• Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.social
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      1 year ago

      Yeah. The kids came out later and talked about how their parents pressured them into making shit up. Iirc they said he was a weird guy, but he never touched them inappropriately. It was too late at that point though. People had already made up their minds and the response was generally, “well, but I’m sure he has. Just 'cause they weren’t molested doesn’t mean he didn’t molest other kids. He seems like a kid molester.”

      • Dharma Curious@startrek.website
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        1 year ago

        In the court of public vibe check he was guilty regardless of what actually happened. Poor dude’s life was tragic. I’m not normally one to feel a whole lot of sympathy for the mega rich, but MJ was a good one.

        • Mossy Feathers (She/They)@pawb.social
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          1 year ago

          Yeah. From what I’ve heard his brain was either kinda stuck in “child mode” or it easily reverted to it due to the trauma and abuse he received growing up. He could act like an adult if he had to, but he was a child pretending to be an adult so to speak. A lot of his life was the result of trying to experience a childhood he didn’t get to have as a result of being in the Jackson 5.

        • Dandroid@dandroid.app
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          1 year ago

          I think it helps that he wasn’t mega rich from his own wishes. His dad forced him to perform until he got mega rich.

    • GBU_28@lemm.ee
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      1 year ago

      I think he was never a sex pest, but was just absolutely fucking crazy.

      It actually seems like he was having platonic, stunted mind sleepovers with children, literally to live out a childhood he desperately wanted.

      Is that appropriate? Probably not.

      Is it a crime? Apparently also no.

    • Dr. Coomer@lemmy.world
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      1 year ago

      I would like to think that he wasn’t, but it’s undeniable that either way it was creepy what he was doing.

      • Fogle@lemmy.ca
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        1 year ago

        It made sense to me when someone said everything he did was because he was basically robbed of childhood and made to perform for a living since he was like 7

        • Ronnie@lemmy.ca
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          1 year ago

          Those claims are incredibly misleading. It’s all in the court cases submitted as evidence, the pornography he had was not CP was not illegal to own. The sole reference in the article you linked isn’t even online anymore, and other instances claiming this are tabloid sites like Daily Mail, etc.

          • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
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            1 year ago

            I remember seeing the video of it when it originally came out and it was some weird shit. His bodyguard said it wasn’t a closet and was instead a panic room. They had people that would parachute into the ranch and security would tell him to hide in there. He put things in there that brought him comfort and uhh… whatever else.

          • Ragdoll X@lemmy.world
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            1 year ago

            It’s been a long time since I’ve researched anything on MJ, but I vaguely remember reading that they found the fingerprints of both MJ and some kid on porn mags that he had. Showing porn to kids is one of the main methods of grooming that child predators use, though I don’t recall if they were adult magazines or CP magazines - not that either option would be good, really.


            Edit: So after looking at this article on the fingerprints and this one on the CP they found, the story is a bit more complicated than that.

            Do keep in mind that this blog is obviously very biased in favor of MJ, trying to downplay the fact that he kept magazines with nude photos of children, and speculating about what “real grooming” would look like and why MJs actions supposedly don’t match what the author personally thinks a real attempt at grooming should be like.

            If anyone wants to abide by the interpretations of this blog specifically be my guest, but I sure as hell still wouldn’t let my kids near MJ.

          • orca@orcas.enjoying.yachts
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            1 year ago

            He always struck me as a troubled dude that was shaped by being a child star. It was like his escape hatch was to revert back to a child-like state and thus his closest friends… were mostly children. I was pretty split on that whole thing because I was such a fan as a kid growing up in the 80s and 90s. Insanely disgusted by it, but also saddened because he was a product of a toxic environment that we’ve seen time and time again is not a good place for children.

        • JokeDeity@lemm.ee
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          1 year ago

          Yeah, this is some ironically white washed history. Dude was NOT a good man. Was that due to his abuse as a child? Maybe, but that doesn’t matter once you become an adult and have to be responsible for your own actions.

  • Pinklink@lemm.ee
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    1 year ago

    I’m so confused. I came to comments for clarification and just found the same as always: a mish mash of conflicting unsubstantiated accounts. To this day I don’t know what is true about all this

    Edit: okay a quick search came up with Wikipedia article talking about FBI investigations into all this. According to the FBI, which confiscated hard drives and did multiple investigations, MJ was never found to have searched for or have possession of CP. idk how much we trust them in general, but that’s what they said

  • lawrence@lemmy.worldM
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    1 year ago

    I thought the assistant had said that Michael Jackson had already died. I completely missed the “other option”.