Michael Jackson: Saying "NO!" to Crazy

When I was a kid my sister's friend KK called on a Sunday afternoon. My mother watched as my sister and I were on the phone with KK and we both had this look of utter sadness on our faces. After we got off the phone, my Mother asked what happened:


"Michael Jackson caught on fire."

"Oh..." My Mom replied. "You guys looked like your grandfather died."

Now I will save for another blog, why my Mother's "go-to" in that particular situation was to think a grandparent was dead. But let's be honest, if you were an 8-10 year old kid from 1983 to 1985, it was probably a real toss up between which would be sadder, the death of a Grandparent or Michael Jackson.

So now we fast forward 25 years and.... what the fuck?!

Sorry unless you are European or crazy or Corey Feldman, Michael Jackson is a joke. If I got a phone call today that he set himself on fire, I would just laugh. I would then try to find the video on YouTube.

It's hard to pinpoint the exact moment, The Michael Jackson Crazy Train went off the rails. Somewhere between: the 2 (count them TWO) lawsuits for child molestation, marrying Lisa Marie Presley, the children he had with his dental hygienist, dangling one of those kids off a balcony, the multiple plastic surgeries, calling the head of his record company the Devil, lying about having Vitiligo, the crappy late 90's music, or videos with Marlon Brando and Chris Tucker.

I would point out the Martin Bashir interview, where Michael just unleashed the crazy. He kind of went from being this rich mysterious pop star, to rich gross pedophile. You can watch the whole thing here. (by the way the bit about how children are "colored" because they come in all different colors, still makes my jaw drop.)

So to make matter worse, now he can't even be a rich gross pedophile. Michael is broke. A friend of mine sent me this link to personal items of Michael Jackson that were going to be auctioned off.

Here are just a few of the choice ones:









Again, what the hell!

How did this happen? How do you go from being one of the wealthiest men in the world, to having to sell your creepy dolls for cash? (Quiet MC Hammer)











Here's is how... No one ever told him "NO."

When you reach a certain point moneywise, you can surround yourself with people who will not say "I don't think that is a very good idea." People that do say that are soon fired and replaced with people who say "That is an awesome idea!"

"Yes Michael, you should totally build an amusement park in your back yard."
"You know Michael, you can never have enough creepy statutes."
"Is that you Michael? I thought you actually WERE Peter Pan."
"Yes Michael, everyone knows that the only treatment for vitiligo is to bleach the rest of your skin."
"You know what would look good there, Michael? The bones of the Elephant man."
"Yup, one more nose job, and your nose will be perfect, Michael."
"You know what that newborn kid loves Michael, being dangled over a balcony."
"Yeah, Michael, I am sure that little boy's mother will forget the whole thing if you give her enough money."

The answer to every one of those should have been NO!

If these people that he trusted cared about him, they would have said NO. But when your livelihood subsists on telling rich crazy people that their crazy ideas are awesome, its hard to say "No." Add to that other people just as rich and just as crazy (Liza and Liz Taylor), and its a recipe for disaster. All "good" things come to an end, especially when the money train runs out and you have to sell this:


That's right, your California Raisins collection!








And I wish I could feel sorry for him. But I enjoy the celebrity train wreck too much. We all do, even those who say they don't care. Tell them how Michael Jackson paid $150,000 to put a voodoo spell on Steven Speilberg for not casting him in "Hook" and their ears perk up.

In the meantime, I wonder if Mike would still sell me this?











I'll pay cash...

Jason