The “Freak” Has Died

I remember a conversation that I had with a lawyer friend. We were set to watch a documentary on environmental protection (actually, it was an anti-mining presentation). And the music background – which I cannot recall — is sung by Michael Jackson. My lawyer-friend told me straight: “I do not like Michael Jackson, because he”s the singer of the (Catholic) priests.” Readily, I got what he wanted to say. It was not because he’s not a Catholic (in fact, he said his mother is a matron in or of their parish), or he’s antagonistic against the Catholic clergy. It was because during those times the child molestation cases against a good number of ordained ministers of the Catholic Church were the focus of media reports in the Philippines. Concomitantly, Michael Jackson’s child molestation case was being heard.

Michael Jackson was not just a good singer and dancer. He’s undoubtedly very controversial, too. His child molestation cases – in 1993 and 2003 — are just among the many instances of his being a “freak” that were shown to us.

In the BBC news website that runs an account-for-account narrative of the unfolding of the 2003-2005 pedophilia case of Jackson, one reads that a former associate of Michael Jackson, music producer Rudy Provencio, revealed in the court that the singer had two voices. According to this man who appeared to have known a lot about the private realm of Jackson, the singer was always sticking to his familiar high-pitched tone. But, especially if he’s visibly distressed, Jackson could easily switch to his low, manly voice (just like his brothers who, with him, formed The Jackson Five).

Diane Dimond, an author, was also featured in NBC claimed the same. She said Jackson’s real voice is not his high-pitched voice. His voice is really big and deep.

Michael Jackson’s Neverland Valley Ranch used to operate as his private amusement park and home since 1988. Allegedly, in this place, the child molestation acts by Jackson were done. But there is likewise another story about the Neverland. It was allegedly where Michael Jackson originally died some twenty to twenty five years ago. Policemen from Sta. Barbara, CA reported finding a corpse of Michael Jackson that was buried just some inches below a stretch of the miniature-train tracks running through the amusement park. The corpse was largely desiccated, but the forensic experts were still able to establish Jackson’s identity through his dental records. The police postulated that Michael Jackson must have died before the release of his multi-platinum “Bad”.

And, so, who’s this Michael Jackson who expired just now in UCLA hospital? Indeed, Michael Jackson was quite queer.

And his queerness consisted in, among others, his confiding with his chimpanzee pet (Bubbles). And Jackson indeed had a very close relationship with Bubbles. The chimp was sitting in when Jackson was recording his Bad album and was with Jackson when he was filming the Bad music video. The two even shared a hotel room in Tokyo during the Bad World Tour. In the Neverland, Bubbles was reportedly sleeping in a crib in one of the corners of Jackson’s bedroom. The chimp was reportedly allowed, too, to use the private comfort room of Michael Jackson.

In addition to his fetish, there was a report – which Jackson eventually denied in an interview with Oprha – that he allegedly bought the bones of the Elephant Man.

Jackson was married twice. He first married the daughter of Elvis Presley, Lisa Marie. Their marriage ended in divorce in 1996. Their marriage was believed to be a PR stunt to cast Jackson in a better light after allegations of sexual molestation charges involving a 13-year old boy. Lisa Marie has her children not by Jackson.

Jackson’s second marriage was with Debbie Rowe. A former nurse, Rowe was married to Jackson in Australia. They have Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. and Paris Michael as their children. Their marriage eventually ended, too, in divorce after they did not share a home, or an apartment (read: they did not live together).

The third son of Jackson is by a surrogate mother. He was the one whom Jackson dangled from the third-floor balcony of a hotel in Germany in 2002. The fans witnessing the incident were horrified, and thought that Jackson would drop his child.

Finally, we could raise this question: how would Michael Jackson look like without his cosmetics? For one who was able to follow how Jacko looked like through the years, the “progression” of his facial alterations was very clear. He had turned himself into a white-face woman.

In life, it is very hard to differentiate the message from the medium of the message. Jackson as a singer was definitely a medium of culture.

Knowing his eccentricities, would you still buy any of his albums?