The ‘King of Pop’ was found dead in his home under mysterious circumstances. What did Michael Jackson’s children and trusted staff witness prior to his sudden death? Did his personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, cause Jackson’s demise? Some suggest Jackson took his own life and others claim he was murdered by those who thought Jackson’s worth was more dead than alive.
(CNN, February 24, 2017)
Fake news about Michael Jackson’s death
That’s from the promo for tonight’s episode of the new HLN series, How It Really Happened. The problem, however, is that the questions posed have already been answered or are unanswerable.
The sensational trial and conviction of Dr. Conrad Murray were particularly illuminating. The evidence presented makes specious any contention that Michael died under mysterious circumstances, as this series suggests.
Dr. Conrad Murray was sentenced Tuesday to four years in the Los Angeles County jail – the maximum sentence allowed under the law – in the death of Michael Jackson. …
Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter three weeks ago after a trial in which prosecutors successfully argued that Murray’s reckless use of propofol to help Jackson sleep, without proper monitoring equipment, led to the singer’s death.
(CNN, November 30, 2011)
What Michael’s children and staff witnessed is already a matter of public record. That has no bearing on the fact that he died from an overdose of propofol.
As the attending physician, Murray was responsible. And frankly, whether he, Jackson, or someone else administered the fatal dose is now irrelevant and unanswerable beyond any reasonable doubt.
CNN should know better
CNN insinuates that Jackson committed suicide, or that someone murdered him because he was “worth more dead than alive.” But there’s nothing new here, either.
After all, I insinuated as much just two days after he died in “Michael Jackson, the King of Pop, Is Dead” on June 27, 2009. And I reinforced my insinuations in many subsequent commentaries, including
“Michael Jackson: Worth More Dead than Alive” on October 28, 2010;
“‘Xscape’! More Pedophile Charges Prove Michael Was Not ‘Gone Too Soon'” on May 14, 2014; and
“MJ: ‘The Kid Is Not My Son‘ (Nor Is the Girl or the Other One),” October 23, 2015.
Skeletons in Michael’s closet
Public interest in “how it really happened” pales compared with how Jackson got away with child molestation. After all, credible allegations painted him darker than any pedophile priest. He reportedly spent hundreds of millions to keep this perverted side of his life “In the Closet.”
That is the brazenly confessional title of his 1992 album. As things turned out, it not only alluded to his pedophilia but to his “Big lie” too. That lie, of course, is that he’s the biological father of his three kids. And this whopper is all the more sickening in light of his celebrated claim that it doesn’t matter if you’re “Black or White.”
Don’t rule out suicide
It’s easy to see why Jackson might have wished for a “sleep of death.” After all, a day of reckoning was looming for all the “Off-the-Wall” aspects of his life. But that sleep was a “consummation devoutly to be wished,” which I could see him preparing for with the following man-child prayer of absolution:
Now I lay me down to sleep,
I pray the Lord my soul to keep.
If I should die before I wake,
I pray the Lord my soul to take.
(New England Primer, 1784 ed.)
Meanwhile, I don’t “Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’.” But who would’ve thought an upstart like Rihanna would already be reducing Michael’s platinum legacy to mere bronze?
With ‘Love on the Brain,’ Rihanna joins Madonna (38) and The Beatles (34) as the only acts with at least 30 Hot 100 top 10s all time. …
Rihanna breaks a tie for third place with Michael Jackson, who tallied 29 top 10s, as a soloist.
(Billboard, February 21, 2017)
So much for his “Invincible” act – huh?
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