Have we been blinded by Michael Jackson's celebrity to believe allegations of abuse?

Rumors on the dark side of Neverland's Peter Pan have been circulating for decades, but the magnet of Michael Jackson's fame and fortune continues to appeal to many.

Watch British filmmaker Dan Reed Leave Neverland, which premiered at the Sundance Film Festival on January 25 and documents the story of two years of abuse by pop king Wade Robson and James Safechuck, it was difficult to not ask the question of how the families of the victims leave their children so badly. Michael Jackson's heartbreaking personal testimony of badual abuse, narrated courageously by the two now-grown victims, once again cast a shadow over his celebrity, polarizing the audience like never before.

However, the dilemma of separating art from the conduct of its creator seems to be misleading. A New York Times According to the review, "canceling Michael Jackson means not only canceling our love of music, but also our feeling of being what we are as a people". Concluding that our collective identity rests on the legacy of a musician is both frightening and telling. No wonder Safechuck, who appeared with Jackson in the singer's Pepsi ad campaign in 1987 when he was only 10 years old, says in the movie: "He was already bigger than life". Exposed to intensely disseminated popular culture, most of us are fascinated by celebrity, is not it?

In recent years, some 250 influential figures, including many celebrities, have been charged with badual misconduct, exposing the problematic impact of celebrity culture on individuals, especially young people. When Wade Robson describes himself as "This little Australian boy, who had this experience of another world impossible to have this meeting with my idol, my mentor and my god. As if I had been anointed, you know, in a way, "Should not we be wondering about the environment that allows a child to see a pop star as something divine and bigger than life?

Like a fairy tale

Speaking of Jackson's attention to his son and their entire family, James' mother, Stephanie Safechuck, said, "It was so overwhelming and like a fairy tale. And I got lost in it, and I know my husband too. The film opens our eyes to how celebrity and money have prevented a mother from accepting the friendship of her 8-year-old daughter – including evenings in the same bed with Jackson. then in his thirties – even under the pretext of helping his son achieve his dreams.

Based on the story of the two victims in Leave Neverland and the one Jackson himself featured in Marin Bashir's 2003 documentary Living with Michael Jackson, The singer took advantage of the pbadion and aspirations of his victims for music and performance. Wade Robson, who became a choreographer for stars such as NSYNC and Britney Spears, won a dance competition similar to Michael Jackson at the age of five in 1987. Nobody asked any questions to about his presence on stage with Jackson during his Australian tour a few nights after – an event that triggered this disastrous "friendship". Perhaps the families of the victims thought that by allowing this strange relationship and accepting gifts from the star, they would help their children flourish – a temptation Michael knew well how to exploit.

Jackson repeatedly told Bashir that his whole pbadion for children was to help them develop their artistic skills and a possible career in the field. He actually helped, but at an irreversible price for his victims. It was the absolute power of his celebrity that prompted these two mothers – and God knows how many others – to trust a global pop star who allowed the perpetration of this abuse, as it is reasonable to badume that they would not have left an ordinary mark. an adult shares a bed with his child.

Joy Robson, Wade's mother, said, "It was a little surreal for us, for all of us. Hollywood and all this entertainment industry were … on another planet than where we were. Do we still doubt that she abandoned her parental instinct to Michael Jackson's sumptuous offerings? Safechuck's mother goes on to say that "for him [Michael] wanting to be our friend was, oh my God! How lucky are we? … He steals you first clbad. You have a limousine waiting for you at the airport. Unbelievable. You know, it's the life of the rich and the famous.

So is it a surprise if she concludes that she "seemed like it was a natural thing, my husband and I had to say: Yes, you can go to bed with Michael." Failing to interrogate Michael Jackson by giving their son an envelope full of cash, not to mention the expensive house Jackson who later bought the Safechuck family, they allowed their son to join the singer for a concert tour. Safechuck recalled that it was an adventure: "The excitement of seeing him walk from car to car, from his hotel to the car, is … alienating. People push you and take pictures, they stand at the door handles and are dragged by the car. They are crying. It's a unique experience – this level of star power. "

Having the advantage of living at the Jacksonland Neverland Ranch, Robson says, "I mean, we were all stumbling over this place, it was just a storybook, a fairy tale." Surprisingly, even though the Robson's mother was carrying out a pattern According to the usual pattern that Jackson would bring another boy into his life every two or three months, she did not make the logical leap to suspect the wrongdoing of the star, who always claimed to be watching as television, playing games and eating popcorn, she did not even question the fact that the singer would often have ensured that her hotel room was far from the one she would share with her son. Was the fairy tale too good to hear all the alarm bells ring?

Whose fault is it?

It is also true that over time, Michael Jackson has become very close to both families. Stephanie Safechuck said, "I quickly realized that he was one of my sons by his behavior. I liked it. It was a son for whom I started to occupy myself. He would spend the night. I washed his clothes. This type of relationship, combined with sinking into a lifestyle described by both mothers as "a luxury and a star", led families to reject badual accusations against their famous friend.

Although Joy Robson asked her son several times, after the first charges against Jackson were revealed, if the singer had ever touched her, she seems to have been convinced by the firm denials of her teenage son. (Robson then testified in court as a witness, denying violence in two separate trials in 1993 and 2005.)

It may be too easy to blame parents for being blinded by the celebrity of the abuser. The psychological and emotional hegemony of celebrity culture to which we are constantly exposed has transformed a whole set of social values. Take the singer Barbra Streisand, whose paradoxical attitude to the allegations against Michael Jackson testifies to the fact that we are still struggling to release our judgment of the supremacy we grant to celebrities.

Talk to The temperature Streisand, newspaper, said: "His badual needs were badual needs … You can say" badaulted ", but these children, as you have heard [Robson and Safechuck]they were delighted to be there. Both [now] married and they both have children, so that did not kill them. Another famous singer seems to believe that mistreating Jackson's children was a good thing because his victims were getting something out of what he was with him. This only reinforces this idea that fame and success cloud judgment.

Although Streisand subsequently apologized, noting that she did not want to rule out the trauma suffered by the victims, she is not the only one to defend Jackson. Diana Ross' tweet to urge Jackson's accusers to "STOP THE NAME OF LOVE" is another example.

trappings d & # 39; abuse

Leave Neverlandwith its four hours of testimony from victims and their families, exposes the complex panoply and long-term consequences of badual abuse of children. Yet, those who defend Jackson against what they see is an attempt to tarnish his legacy for financial purposes even refuse to consider the possibility that their beloved star is a pedophile and that his generosity is, in fact, more more neat. If Streisand and Ross, or anyone who has denied Jackson's accusations in the past, can not see beyond the personality of the King of Pop, how can we expect the public to take a critical position?

Popular culture and its main platform, the media, are dominated by a vicious circle glorifying celebrities and their lavish lives – no matter who they are or what they do with their lives, which prevents the viewer from understand this hypnotic love glory and fortune. People around the world watched in horror as in 2002, Jackson suspended his baby by the window of his hotel in Berlin. People knew that he had what Jackson himself described in Living with Michael Jackson as "secret wives" for the sole purpose of giving him children.

When Bashir asked him if he was not worried about their mother's kidnapping impacting their future, or if he really thought his children would not benefit from contact with their mother, Jackson responded with a not confident, thus demonstrating his total ignorance and carelessness in childcare.

"To my astonishment, I discovered that children were still sleeping in his room. [Michael Jackson’s] bedroom, "said Bashir in his film, suggesting that 10 years after the first allegations of badual abuse against Jackson in 1993, the 44-year-old pop star has kept his strange behavior. interviewer that sharing the bed with children was "the most beautiful thing, very just and loving," saying that "if someone announced that all the children were dead, I would jump right off the balcony – I'm done !

Has Jackson's haunting fame brought people to see the $ 23 million true deal with Jordan Chandler and his family, as well as the $ 2.4 million with Jason Francia, as a result? of the legal battle of 1993, authentic and normal? Jackson was acquitted of child molestation charges in 2005 as part of a high profile trial. Yet even the regret expressed by two jurors for acquitting Jackson was still not enough to allow people to remove blinkers and see convincing evidence. Some have not only ignored all the allegations against Jackson, but have tried to shield him from the burden of the law. In an effort to show his gratitude and affection to Jackson, actor Marlon Brando offered the singer a lifetime sanctuary on his tropical island just as the legal pressure was mounting to the star.

Rumors about the dark side of Neverland's Peter Pan have been circulating for decades, but the magnet of Michael Jackson's fame and fortune, as well as his artistic success, continue to seduce many people to this day as attempts defense of Jackson's legacy continue. It is time to decolonize this toxic glorification of celebrity culture.

The opinions expressed in this article are unique to the author and do not necessarily reflect Fair Observer's editorial policy.

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