Why was Michael Jackson stigmatised so harshly?

[Edwardo Piet]

Even isolated... the images of nude adults with children's faces morphed on top? That's messed up.

[Tiberius]

Yeah it's kind of hard to ignore all that, sadly...

To me it was upsetting because I'd been a longtime fan of his, but I don't think this detracts from his music, which is still great. However, he does appear to be one in a long line of celebrities who are being exposed as sex offenders. As Trump said, "when you're a star, they let you do it", and it's both true and shameful that this stuff goes on, and goes unpunished.

[Edwardo Piet]

To me it was upsetting because I'd been a longtime fan of his, but I don't think this detracts from his music, which is still great.

Well... "Smooth Criminal" was always my favorite song of his but that's hard to stomach now...

I mean, no one would play it if it was instead called "Sneaky Child Molester Getting His funk on."

[GrandizerII]

To me it was upsetting because I'd been a longtime fan of his, but I don't think this detracts from his music, which is still great.

Well... "Smooth Criminal" was always my favorite song of his but that's hard to stomach now...

I mean, no one would play it if it was instead called "Sneaky Child Molester Getting His funk on."

I can't listen to the song "Just Beat It" without cringing now.

[Thumpalumpacus]

To me it was upsetting because I'd been a longtime fan of his, but I don't think this detracts from his music, which is still great.

Well... "Smooth Criminal" was always my favorite song of his but that's hard to stomach now...

I mean, no one would play it if it was instead called "Sneaky Child Molester Getting His funk on."

I agree with Tibs -- I'm listening to the music, not listening to him describe his alleged crimes.

I love a lot of MJ's music, and hold the issue of his eccentric and possibly criminal behavior very much separate.

[Edwardo Piet]

Unfortunately it's more like "almost certainly criminal behavior."

Yeah his music is separate. Hard for me to not think of him and what he was like as a person when listening to his music though.

I can compartmentalize with most of his songs... but yeah... "Smooth Criminal" used to be my favorite but now the combination of him and the song title is just going to make me think of this highly disturbing evidence list.

Also:

Childhood ruined. I was a massive fan of him as a kid.

Thankfully when I got a little older I was too busy playing Age of Empires to listen to MJ

And by age 17 I actually developed a good taste in music and stopped listening to him voluntarily altogether!

[Faith No More]

I just don't see the reason to be meanish to him.

This is your first Aractus thread, huh?

[downbeatplumb]

Yeah it's kind of hard to ignore all that, sadly...

To me it was upsetting because I'd been a longtime fan of his, but I don't think this detracts from his music, which is still great. However, he does appear to be one in a long line of celebrities who are being exposed as sex offenders. As Trump said, "when you're a star, they let you do it", and it's both true and shameful that this stuff goes on, and goes unpunished.

On a related note I was watching a recent American Christmas film and the Gary Glitter Christmas song came on at a shopping mall or something and it reminded me that that song has been erased from history.

It used to be at every Christmas party but no longer.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=pHMhEWyqj2g

[Edwardo Piet]

Ewww.

[Cyberman]

It's the same with Jimmy Savile and Rolf Harris and the like. The Beeb has been falling over itself to erase them from history. There were calls for Savile to be stripped od his knighthood - degradation - despite the fact that he stopped being a knight the moment he died. Many people even wanted him exhumed for some ghoulish reason. Not at all defending their actions, but for fuck's sake some people need to get some proportion.