Did the Media Kill Michael Jackson?

The media has always had a bias towards Michael Jackson. Ever since the Pepsi commercial, the media has been dead on him.

At first, it seemed as if he had the media’s support, but, soon the pendulum began to swing the opposite way.

In 1986, the tabloids ran a story that stated that Michael Jackson slept in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber to slow his aging process. Jackson came out to disseminate these rumors.

Also, in the 1980s, his skin gradually grew lighter and the media took notice, creating rumors about Michael Jackson bleaching his skin.

It turned out that Michael had vitiligo and lupus, both diseases made him very sensitive to sunlight, thus, causing him to carry an umbrella when he went outside.

The more pale that Jackson got, the more attention that the media payed to Jackson.

Soon, they realized that creating rumors about Michael Jackson was very profitable, including taking rumors of Jackson and his chimpanzee, Bubbles to the extreme. From there, Jackson earned the nickname “Wacko Jacko” from the media. After that, Michael did his best to avoid the media.

In 1993, Jackson gave a 90 minute interview with Oprah Winfrey. This was his first television interview since 1979. He talked about the physical and metal abuse of his father and the fact that he never had a real childhood.

From there, the media focused on Michael’s love for children. They publicized an event where he came in holding hands with Brooke Shields, but carrying Emanuel Lewis on his hip.

This set the stage for Jackson to be accused of sexual child abuse. He often invited young boys to his Neverland Ranch, especially those who were disabled or poor. Later, in 1993, a 13-year-old, Jordan Chandler and his father, Evan Chandler accused Jackson of child abuse during Jordan’s stay at the ranch.

The media took this news and ran, which obviously took a toll on Jackson. He, along with his friends and family made claims that stated that Jackson only wanted to help the children and had no desires of sexual relations with any of them.

His thanks for trying to help these people was a lawsuit that was later settled out of court.

Even after being cleared of all charges, many still felt that he was a guilty man that got off free. The media fed into that and portrayed Michael Jackson as a mad man.

During the trial, he had gotten addicted to various painkillers provided for him to deal with the stress. He stopped eating and had to cancel his Dangerous Worlds Tour.

Throughout the 1990s, Jackson was portrayed as a scenile pedophile with an addiction to pre-teenage boys. During these times, Michael turned to his wife, Lisa Marie Presley, for emotional support.

Lisa Marie often spoke out in defense of Michael.

Pressure was put upon Michael Jackson to always perform at his best when doing television performances. In late 1995, he was rushed to the hospital after collapsing during rehearsals for such a performance. The incident was caused by a stress-related panic attack.

After divorcing Lisa Maries Presley, he married Deborah Jeanne Rowe, who gave birth to his children, Michael, Jr. and Paige. By 1999, they also divorced.

In June 1999, Michael Jackson involved himself in numerous charitable events in an attempt to reinvent his image.

He soon re-entered the media with a label dispute with Sony and Tommy Mottola, which resulted in Jackson portraying Mottola as a “devil” and “racist.” At one point, Mottola described Jackson’s associate, Irv Gotti, as a “fat nigger.”

He returned to the public eye in 2001 with the release of Invincible, his first album in six years.

During this time, Jackson had his third child, Prince Michael (Blanket). It seemed as if the media had finally accepted Michael Jackson for who he was.

A few months later, the balcony incident occurred, causing more scrutiny towards Michael Jackson.

Later in 2003, a documentary, Living with Michael Jackson, emerged. The documentary featured Jackson holding hands, and speaking on sharing his bed, with Gavin Arvizo, who would later accuse him of sexual abuse.

Once again, Jackson was being attacked by the media and forced to defend himself. His longtime friend, Elizabeth Taylor, spoke out in defense of Michael on “Larry King Live.”

Michael Jackson had been charged with seven counts of child sexual abuse and two counts of administering an intoxicating agent in order to commit that felony. All charges regarded Arvizo, who was under 14 at the time of the alleged crime.

The People v. Jackson trial began in Santa Maria, California, two years after Jackson was originally charged. It was around this time that he became dependent on morphine and Demerol. Michael also suffered from stress-related illnesses and severe weight loss that altered his appearance. All of these injuries grabbed headlines in the media along with his trial.

In May 2005, the trial was over, Michael Jackson was acquitted on all counts. From there, he relocated to the Persian Gulf island of Bahrain as a guest of Sheik Abdullah.

His financial troubles became a top news story in 2006 after the main house on the Neverland Ranch was shut down.

From 2006 until the day that he died, Michael Jackson’s name stayed in the news with people always pointing out the negative. It is very much so possible that Jackson may have died due to the pressure of the constant talk about him.

One thing is for sure, on June 25, 2009, Michael Jackson made news, one last time.

R.I.P. Michael Jackson (August 29, 1958 – June 25, 2009)