PamRotella.com

Michael Jackson Free... to Sleep with More Boys
[Posted 14 June 2005]

Back in the 90s, some of the first celebrity gossip I heard after moving to the Los Angeles area was about Michael Jackson -- "He doesn't like women," a Venice musician told me. The same musician laughed when I didn't know that Little Richard was gay. Yeah, I was in my 20s and didn't know much at all about a lot of professional musicians, even though I liked their music immensely. "OK Pam. This... is a straight wrist," the musician told me. "This... is a limp wrist. Straight wrist... limp wrist. Straight wrist... limp wrist." And so Pam learned that Little Richard is gay.

The Venice musician didn't elaborate about Jackson though, which is something I found always happened when people from the music industry described Jackson. Yes, he was definitely gay, but no regular boyfriends were mentioned. No hanging out at gay bars. Nothing that a regular gay guy might enjoy doing. Just, he was gay, and they didn't want to mention anything else they may have known, other than occasional speculation on why Jackson was so "screwed up."

Then Jackson became the hot gossip topic in '93 when first accused of child molestation, at least publicly. The worst I heard about the entire situation was from a woman who said her husband was a sort of "gangster," that she was attracted to gangster types. (Goood grief.) She told me that "these parents sell their kids into sexual slavery" to Jackson. Well, that kind of statement is too hot for me to touch. Whether true or not, the circumstances surrounding the '93 victim were fairly disturbing when I finally read them years later. There's no way that a child could make all of that up, and I doubt any kid could remember all of the details under redundant questioning techniques used by police -- something that police said both the '93 accuser and the current accuser passed. Plus the '93 accuser didn't have the iffy parents of the current accuser. His stepfather owned a car rental company, and his natural father was a "dentist to the stars," neither of them apparently hurting for money. After Chandler's natural father won custody of him in '93, Chandler cut off ties with Jackson and reported the sexual incidents at Neverland to police. Then Jackson paid the boy off with millions of dollars -- most reports in the UK say around $20 million, and apparently the child's parents let him keep most or all of the money. So there was more to the '93 case than parents looking for money from Jackson. The victim's mother was allowing too much to happen obviously, whether due to monetary incentives or just being starstruck and/or extremely naive. Nevertheless, the father behaved normally, and the child's account was too convincing.

Now Jackson claims that he won't share his bed with children again:
"SANTA MARIA, Calif. - Basking in the jurors' decision to acquit his client of all counts, Michael Jackson's lawyer suggested Tuesday the singer will no longer share his bed with young boys.

"During an interview on NBC's 'Today' show, Katie Couric asked attorney Thomas Mesereau Jr. whether or not Jackson would continue to share his bed with children. Mesereau, while refusing to admit that Jackson ever said he shared his bed with children [Excuse me -- didn't he admit to that on video, in the documentary?], did say the singer would no longer allow children into his room 'because of the false charges that were brought here.'

"'He's not going to do that anymore,' Mesereau said. 'He's not going to make himself vunerable to this anymore.'"
- "Now free, Jackson ready to make changes", 14 June 2005, MSNBC.

Well, it's about time. It'd seem that even if he were terribly naive, and had the personality of an overgrown child as some spin doctors try to put out there, the past cases would have convinced a normal person to stop the sleepovers back in the 90s. Hey, I like men, and I love children, but I don't sleep with teenage boys at all. And I stopped climbing into bed with my parents when I was just a small child. I've never even heard of a grown man having sleepovers with other peoples' children. And the jurors seemed to agree that this behavior was pretty odd:

"Jurors may have acquitted Jackson of all charges of molesting a 13-year-old cancer survivor, but not all of them were convinced the King of Pop had never molested a child.

"'He's just not guilty of the crimes he's been charged with,' said Ray Hultman, who told The Associated Press he was one of three people on the 12-person panel who voted to acquit only after the other nine persuaded them there was reasonable doubt about the entertainer's guilt in this particular case.

"Prosecutors presented testimony about Jackson's allegedly improper relationships with several boys in the early 1990s, including the son of a maid who testified that Jackson molested him during tickling session between 1987 and 1990. Another, Brett Barnes, took the stand to deny that he was molested during sleepovers at Neverland.

"But Hultman said he believed it was likely that both boys had been molested. He said he voted to acquit Jackson in the current case because he had doubts about his current accuser's credibility.

"'That's not to say he's an innocent man,' Hultman, 62, said of Jackson.

"Some jurors noted they were troubled by Jackson's admission that he allowed boys into his bed for what he characterized as innocent sleepovers.

"'We would hope first of all that he doesn't sleep with children anymore and that he learns that they have to stay with their families or stay in the guest rooms or the houses or whatever they're called down there,' jury foreman Paul Rodriguez said. 'And he just has to be careful how he conducts himself around children.'"
- "Now free, Jackson ready to make changes", 14 June 2005, MSNBC.


Personally, I doubt that the sleepovers will stop, or that they were ever entirely innocent. And this did trouble the jury -- that Jackson might continue with his behavior if they let him walk free. So unlike Jackson fans who were cheering the verdict yesterday, I have a couple of pieces of advice:

1.) Parents, stop taking your kids to Neverland. Isn't it obvious that SEVERAL other families have said awful things happen there? Take your kids to a zoo or commercial amusement park -- a GENUINE business establishment -- for fun. Yeah, it'll be crowded and probably cost you more, but at least you'll have better control over where your children go and what happens to them.

2.) Michael, that's what gay bars are for. Find a few and learn how to use them. You can find young-looking 20-year-olds who aren't illegal to date. Not everyone agrees with the law that children have to be 18 years old to consent, but age laws are there and a lot of people do agree with them. That's partly because adults can exert a lot of pressure on teenagers that they're not yet mature enough to handle. So donate to a hospital or orphanage if you really love children, and keep the hands off of other peoples' kiddies.


The disturbing thing about this case is that Jackson probably will go back to his old habits. With Robert Blake or O.J., they had it in for their wives and that was it. It's very unlikely they'd pull the same thing, especially since their freedom seems to mean so much to them. But with Jackson... I don't know. It seems this is a big part of his personality, and that it takes a lot for him to change.

By the way, I do admire Robert Blake for one thing -- his response to a reporter after he was acquitted, who asked Blake who he thought really had killed his wife. "Shut uuup!" Blake yelled. He just wasn't going to lie about it -- after all, wasn't it obvious?


More links on the '93 Jackson case:
JORDY: MY ORDEAL
Past Jackson accusers speak out
JACKSON ACCUSER JORDAN CHANDLER TERRIFIED ABOUT TESTIFYING
JACKSON'S SECRET UNDERWEAR DRAWER
TheSmokingGun.com archive
Michael Jackson's Big Payoff
The Case Against Michael Jackson
Michael Jackson's Controversies and Legal Troubles
JACKO ARRESTED IN CALIFORNIA
Jackson has children in his room for 'sleep-overs'
Presley: 'I loved Jackson, but he used me'
The Boy That Michael Jackson Paid Off


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