Me Always" written in black marker. And repeatedly during interviews, Martin Bashir multiplies the compliments, giving the artist the illusion of love he so desperately seeks.

Winning love is the first step to possessing a person: once a trusting relationship is established, the victim has the feeling that she lives in a cocoon of love, she is listened to and understood. When Martin Bashir tells Jackson that he “wants to finally show the world who he really is,” he sends an underlying message: “I understand you. I know who you are. I see things that no one else has seen before me." And Michael Jackson, obviously, responds well to this, because in an interview in response to Bashir's reasoning about the attitude towards celebrities, he answers: "You are above this, you are a respected journalist."

Further, the mechanisms of mystification come forward: gradually the manipulator achieves a separation from reality in the mind of the victim. To do this, he enters the role of a confident person who provides support to the victim, and hides his real questions. The victim perceives this as transparency. The double play was revealed in Michael Jackson's reciprocal film Take II, comparing what Martin Bashir said to the artist's face with doubts he expressed off-screen.

Everything is now set up so that the victim no longer exists as a unique and independent individual, but becomes an "anonymous member of the group." "Everyone is doing plastic surgery!" - says Martin Bashir in an attempt to draw from Michael Jackson more information on this topic. And this technique is effective: as the singer himself admits, he is unpleasant that he is constantly isolated when many other stars also undergo operations to change their appearance.

The capture of the victim is usually reinforced by the manipulator's criticism of the victim's environment. For example, in a sect, the guru will point the finger at family, work colleagues, or a recruit-friendly environment. This destabilizes a person because it breaks his usual emotional ties. In Jackson's interview with Bashir, we see the reporter several times trying to hint that Michael Jackson is not receiving support: “Do you think your subordinates are telling you what you want to hear? Are they sincere with you?

This analysis can be accused of being one-sided and biased, but many media outlets also drew attention to the presence of manipulation in this interview. For example, below is a conversation that took place between Walter Rogers and A Jill on CNN in 2003:

A Jill: We are both professional journalists. What unpleasantly surprised me throughout the interview was how unprofessional it was conducted. […]

W. Rogers: He tried to act like he was a friend of Michael Jackson. Is this a good tactic?

A Jill: Definitely not. The interviewer is not your friend, just as the doctor is not your friend. He may act friendly, but he is not your friend. […] In my opinion, this is a very cowardly way of asking questions. I mean, he obviously got the interview through friendship in the beginning, but as soon as it comes to sensitive questions, he formulates them like this: “When other people say that…” or “How do you respond to accusations that…”, as if implying by this: "On the one hand - we are with you, and on the other - people who say terrible things about you." It is disgusting when the interviewer resorts to such techniques. He must have the courage to ask his own question. [...]

W. Rogers: You described the interview as "terrifying." What did you mean?

A Jill: Honestly, when an interviewer pretends to be someone's friend, it's just scary ... And the worst thing is that then he was very friendly, and added criticism after, in voice-overs and inserts. In terms of journalism, this is simply immoral.

Journalism under pressure

Fans of Michael Jackson are often puzzled by the success of the yellow press. In addition, many are surprised that the big magazines carefully avoid certain "sensitive" topics, such as Michael Jackson's relationship with Sony or the circumstances under which the artist agreed to This Is It concerts. To get a full picture of the problems of press freedom, it is necessary to trace the origins of the economic model of the media.

At the beginning of the 18th century, newspapers were made entirely by hand and therefore were few in number and expensive: 55 workers were required to make one copy. Gradually, industrialization and mechanization of labor increased the distribution of the press and reduced the cost of its production: in 1870, thanks to the invention of the printing press, it was already possible to produce up to 300 newspapers per hour. However, in France, newspapers were still the luxury of the elite: schools were not compulsory then (and did not become so until 1882), and the literacy rate of the population was extremely low. Moreover, newspapers were distributed by subscription and cost an average of 80 francs a year. For comparison, at that time, servants earned hardly more than 40 francs a month. That is, the cost of a newspaper subscription was equal to two months of income!

The press revolution began in 1836 when Émile de Girardin decided to halve the subscription price in order to make his newspaper more accessible. But how did this become possible? Previously, the subscription price fully covered the production costs of the publication. Now this was no longer the case. The proceeds from sales were not enough to return the money invested in production. Therefore, a source of additional income was found: advertising. Girardin invented a new economic model that still works today: the unified market. The newspaper is sold not only to readers, but also to advertisers who pay for space on its pages.

If the newspaper has a large circulation, it provides advertisers with good visibility, so you can charge them a substantial amount for publishing information. Conversely, if a newspaper sells less, it reaches a smaller audience, so advertising in it costs less. The system seems to win both ways: it saves the reader, the advertiser distributes his advertisement, paying a price proportional to the size of the target audience… and the owner of the newspaper compensates for his costs. At that time, some cultural activists were already expressing fears that the press would serve the needs of commerce, and criticized the intrusion of the press into the masses through advertising. Louis Blanc, for example, wrote that journalism "will turn into a mouthpiece for speculation and speculation."

Now let's go back to modern times: today newspapers and magazines are 50% dependent on advertising. During the economic crisis, investment in advertising is reduced, and the media struggles to stay afloat. Many have to go out of business. A fan-friendly example: Black & White, Michael Jackson's former official fanzine that existed without advertising, began to struggle as soon as the news flow dried up and competition from the Internet arose. As a result, issues were no longer released regularly, and subscriptions became unsustainable.

The media depend on advertisers, and financial dependence inevitably gives rise to the question of editorial dependence: can a journalist write whatever his heart desires in a newspaper? The answer is almost always negative. Imagine that Sony has bought an advertising page in your magazine for a year to promote their 3D TVs and provides a significant part of your income. As a journalist, are you then free to criticize Sony Music's business decisions? If you damage the company's image, they may withdraw the investment from your magazine. And without financial support your journal will not survive. This example illustrates the conflict between posting information and protecting the advertiser.

It would be incorrect to talk about censorship here, because in most cases these mechanisms are not voiced, and the media do not receive explicit instructions to hold their tongue. Rather, there is some kind of self-censorship: the journalist limits himself and does not touch on certain “sensitive” topics. Therefore, it is quite understandable that a celebrity is a more convenient target than a businessman. Take, for example, the LVMH group of companies headed by Bernard Arnault. He owns brands such as Vuitton, Dior, Kenzo, Givenchy, Guerlain - brands that are regularly advertised in magazines. Can you blame Bernard Arnault for a newspaper column without risking losing LVMH's corporate backing? Of course not.

In concluding the article, it is important to emphasize that the point is not that journalism is “lying”, but rather that journalism is “influenced”, which leads to the prioritization of information according to the economic threat it poses: news that is potentially harmful to the advertiser. , wrapped. This topic is taboo for many reasons: the media often position themselves as a cultural industry, and it is somewhat unacceptable to talk about them in economic terms. Profitability is seen only as a means to a “fact-finding mission” and not as an end in itself, even though economic problems- the main headache in the life of every magazine.

The appearance of this excerpt from an interview with Martin Bashir is just an opportunity to mention these issues and highlight some of the controversial decisions sometimes made by journalists. These problems are not unique to France, they affect the media all over the world, even the most famous publications.

Michael Jackson's last interview (recorded five days before his death)

Many will ask why this interview was not published earlier? For three reasons. The first - 5 days after the interview, unfortunately, Michael Jackson died. Second, I didn't want to publish the material without Michael's approval. Well, the third - there was a lot of turmoil around this person, I wanted everything to subside.

Now I have decided to publish the latest interview of the King of Pop. Nothing has been changed or added in it, I honor his memory. And know, the name Lenny Rodriguez is fictitious. Let this be proof of the sincerity of Michael Jackson. It was his wish, now it has been granted.

It came as a surprise to me when Michael Jackson wanted to privately give an interview to some obscure reporter, that is, me. When the offer was made to me to take this interview, at first I was even a little confused. To be honest, I was completely unprepared for it. But having suppressed confusion, I, of course, accepted it. In a couple of weeks, I had to read a lot of different information about Michael, from childhood to the present day, including materials from dubious sources, simply speaking, the yellow press. I watched all his interviews and videos: concerts, clips, home recordings. I needed to understand what was going to be discussed, reproduce the whole picture of what is happening, because Michael said that the main purpose of this interview should be to clarify many aspects of his life. Many people have formed an established opinion about them, thanks to rumors. Actually, we are going to dispel these rumors. I tried to follow his whole life and form my own independent opinion - it was necessary to make a list of questions that would be more accurate for our interview. The very idea of ​​the interview was based on this - a conversation with a person who is not interested in any selfish goal, completely distant from show business.

When I went to his mansion on Sunset Street, he looked a little tired. Michael invited me to a small table in the living room, where we began to talk. To be honest, I was a little nervous. I have never had the opportunity to speak to a star of this stature.

Lenny Rodriguez: Michael, why did you need such an ordinary correspondent as me, because you can find a more famous and professional one?

Michael Jackson: You're young and not corrupted by show business like the pros that have haunted me all my life. I've already made a similar mistake once, inviting one of them, and paid for it. I opened up to him, and received again one lie and gossip. Although my goal was to tell the world the truth in order to exclude all ridiculous fiction.

Lenny Rodriguez: You mean Martin Bashir?

Michael Jackson: Well, to name names, yes.

Lenny Rodriguez: Okay, I'll try to justify your trust and I won't change a single word in your interview. If you don't mind, let's get down to the main part, shall we?

Michael Jackson: Come on.

Lenny Rodriguez: There have always been a lot of rumors, gossip, various conjectures around your personality. It's hard to live when they make a scarecrow out of you and invent all sorts of nonsense. After all, you're right, people believe gossip more than the truth. I would like to know about your appearance: plastic surgery, whitening, skin falling off in patches, a pressure chamber - which of these is true?

Michael Jackson: (Laughs) Yes, almost nothing ... You know, there was a time when such gossip made my hair stand on end, why don't people invent their articles to get to the top of the ratings. But then I stopped paying attention to it, if they want to write something like that, let them write it. You see, when I was little, I lived in my fantasy world, because I didn't have any friends. In that world, I looked a little different. I believe this view is correct. So I decided to change my nose, make it narrower. I wanted to get closer to the real me. Yes, my face has undergone some changes only thanks to the nose and only. Everything else remained unchanged, it only changed with age, like all people. Well, except in recent times I lost a little weight, because of this my cheekbones became sharper, the profile of my face became more angular, but this is not a reason to say that a plastic surgeon worked on my face.

Lenny Rodriguez: Okay, the face is clear, but what about the color of your skin? Yet you were born black.

Michael Jackson: Yes, I started having problems with her at a young age. Pigmented spots lightened it. I had to use foundation on exposed parts of the body. Gradually my skin took on a pale appearance. The disease, called vitiligo, is rare and not common enough to be known about. Well, I did not dare to tell this to the press before, because I was just shy and did not want to give an extra reason for gossip.

Lenny Rodriguez: One of the causes of vitiligo is severe or long-term stress. I heard that your father made it so that you didn't have any free time for all the entertainment that other children your age had, and also made you work hard on your career as a musician with his fist and belt, inspiring you horror.

Michael Jackson: Unfortunately, that's how it was. Yes, I had absolutely no free time as a child. I wanted to play basketball with other teenagers or just sit and chat, but no, I went to rehearse. Not me, but my father planned my whole life. My father was a real tyrant for the five of us. And the fact that I was at the head of the Jackson's five team set me apart from the rest. I was a role model and therefore had no room for error, otherwise the wrath of my father fell upon me. It was terrible to dance or sing and think that if you do something wrong, forget or get tired, then you will be whipped or beaten. Endless rehearsals with my father left more than one scar in my soul.

Lenny Rodriguez: Didn't you have a single friend growing up?

Michael Jackson: Yes, it's true. I couldn't make long-term friendships because I was constantly busy.

Lenny Rodriguez: How did you deal with their absence? You said something about your special world.

Michael Jackson: You see, the brain of a child is very sensitive to fantasies, it tends to create various fairy-tale worlds that are inaccessible to an adult because of his adulthood. In moments when I was alone, I created my own world in which I stayed during not only childhood, but throughout my life, when I was lonely. This is not autism, but a completely different feeling based on imagination. I don’t go and talk to myself like crazy (smiles), but I go there mentally, at the same time I can communicate normally with people around me. I always carry my world with me and at any moment I can find myself in it.

Lenny Rodriguez: So your world, created as a child, interfered with your normal communication with people?

Michael Jackson: Not really. The people who surrounded me, for the most part, had some selfish goals in relation to me. I just felt it. I don't mean the fans, they have always been loyal to me. Because of this, I could hardly make friends with anyone. This was one of my biggest disappointments in life. But it didn't work out any other way. I have always given people a chance to improve, but very often those chances have made me the butt of ridicule or the target of other people's interests.

Lenny Rodriguez: Is that why kids became your friends?

Michael Jackson: Oh, yes, a child is a miracle in itself. They have a highly developed imagination. It is very interesting to talk with them. They don't think like adults. They have a pure mind, not spoiled by society, a different attitude to the world, other concepts of love, friendship. Children themselves want to tell a lot, but adults usually do not listen to them and teach their values.

Lenny Rodriguez: You invite sick and poor kids to Neverland, what do you get out of it?

Michael Jackson: I get inspiration. Nothing in the world gives me so much happiness as the contemplation of joy on the face of a child. In general, I like to give more than receive, this is the meaning of my life. We often talk with them on various topics. It is the unfortunate children who had a difficult childhood who are even more sensitive and receptive. It is easier for such children to instill kindness, respect for nature, animals. Very easy to find with kids mutual language. With my conversations, I try to give them a piece of that kindness that will help preserve our beautiful world in the future. I just hug them, wanting to give at least a drop of warmth and kindness.

Lenny Rodriguez: Unfortunately, hugs like this have given rise to dirty gossip. It’s embarrassing for me to talk about it myself, I feel your sincerity, I understand how unpleasant this question is for you, but since we are writing candid interview Michael Jackson, many people would like to know about the case of harassment of a young boy whose family filed a lawsuit in 2003.

Michael Jackson: You know, this is the question I've been waiting for the most, because I want to talk about it for a long time. Many rumors were born from envious people, it was in the hands of many to spread such rumors. Adults are mean and heartless people. They can do all sorts of bad things for fame or money. How more star, the more gossip and dirt around her. My time with the kids has nothing to do with these dirty rumors. If you look at me and think with a sober mind - can this person bring pain to a child? He himself will receive the answer - no, I will never and never be able to do such a thing, even under pain of death. On the contrary, I am ready to give my life for any of the children. It hurts me a lot to think about what a terrible monster they represent me. You can't imagine how upset I am.

Lenny Rodriguez: I understand you. But what actually happened?

Michael Jackson: I... I don't even know how to explain it. I didn't do anything at all. Perhaps one day I hugged Gavin, as I hugged many other children, and it seemed to someone that something similar was happening .. If you start from the very beginning, I took Gavin and his family to me in Neverland, because the boy was terminally ill, he I couldn’t even walk myself, I had to carry him in a wheelchair myself. I wanted to last days he spent in the most wonderful place for a child. But after a while he fully recovered and was soon to return to his daily life. Maybe this was the reason for my accusation. There was a similar case in 1993 when I gave some money for a similar lie. The case did not go to court, I just didn’t want to waste my time because of a lie, it was easier for me to give the child’s parents what they wanted me so much - money. That is what happened this time as well. The very fact of the accusation was another lie in order to use me as a money cow. If last time I tolerated such a lie, then this time I did not want to put up with it. For everyone, it would turn out as if I actually admit my guilt and pay off.

Many people who, for whatever reason, disliked me, came to the trial with their fictitious nasty stories. I was disgusted not only by their stories, but also by the fact that people whom I knew and trusted well were saying such things about me. I couldn't sleep, I didn't eat much the whole time the trials were going on. I began to take sedatives and sleeping pills, otherwise I simply could not sleep. After that, information was leaked to the yellow press that I was taking drugs, and I just wanted peace of mind. I wanted to take a break from a nightmare that is hard to imagine. About my creative activity I just had to forget. The lawsuits exhausted me to the point that I was deeply depressed and lost a lot of weight. What served as yet another gossip about my appearance. Although my lawyers and I won the case, my reputation was damaged, I was practically ruined by these people, and my Neverland became the most hated place for me. It still kills me to this day that I was simply tormented for my kindness. In our world, kindness is punishable, people do not believe in sincere kindness, they are not able to understand that not only God and angels can give goodness. People judge by themselves and, even if they don’t find anything wrong in your actions, they will come up with something for you, and pass off a lie for the truth, so skillfully and deftly ... that you yourself will be ready to believe in it ... It is very painful and bitter.

Lenny Rodriguez: You and your parents were Jehovah's Witnesses. Subsequently, you left her. Living in a religious family, you should have formed an opinion about God and religion. How do you feel about it now?

Michael Jackson: About religion.. I think if I were a god, I would ban religion. It takes time, it makes you suffer, it makes you limited. I don't like religion, religion has always been a limitation. What's the point of worshiping God if all the time is spent doing just that? A question that often arose in my childhood: "Doesn't God want good things for his children?" I still cannot understand why God, if he exists, does not see the good in his children. Why does he often need to prove something in order for him to be kind to you, why should God be afraid? Jehovah is not my God, I do not want such a God. He is too hot-tempered, angry and scary. Have you ever asked yourself how people live on Earth? I constantly ask myself about this, I think that God is unfair to good people. He never sees you, never hears you. He only looks and gives you more suffering. If he could see my soul, read my mind, he would never let this happen to me.

Lenny Rodriguez: After a long silence, you are now preparing a new world tour. What made you take this step, because after the litigation you still don’t feel well?

Michael Jackson: You know, sometimes I think about the Michael that was before. Now I want to resurrect it. It doesn’t matter that I am exhausted by the courts, I just want to tell the world that I am the same as I was before, that the world did not kill me with its cruelty. I want to revive in the hearts of my fans the music that makes them go crazy, enjoy life, flutter like butterflies. I want to sing old hits: Billy Jean, Dangerous, Smooth criminal... and get satisfaction from it. I can't live without a stage, I think it should give me strength for new creative ideas.

Lenny Rodriguez: In conclusion, what would you like to say to our readers?

Michael Jackson: Did you ever think that a downcast person would rise again from the ashes of hope? Thanks to everyone who supported me on this stage my existence. In the future, I will be able to justify your hopes, you will not be forgotten. When we are there, you will understand what you did and who you helped. To the rest, I'll say goodbye.

Lenny Rodriguez: Is that all?

Michael Jackson: I think so.

We said goodbye, and as I left, Michael's eyes flashed for a moment with a deep longing that was imprinted in my memory like something indelible. And now he smiles again... I will never forget that look. And these strange last words... A man without age. This Michael Jackson is a strange guy, maybe there really is something unearthly in him? At least he doesn't look like any of us at all.

Jan Runov, New York: British Martin Bashir's documentary about Michael Jackson, based on an interview with him, was a resounding success. TV company ABC, which paid Bashir $5 million for the right to show it, received the highest rating that evening: the film was watched by more than 27 million viewers. The emphasis placed by the author of the film was unexpected for Michael Jackson himself, who said: "Everyone who knows me knows the truth: my children come first for me, I will never endanger or harm any child." And further: "I believed Martin Bashir and let him into my life and into the life of my family, because I wanted him to tell the truth, and he betrayed me. His program is terrible and unfair."

After watching the film, many child care professionals said that Michael Jackson should not be allowed around boys. A psychiatrist, director of a psychiatric hospital in Brewster, New York, Michael Nukitelli said that Jackson is mentally ill, that he often loses touch with reality. Doctor of Psychology Patricia Farrell from New Jersey believes that Michael Jackson cannot be a father, because he perceives the world not as it is. He lives in infantile fantasies. In the film, Michael Jackson admits that he still likes to sleep in the same bed with the children of his friends. In an interview, he denied that he had undergone plastic surgery, called the changes in his face natural under the influence of time.

British journalist Martin Bashir sought Michael Jackson's consent for an interview for 8 months, promising to help the singer breathe new life in his artistic career which is clearly on the decline. But the result turned out to be the opposite: millions of viewers around the world witnessed the terrible state that the the most popular singer. Psychologist Patricia Farrell was shocked by the footage in which Michael Jackson holds his little son named Prince Michael II behind the balcony. The doctor is outraged that the singer's children do not know that they have a mother.

10 years ago, Michael Jackson was accused of pedophilia. In order not to bring the case to court, the singer paid the plaintiff about $20 million. But now he has admitted that he continues to share a bed with boys (although he denied that it was sexual in nature). Raoul Felder, a well-known New York lawyer, said Jackson's confessions should trigger a judicial investigation.

Michael Jackson prepared a counter-film from those fragments of his interview that were thrown out by Martin Bashir. At first, none of the major American television companies seemed to want to show it. Then everyone wanted to, but the singer preferred Fox, which announced on Wednesday February 12 that it would show a counter-film on February 20. The movie is called "Michael Jackson Part Two: The Interview They Didn't Show You".

Martin Bashir to Michael Jackson:
Martin: You don't want to grow up?
Michael: No. I am Peter Pan
Martin: But you are Michael Jackson.
Michael: Yes, but at heart I'm Peter Pan.

Actor Michael Madsen (who co-starred in Michael Jackson's You rock my world video) once told me, "Michael Jackson was very open and kind person, but he seemed to me the most lonely and unhappy on the planet. It’s hard to be sincerely friends with someone and trust people if you live in a world of lies called “show business” from the cradle.”

Six years have passed since the moment when on June 25, 2009 the heart of the King of Pop stopped, and with it the whole world. I remember that on that day, almost all the news channels of the world spoke only about this, the planet froze. The magic seemed to be gone forever.

I would like to call this article my tribute, a kind of collection of sketch facts and personal thoughts about my hero Michael Jackson, who united and inspired a billion hearts and instilled in me a love for music since childhood.

I am deeply convinced that the mass media played a big role in Jackson's ailments. They tormented him for many years, shrouding him in cynicism, hypertrophying speculations and pseudo-facts that have never been proven. The press, like countless faceless termites, undermined him until it turned the great artist into a paranoid, hermit and recluse who lost confidence in almost everyone. Michael became a hostage own glory, in the fetters of which he lived all his life. People killed him with rejection, they also resurrected him after death. A kind of Judas weather vane. Madonna was at her most honest at the 2009 MTV Awards ahead of her tribute performance to Michael. She boldly said, as befits a queen, looking straight into the hall:

"We all distanced ourselves from him when he was having a hard time. You all and I. We were too busy making biased judgments instead of supporting a man who has never been and never will be in the history of music. There will never be another Michael Jackson." "I can't say that we were close friends, but there was a period when we talked. I once offered him a ride, and then we went home to watch a movie. While watching, he suddenly took my hand. There was so much innocence in it. "

Michael Jackson and Madonna

Few people know that Michael Jackson had an "inspiration tree" at his Neverland Ranch. He deftly climbed it and could sit for hours and look into the distance, writing songs. Some of his greatest hits, such as Will You Be There, were written on this very tree. In an interview with Martin Bashir, which later played a cruel joke on him, Jackson said:

“Some people like to play football, some like basketball, and I like to climb trees. Don't you climb trees in free time? he asked Bashir. He shook his head negatively. "O! You're missing out on a lot," Michael summed up. At that time, the King of Pop was 44 years old.

All his life he tried to return childhood, which was irretrievably stolen. And few people understood this, calling such attempts at least strange. As part of their myopia and conservatism, the crowd was unaware that this man did not initially know love and received many psychological traumas in childhood. They did not think that for the first time Michael celebrated Christmas in adulthood, and thanks to the efforts of Elizabeth Taylor. Few people thought that the problems of Jackson's relationship with the opposite sex were that it didn’t fit in his head how you could cheat on a woman if you became her husband. He believed in the sanctity of marriage and the cult family values, but constantly saw opposite examples even in his own family. According to the memoirs of one of the singer's biographers, Randy Taraborrelli, when Michael found out that his native brother Jackie cheats on his wife Enid with singer Paula Abdul - he suffered it so hard, as if he had been betrayed. He has always lived in a world where male infidelity was considered commonplace, and this was reflected in his perception. One day famous photographer Francesco Scavullo said: "Michael asked me:" How do you behave when you fall in love? Are you not afraid that she is with you, because you can do something for her? "I said, 'Mike, you can't live your whole life in distrust like that. You have to try to believe.' To which he told me, "I'm afraid. I'm afraid because of what I've seen. The men in my family don't know how to handle women. I don't want to become like my brothers."

JacksonFamily (partial)

Despite the inimitable energy, the confidence with which Jackson performed, forcing crowds of people to lose consciousness from just one dance step, in life he was extremely shy and had a fragile mental structure. So Bill Bray, Michael's security guard, who worked with him for thirty years, said: “When I met Jackson, I realized that he really lost his childhood and cannot come to terms with it. Despite his talent in business, he has a strange vulnerability. You want to go up and hug him, telling him to take care of himself. I wouldn't call myself a sentimental person."

Too busy digging in the "dirty linen" press little covered the other side of the life of the great artist and philanthropist. little known fact: Michael Jackson was the initiator of the creation of the "Universal Bill of Rights for Children", the content of the points of which he determined himself. These points clearly demonstrated how accurately Michael understood the problems of children. Among them were such important topics as: "The right to be loved without having to earn this love", "The right to consider yourself worthy of adoration (even if you have such a look that only your mother can love you)" or "The right to know what you represent a unique value, even if you have not done anything in this world yet.”

Michael Jackson with childrenNeverland

“Michael's smile heals the soul,” wrote Uri Geller, “he had a unique energy. He had a great talent for choosing words that could move the one to whom they were intended.

However, Jackson was an impulsive person, and, perhaps, if it were not for his colleagues at the peak of their careers, for example, John Branca, we would never have seen the brilliant Thriller. The fact is that Michael had been a Jehovah's Witness for many years, and the elders insisted that whatever the King of Pop created, went through their personal artistic council. In the late 70s and 80s, Michael Jackson unquestioningly believed in the ideology of the Witnesses and showed the elders a video of the newly filmed Thriller. The latter were indignant and said that they would excommunicate Michael if this short film was released. Jackson called John Branca, who at that time was in charge of his affairs, mostly legal, and literally "ordered" to destroy all copies of Thriller. “This should never, you hear, never be aired,” Michael shouted nervously into the phone. Branca did not sleep all night. “How could such a masterpiece, in which a huge amount of money was also invested, turn into ashes because of this whim?” John recalled. Branca found a way out. He suggested that Michael write before the start of Thriller a phrase stating that its content does not reflect Michael's personal and religious views. Jackson agreed, the elders were satisfied. Michael will later say, “God bless John Branca. Without him, Thriller would never have seen the light of day." If Thriller changed the world of music videos by making Jackson an innovator in the creation of short films, allowing him to erase racial and stylistic boundaries in music, canonizing MTV, then Billie Jean changed music forever. This song remains one of the most successful singles of all time to this day. The Michael Jackson Video Vanguard Award is presented annually at the MTV Awards, which is one of the most prestigious awards in the world of video clips. During the creation of the Thriller record, together with the brilliant producer Quincy Jones, with whom they recorded two more masterpieces Off the wall and Bad, different situations arose. For example, at the very beginning of the work on the album, few people believed that it would sell more than 3,000,000 copies.

“Records don't sell very well right now, Mike,” his colleagues told him, as well as the head of the record company and Jones. This statement infuriated Jackson. He said sharply, "This is going to be the greatest CD ever, and if you don't believe it, there's no point in wasting a second of your time." Silence hung in the room, which was firmly broken by Jones: "OK" - he said - "To work!". It is known that during this period between Quincy and Michael there were very tense relations. Jones criticized Billie Jean's song as not good enough for this album, but Jackson categorically insisted that special attention be paid to this song, and he was right. It was Billie Jean who lifted the Thriller album to the top of Billboard, where the disc lasted 37 weeks at number one. To this day, Thriller is the best-selling album of all time, a cult and a true classic. contemporary music that inspired hundreds of millions of people, as well as most of today's superstars. Thriller also erased once and for all all racial barriers in music.

Michael Jackson: EpochThriller

The tandem of Michael and Quincy performed miracles, the largest in terms of effect in the world of music. Jones said: “Mike, listen to the music, let it tell you what you need. Let God into the room." And MJ listened. Working to the point of exhaustion, always 100% dissatisfied with the result. Then he continued to work again and again until he achieved perfection. At the same time, Quincy was not a supporter of the dictatorship in producing. He did not impose his views, rather, he revealed to the full extent the hidden potential that was inherent in you from the very beginning. The merit of Michael and Quincy is that they turned the standard idea of ​​pop music upside down and allowed people to see the limitlessness of the possibilities of truly great creativity. Despite the fact that after the Bad album, for a number of reasons, the couple never worked together, the warm relationship between Jones and Jackson remained until the very end. Moreover, after the death of the singer, Quincy repeatedly criticized the idea of ​​releasing posthumous albums. He said that it was blasphemy, you can’t think only about money, and many colleagues agreed with him, emphasizing that if Michael were alive, he would never allow albums such as Michael and Xscape (the latter was produced by Timbaland, Darkchild, L.A. Reid and many other great people) saw the light. Michael was a perfectionist and would hardly have been happy with such "raw" releases. However, the numbers speak for themselves. When Xscape's latest album came out last year, it immediately topped the UK charts and hit #2 on Billboard.

Michael Jackson and Quincy Jones

For many years, Michael's sound engineer was Bruce Swedien - a sound genius, master and magician who always achieved a unique sound. This is a unique person. No one in the world knows the geometry of sound better than Bruce. Proof of this is at least his work on Michael's Invincible record, recorded in 2001, which is objectively considered the best sounding in the history of pop music. Still. After 14 years.

Initially, Jackson wanted to record his hit Bad in a duet with Prince, who at that moment was at the peak of his career, but communication between the artists did not work out from the very beginning. They met and discussed the project. Michael and his management came up with an excellent plan: launch a rumor campaign in the press, saying that he and Prince are the worst enemies who hate each other, and then, when the whole world will savor it and divide into two camps, they will make an official statement that these are just rumors, and they will present a video for Bad, where, according to the original plot, they will compete with each other, finding out who's bad. Prince was not enthusiastic about this idea, and after he heard the demo of the song, he finally refused , referring to the fact that the guys will succeed without him.When Frank Dileo (Michael's manager in those years) asked what he thought about it, Jackson shrugged indifferently and replied: "Numbers."

Between them there was always some kind of struggle and rejection of each other. Prince sent Michael a box of amulets and feathers as a gift. It was later revealed that she had been charmed by voodoo masters, which horrified Jackson. Prince considered Michael a bore, and he said that Prince, although he writes good music, is in itself a sinister person and treats women terribly. “Besides, he is no actor. It doesn't represent anything." Not too upset, the king of pop performed the song Bad himself, and the great Martin Scorsese shot a musical short film on it. By the way, in it for the first time on the screen you can see Wesley Snipes. The song became another revolution in the world of music and attracted a huge number of street audiences.

Michael Jackson: eraBad

The Bad album sold dizzyingly, but it never managed to repeat the sales success of Thriller. Moreover, at the Grammy Awards in 1988, in the most anticipated for Michael nomination "Album of the Year", he lost to one of the most outstanding U2 discs - The Joshua Tree. Having released the most hits of the year and sold the most copies, Jackson left without this award, which undoubtedly plunged him into despondency, but not for long. The next super hit called Dangerous went on sale in 1991 and became Michael's most successful record since Thriller. Among other things, Dangerous has had the most iconic influence on all modern R "n" B music, greatly changing it. There was a lot of controversy about the album cover, many tabloids looked for hidden meaning, even the message of Jackson's involvement in the illuminati was traced. Cover artist Mark Ryden said that he was very inspired by Michael's Leave me alone video, which was the impetus for creating just such an image. “This is the largest format for a cover. The original was about 90 square centimeters,” Mark recalls. “If you look at it very carefully, you will see that the names, themes and messages of the songs are displayed on it thoroughly. Its creation took me several months. It was a long, painstaking and very important job for me.”

Michael Jackson album coverDangerous

One of the album's most personal songs is Who is it, the video for which was directed by the iconic David Fincher. Who is it is saturated with throwing, internal questions of the singer. In the depths of magnificent harmony, innovative music, captivating hypnotic melody and performance, the deepest drama of loneliness in a crowd of many-sided people is imprisoned, behind whose masks it is impossible to discern sincerity. Especially in women. The line of distrust towards female love in this work is so pronounced that it is impossible not to feel all this emptiness of brokenness as a result of the deepest disappointment. In the life of Michael Jackson, perhaps, there were four women whom he idolized: mother Katherine, Elizabeth Taylor, Diana Ross and Lisa Marie Presley. And if Taylor was his closest soulmate and support, and Ross was his mother in show business, then he definitely had feelings for Lisa of a different nature. They were similar. The childhood of both passed under the spotlight, both did not know a normal life, she genuinely understood and idolized him, and he heeded her advice. It was she who once told him: “Michael, a good sleep is more precious than public opinion”, it was she who held his hand on the edge of the abyss. This puzzle had to come together. And he got along. True, not for long, but, nevertheless, gave Jackson and Presley a few happy years. After Michael's death, Lisa said that Jackson repeatedly repeated the phrase: "I think I'll end up like your father." The anthem of their relationship was the song, a super hit from the album History - You are not alone, written for him by R. Kelly. You are not alone is one of the best pop ballads in contemporary music.

Michael Jackson and Elizabeth Taylor

Michael Jackson and Lisa Presley

Michael always wanted to reach out to people, to tell them, “Don't judge me, I'm just human. Just like you, I just want to love and be loved just like you,” and he sent these subtle messages through his sensual songs. How else could he do it? But how many of us can read between the lines? huge bird descends onto the stage, hugging him with wings in Will you be there, “before you judge me try hard to love me”, begging, he sings in soulful Childhood, “when you "re alone and you" re cold inside "on a doomed tear he explains in Stranger in Moscow, tries more aggressively to convey his pain to people through Why you wanna trip on me, Scream and They don't care about us and sums up this desire through global themes about the problems of the Earth in the brilliant Earth song, as well as hymns to goodness We are the world, Heal the world and Man in the mirror. If we dwell on the composition Stranger in Moscow in more detail, then, of course, it will turn out to be the most personal song ever created by Jackson. Randy Taraborrelli said that the idea of ​​the song and video was originally conceived as a reflection of intimacy inner peace singer. He began to write it after the first tour in Moscow. This metropolis seemed to Jackson a complete identification own life. In his perception, Moscow remained a gray city, seething with races, a city of people running somewhere, where you feel the loneliest in this crowd. Randy said that even at the peak of his career, Michael sometimes took walks in order to make new friends. But unsuccessfully.

“Even at home I feel loneliness,” Jackson said, “sometimes it gnaws at me so much that I cannot cope with my emotions, lock myself in a room and cry. You have no idea how hard it is to find real friends. Sometimes I walk around the neighborhood at night, hoping to meet someone, just to talk about something abstract, but every time these walks end in nothing.

He envied people who could safely walk the streets, shop in the supermarket (once his friends closed one of them especially for Michael so that he could imitate shopping), meet, fall in love, walk in the park. Greatest Artist dreaming about simple things. A hermit with hundreds of millions of crazy fans, a lonely dreamer, riding a "ferris wheel" in his Neverland for hours on the tenth circle, looking at one point, lost among hundreds of evening lights. A grown man with the soul of a nine-year-old boy, stuck in time, who so wanted to be understood. A person who longs for sincerity and a genuine miracle in the world of people who always wanted to take something from him, touch him, be involved in fame and money, but never thought about giving this person at least a little real love in return. Unconditional. open. Hence the purchase of human-sized dolls, which he kept at home, giving them names and talking to them, in the same parallel, the park of wonders, his favorite pastime - shootouts with water pistols and friendship with Macaulay Culkin. Children are supposedly the audience he was comfortable with, because they are genuinely sincere. “If I wake up and find out that there is not a single child left on Earth, I will jump out of the balcony immediately,” Michael said. The desire for this sincerity and the childish environment in which he received it played a cruel joke on him in the world of selfish, unprincipled and greedy adults who were so eager to snatch at least something from this “pie”, to destroy and trample Jackson’s empire, as it says "by any means necessary". In the end, they succeeded. But it is unlikely that one day it will be possible to shroud in oblivion the great musical legacy that the King of Pop left in his songs, videos, performances. Incredible, ingenious creativity, settled in millions of hearts forever. This extraordinary man changed the world and gave us magic. And magic never dies.

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