Death 'absolution' for Jackson

2009-07-10 11:50

Miami - Michael Jackson taught us to moonwalk, wanted us to take a hard look at the man in the mirror and hoped to unite the world through music. We love him for it - now. But where was the outpouring when he faced child molestation allegations?

Death, it seems, has been the ultimate absolution for Jackson.

"There is a tradition that people are acculturated to speak no ill of the dead," said Michael Schwartz, associate professor of psychiatry at Stony Brook University in New York. "This has really brought people together. They feel good about being able to share their grief."

Some fans have been unwavering in their support of Jackson through the years, claiming they never believed allegations that he sexually molested two boys on two separate occasions.

"It never crossed my mind that something like that would be true," said Georgia Pasvadi, 28, who lives in Athens, Greece, and is studying to be a film director. A nightclub disc jockey, she has been a Jackson fan since she was a kid.

But many others didn't stick by Jackson, abandoning the King of Pop after his behaviour - and his appearance - seemed increasingly bizarre.

In 2002, he dangled his infant son over a hotel balcony in Berlin while a throng of fans watched from below. During his 2005 molestation trial, he appeared gaunt and had recurring back problems that he attributed to stress. The trial was interrupted several times by hospital visits. Jackson once appeared late to court dressed in his pyjamas after an emergency room visit.

But all this weirdness seems mostly forgotten now.

For some who were turned off by Jackson a few years ago, it's like the things he was accused of never happened, said Paul Levinson, professor of communication and media studies at Fordham University in New York.

"It's because death is the great equalizer," he said, cleanly separating Jackson from people regarded as so terrible - like Adolf Hitler - that their legacy never changes.

Instead, fans all over the world are choosing to focus on his music, with songs played endlessly on the radio and tributes on television reminding them of their love for such hits as "Thriller" and "Beat It."

Tim Newsome, 35, of Miami, a fan since the "Thriller" album came out in 1982, said it was hard not to associate Jackson with the allegations. But he recently found himself downloading songs for him and his 11-year-old daughter to enjoy together. Newsome isn't alone: five of Jackson's songs are currently top downloads at iTunes.

"Michael is going to be remembered as a great entertainer and performer just as much as he will be remembered for his strange life," Newsome said.

The outpouring of love for Jackson's legacy has been epic. According to a telephone survey June 26-29 by the Pew Research Centre for the People & the Press, 31% of 1,000 polled said Jackson's death was the story they followed more closely than any other. And sites like Facebook and Twitter created a stage for large-scale mourning by bringing the world together online.

But Rabbi Shmuley Boteach - who claims he was Jackson's friend and rabbi from 1999 to 2001 - said the display of grief has little to do with Jackson's life offstage.

"No one has focused on the death of a man. ... This is the death of a cartoon character, a caricature," Boteach said by telephone from Iceland.

Matt Blank, spokesman for the fan club Michael Jackson World Network based in Britain, said the public may have taken Jackson for granted.

"I think it's the age old tale of you don't know what you've got until its gone. I think it's easier to remember the career of Michael Jackson than the personal life," he said. "People realise the astonishing talent that he had."

Blank said there is no escaping Jackson's music once you hear it.

"Once you like a Michael Jackson song, once you like a Michael Jackson video, there is no going back," he said.

- Associated Press Writer Damian Grass in Miami contributed to this report.

- AP