Jackson doctor convicted of involuntary manslaughter

By macleans.ca - Monday, November 7, 2011 at 4:42 PM - 0 Comments

Michael Jackson’s doctor has been convicted of involuntary manslaughter, the least serious homicide offense in the U.S., for causing the singer’s death in 2009 through the powerful anesthetic propofol, the Los Angeles Times reports. Dr. Conrad Murray, a 58-year-old cardiologist, faces a sentence ranging from a maximum of four years in state prison to a minimum of probation. The guilty verdict was reached by a jury of seven men and five women in less than nine hours.

The Los Angeles Times

How did Michael Jackson die?

By Jane Switzer - Thursday, October 27, 2011 at 8:50 AM - 0 Comments

Mario Anzuoni-Pool/Getty Images

As the legal team for Dr. Conrad Murray prepares to make its case, a new toxicology report could break the last leg in the defence of Michael Jackson’s embattled former physician. Conducted by the Los Angeles County coroner at the request of the prosecution, the report concluded that the amount of lorazepam found in the late pop star’s body was “totally inconsistent with oral consumption of lorazepam tablets”—contradicting one argument advanced by Murray’s defence that Jackson, exhausted from rehearsing for his comeback tour, swallowed eight tablets of the anti-anxiety drug the day he died.

The 58-year-old physician has pleaded not guilty to involuntary manslaughter in the June 25, 2009, death of the pop legend, who died at his rented Los Angeles home as he prepared for a series of 50 sold-out concerts at London’s O2 Arena. On Aug. 28, 2009, the coroner ruled that Jackson died of an acute intoxication of propofol, a powerful anaesthetic, in combination with a cocktail of drugs, including lorazepam.

In a two-hour interview with LAPD detectives taped two days after Jackson’s death and presented in court, Murray described the insomniac pop star begging for his “milk,” the slang for propofol, the morning he died. The doctor admitted he administered a daily intravenous drip in the two months leading up to his death. Concerned that Jackson was addicted, Murray said he tried to “wean him off” propofol in the three days before his death by giving him lorazepam and other drugs. While Murray’s defence team abandoned one theory that Jackson orally administered the lethal dose of propofol himself, it still maintains he used a syringe to inject propofol through a catheter in his leg, and took lorazepam while Murray was out of the room—creating a “perfect storm in his body that killed him instantly,” according to Murray’s lead lawyer, Ed Chernoff.

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Together at last

By Anne Kingston - Thursday, December 9, 2010 at 2:00 PM - 4 Comments

Illustration by Adam Cholewa

Vince Vaughn and Kyla Weber
The 39-year-old Wedding Crashers star shed his Hollywood swinger reputation by marrying a 31-year-old former Calgary realtor in Chicago in January. The couple, now expecting their first child, met through mutual friends in 2008 and quickly became fixtures at Chicago Black Hawks games before Vaughn sealed the deal with a US$125,000-ring.

The NHL and Stan Lee
The legendary creator of Spider-Man, Iron Man and X-Men, joined forces with the National Hockey League in October to form Guardian Media Entertainment LLC,  a platform for 30 “Guardians,” one for each NHL team. The project, to be unveiled in January, isn’t set in the world of hockey but “organically and authentically incorporates various NHL elements.” Climb down Spider-Man, Slapshot-Man is coming.

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Michael Jackson was murdered for money, says sister

By macleans.ca - Thursday, June 24, 2010 at 10:51 AM - 9 Comments

In a TV interview, LaToya Jackson claims that her brother was “murdered for his catalogue” and that she’s never had a doubt there was any other explanation. Billboard magazine recently reported that since Jackson’s passing, royalties have earned the Jackson estate $1 billion dollars. On Friday, it will be the one year anniversary of the entertainer’s death. Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s personal physician, has pleaded not guilty to a charge of involuntary manslaughter. Meanwhile, Michael’s older brother Jermaine thinks that if Michael had converted to Islam that he wouldn’t have died. “If Michael would have embraced Islam he still would be here today,” said Jermaine to the BBC.

BBC News

The sporting case for the Grammy Awards

By Aaron Wherry - Monday, February 1, 2010 at 1:01 PM - 6 Comments

It is perhaps possible to take the Grammy Awards seriously. But only if you stop worrying about them.

Consider, for a moment, the National Football League.

The NFL is presently the premier professional sports league in North America: a multi-billion-dollar cultural institution that can claim, in the Super Bowl, the biggest single sporting event on the planet. Its athletes are among the world’s most exceptional and most beloved. But success in the NFL is not the ultimate standard of sporting achievement. The NFL does not define the concept of sport. In fact, no league, tournament or event—not even the Olympics—does. And it is generally understood that it is impossible to compare athletes of different leagues and disciplines—any discussion of “the world’s greatest athlete” generally defined by he or she who dominates their particular competition most spectacularly. (Tiger Woods, for instance, wasn’t ever as fast or as strong as any number of Olympians, football players or basketball players. But he was, by virtue of his unique excellence in golf, in the conversation as the best athlete in the world.)

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Newsmaker of the Year '09: Lost boy, forever

By Brian D. Johnson - Tuesday, December 8, 2009 at 3:19 PM - 0 Comments

Even more startling than the news of his death was its impact. Not since Diana has a celebrity’s sudden passing sent such a profound and lasting shock wave around the world. Michael Jackson’s career had been in the doldrums for over a decade, his reputation shattered by allegations of child molestation, his face ravaged by cosmetic surgery, his body wired on painkillers, his finances in shreds. Although his fans had remained fiercely loyal, snapping up tickets for a sold-out comeback tour that would never take place, for much of the world the King of Pop had become a sad freak—a literally pale shadow of the man-child who once moonwalked into our hearts. But after Jackson’s death on June 25, 2009, a miraculous resurrection began to take place.

As the media became consumed with conjuring his memory, parsing his significance and exploring the riddle of his death, it soon became clear that this celebrity death was shaping up to be an event on a par with the loss of Marilyn Monroe and Elvis Presley. In death, the moral scales were instantly tipped. Jackson’s iconic stature would trump his human frailties. The man once accused of being a pedophile and a predator was now cast as victim, possibly a victim of murder by lethal injection, perhaps even the target of a conspiracy. The disturbing pathology of Jackson’s personality—the enigma of the lost boy trapped in a man’s body—only enriched the myth. As a showbiz prodigy forever trying to reclaim the Neverland of his stolen childhood, he acquired tragic nobility. Like Elvis, Marilyn and Diana, here was another martyr to celebrity. Jackson had always dressed as if auditioning for divinity. And in the months that followed, pieces of him would be auctioned off like religious relics, from his diamond-encrusted socks to the white glove he wore in the 1983 Motown TV special—which is considered the “holy grail” of MJ memorabilia.

As a black man who seemed bent on erasing his race and blurring his gender, Jackson’s shape-shifting was mocked when he was alive. In death it only magnified his cultural importance. Just as Elvis Presley and Mick Jagger had plundered the moves and music of black R & B to create their burlesque empires of rock ’n’ roll, Jackson merged black music with white pop, but from the other side. He seemed intent on transforming himself into an alien creature, as if the only ethnicity that really mattered to him was extraterrestrial. With Thriller, the monster video that broke racial barriers and virtually invented MTV, he tried on a ghoulish identity that would follow him to the grave.

Jackson always fancied himself a movie star, or rather a movie character. And he received some posthumous poetic justice with the release of This Is It, the movie stitched together from rehearsal footage of the concert that never was. The film, which has grossed more than US$200 million, puts a lie to all the media speculation that his heart wasn’t in the tour, or that he no longer had the chops to pull it off. His ethereal falsetto was still intact, and his quicksilver dance moves still dazzled, as if he had no choice: the music flowed through his body like an electric current, animating every move with semaphore precision.

Had he lived to perform the tour, no doubt there would have been a concert movie, but it would have shown a slicker performer. The rehearsal footage reveals a softer, more circumspect Michael Jackson. Though the film is more hagiography than documentary, it offers a glimmer of vulnerability, and of the creative soul behind the Oz-like armour of the persona. Jackson comes across as an adult, quietly focused and firmly in command. The movie lends credence to what Elizabeth Taylor once told Oprah Winfrey, that Jackson was “highly intelligent, shrewd, intuitive.” There’s a lovely scene in which Jackson is trying to hold himself back. “Don’t make me sing out,” he pleads. “I gotta save my voice.” It’s a moment freighted with sad irony in a movie that redeems a monstrous icon by reminding us that he was only an artist.

Michael Jackson is redeemed by a movie

By Brian D. Johnson - Wednesday, October 28, 2009 at 1:05 PM - 9 Comments

He always fancied himself a movie star.  Now, finally, he is. Last night, as I arrived at a press screening for Michael Jackson’s This Is It, the posthumous film of Jacko rehearsing the show he never gave, I had reason to be deeply skeptical. How could it  be any good? If it was, why would Sony Pictures release it for only a two-week limited engagement? And why was it holding off the press screening until 9:30 p.m. of the day the movie would be commercially premiered at midnight? It all had the whiff of damage control, and I expected a frustrating glimpse of a performance that was only half there, a lurid cash grab to capitalize on the biggest showbiz event  of Michael Jackson’s career: his death.

Boy, was I wrong. This Is It is quite amazing. Directed by Kenny Ortega, who also directed the show that never opened, it offers far more than a glimpse. Out of the rehearsals, Ortega has constructed what amounts to a full-blown concert movie, framed with a smattering of candid backstage moments that are both amusing and touching. And the end of it you feel you’ve seen pretty well the whole show—which is spectacular—as well as getting some gems of unprecedented insight into the artist behind it. And here’s the real news: the movie refutes once and for all the glut of media reports after his death claiming that he was washed up as a performer, and was in no shape to put on a show. Yes, he does look frail, and with all that make-up, we’ll never know how pale. But he never appears stoned, unfocused or incapable. The movie could serve as evidence in the trial of the man accused of his murder. Executing intricate choreography, Jackson dances with the same semaphore precision and fluid virtuosity that made him a legend. And although he lacks power, his dreamy falsetto is still in tact, and he’s clearly trying to hold back. “Don’t make me sing out,” he begs at one point in a scene that’s both funny and freighted with sad irony. “I gotta save my voice.” Continue…

High-priced stunt

By Jason Kirby - Friday, October 23, 2009 at 8:20 AM - 7 Comments

Where were you when the empty balloon floated over Colorado? Last week’s drama-turned-alleged-hoax was no presidential assassination or shuttle disaster. But the clichéd question is still getting asked a lot lately. Where were you when Michael Jackson died, or during his funeral, or when the jet plane miraculously landed on New York’s Hudson River? Nowadays, the answer is often the same: at the office, watching it happen instead of doing any work.

Even before last week’s story about the boy in a runaway balloon was exposed as a possible scam, a question emerged. What happens to the economy when millions of workers simultaneously ignore their jobs and gather around the TV, surf for gossip about the weird family behind the stunt, or Twitter each twist and turn of the story? “The amount of work hours that are wasted by people playing around on computers is already mind-bogglingly astronomical,” says Robert Thompson, a professor of media studies at Syracuse University in New York. “When something like Balloon Boy or Michael Jackson’s death comes along, workers all waste their time on the same thing.” That collective procrastination can easily add up to vast sums at a time when the recession is already hammering companies. Continue…

Top 10 Best Moments at TIFF

By Tom Henheffer - Saturday, September 19, 2009 at 12:46 AM - 0 Comments

Click here for the Top 10 Worst Moments at TIFF

Margaret Atwood goes on tour, Anna Wintour thaws, and the director of fun

By Lianne George - Friday, August 28, 2009 at 8:00 AM - 0 Comments

Atwood nuts, rejoice
Canadian novelist and soothsayer Margaret Atwood has embarked on an international tour to promote her latest book, The Year of the Flood. As part of her campaign, she will be writing a blog to keep fans up to date on her toing and froing. In her inaugural posting, she welcomes her visitors with a photo: “Here is a picture of me in the garden with giant phlox, before starting out. Will I shrink during the tour? Will I survive it?” She also lays out some ground rules for making her tour as green as possible—for instance, placing special emphasis on train travel, local foods and organic, fair-trade coffees. She plans to pack light: “think pink, pack black. It dirts less.” Finally, she says she will take “the VegiVows” for the duration of her tour, “with the exception of non-avian and non-mammalian bioforms once a week.” She will, however, permit eggs, “viewed as a sort of nut.”

Swedish for retaliation
When the Swedish tabloid Aftonbladet ran an article accusing Israeli troops of killing Palestinian youths to harvest and sell their organs, Israeli President Benjamin Netanyahu compared the allegations to medieval “blood libels,” which claimed that Jews used the blood of Christian babies in holy rituals. “Statements in the Swedish press were outrageous,” an official quoted Netanyahu as saying. “We are not expecting an apology—we are expecting a condemnation.” Swedish officials have so far refused to condemn the article. Until they do, Israel is prohibiting any new Swedish journalists from entering the country, which is small comfort to many angry Israelis. Concerned citizens have launched an online petition to go after the Swedes where it hurts—a nationwide boycott of Ikea. Continue…

Coroner tells police: Jackson death a homicide

By macleans.ca - Monday, August 24, 2009 at 5:25 PM - 2 Comments

According to documents unsealed today in Houston, Michael Jackson had “lethal levels” of the powerful anesthetic propofol in his system when he died. The finding was contained in documents filed by the L.A. County coroner’s office, which reached its conclusion after performing an autopsy on the pop star. Conrad Murray, Jackson’s doctor at the time of his death, told detectives he had been giving Jackson propofol every night for six weeks as a treatment for insomnia. Murray says he eventually tried to wean Jackson off the drug, fearing he may have been developing an addiction. However, on the morning of Jackson’s death, Murray says he gave Jackson propofol after other drugs—including valium, lorazepam and midazolam—failed to put him to sleep.

Los Angeles Times

The Associated Press

So long, recession. We’ll miss you.

By Scott Feschuk - Thursday, August 20, 2009 at 11:00 AM - 4 Comments

According to statistical indicators, economic analysis and the fact that millions of actual people paid actual money to see G.I. Joe, the recession is over. Quick, honey, glue the Visa card back together—we’re going shopping!

We’ve all had our ways of coping during this crisis. I for one have responded to hardship by comparing my situation to those who have lost their jobs or those who still have their jobs but have to work with Whoopi Goldberg.

It’s a useful exercise. For instance, no matter how hard you’ve been hit, you’re probably still better off than Travis Henry, the former football player who claims he can’t support the nine children he has fathered by nine different women. (Apparently, his cash reserves were drained by costs associated with legal matters and Mother’s Day.) Henry’s plight is so unappealing that I almost wonder if being imprisoned for cocaine trafficking would be a preferable pickle. Hang on, let’s ask him, since Henry was recently imprisoned for cocaine trafficking. Continue…

So you think you can moonwalk

By Lianne George - Tuesday, August 11, 2009 at 1:25 PM - 0 Comments

Of course everyone’s a fan now. But Tina Nicolaidis, a choreographer and co-owner of City Dance Corps, a school in downtown Toronto, had already shelled out to see Michael Jackson in concert at London’s O2 Arena when she heard the news of his death. “It was one of my lifelong dreams to see him once before I die,” she says. “His dance style has always influenced my choreography.” In fact, the routine that put her professional dance company on the map was a salsa recreation of Michael Jackson’s Smooth Criminal. “When we performed it for the first time at the Canada Salsa Congress four years ago, we got a standing ovation and we started getting invitations to perform that routine at various other events.We’ve now performed it at salsa congresses all over the world.” After Jackson’s death, Nicolaidis wanted some way to pay tribute to her idol. So she came up with the idea for a series of Michael Jackson dance classes—open to students of all levels—beginning in mid-August. Already, it’s full and a long waiting list of would-be toe-popping, cigarette-turning moonwalkers is forming.

“The great thing about a lot of Michael Jackson moves and choreography,” she says, “is that they’re actually pretty simple to do. Anybody can pretty much pick them up. We simplify a lot of the body movements, so we’re not doing 100 per cent of what you see in the music videos. But a lot of it has to do with attitude.” This isn’t City Dance Corps’ first foray into Jackson-themed classes, either. Every October, the school offers a one-day Thriller workshop in time for Halloween. “Everyone loves it,” she says. “When you go to Halloween parties, you know they’re going to play Thriller. People love learning the routine so they can bust it out. Last year, it was so popular we held three different sessions.” Continue…

Newsmakers: A is for Atlas

By Patricia Treble - Thursday, August 6, 2009 at 8:30 AM - 1 Comment

Most parents opt for baby names that won’t get their kids teased off the playground, which explains why Ava tops the girls’ list in Canada, while Ethan is No. 1 for boys, according to Today’s Parent. Alas, celebs saddle their offspring with the kind of monikers—Reign Beau or Tu, who has the last name Morrow—that invite no end of mirth and torment.

THE ANCIENTS

Atlas: Anne Heche & James Tupper
Hermès: Actor Kelly Rutherford & Daniel Giersch
Gaia: Emma Thompson & Greg Wise
Homer: Anne Heche & James Tupper
Moses: Gwyneth Paltrow & Chris Martin
Ptolemy: Gretchen Mol & Tod Williams
Sophocles: Actor Jemaine Clement & Miranda Manasiadis

OTHER CELEBS

Dezi: Actor Jaime Pressly & Eric Calvo
Jagger: Soleil Moon Frye & Jason Goldberg
Kal-el: Nicolas Cage & Alice Kim
Tennyson: Russell Crowe & Danielle Spencer
Harlow: Nicole Richie & Joel Madden

ROYALTY

God’Iss Love: Singer Lil’ Mo & Al Stone
Jermajesty: Jermaine Jackson & Alejandra Oaziaza
Marquise: 50 Cent & Shaniqua Tompkins
Prince Michael II: Michael Jackson & surrogate mom

NATURE

Bluebell Madonna: Geri Halliwell
Daisy Boo: Jamie & Jools Oliver
Daisy True: Meg Ryan
Nakoa-Wolf: Lisa Bonet & Jason Momoa
Petal Blossom Rainbow: Jamie & Jools Oliver
Poppy Honey: Jamie & Jools Oliver
Puma: Erykah Badu & The D.O.C.
River: Actor Keri Russell & Shane Deary

GEOGRAPHY

Alabama: Drummer Travis Barker & Shanna Moakler
Bronx Mowgli: Ashlee Simpson & Pete Wentz
Heaven: Actor Brooke Burke & David Charvet
Java: Actor Josh & Yessica Holloway
Kingston: Gwen Stefani & Gavin Rossdale
Mars: Singer Erykah Badu & Jay Electronica
Shiloh: Angelina Jolie & Brad Pitt
Sierra Sky: Brooke Burke & Garth Fisher

ASSORTED OBJECTS

Banjo: Actor Rachel Griffiths & Andrew Taylor
Denim and Diesel: Singer Toni Braxton & Keri Lewis
Loden: Actor Peter & Kelly Reckell
Peanut: Actor Ingo Rademacher & Ehiku

JOBS

Deacon: Reese Witherspoon & Ryan Phillippe
Moxie CrimeFighter: Magician Penn Jillette & Emily Zolten
Poet: Actor Soleil Moon Frye & Jason Goldberg
Pilot Inspektor: Actor Jason Lee & Beth Riesgraf
Ryder: Kate Hudson & Chris Robinson

Kids to stay with grandmother

By macleans.ca - Tuesday, August 4, 2009 at 3:39 PM - 1 Comment

A Los Angeles judge ruled that the Michael Jackson’s 79-year-old mother, Katherine, will become the permanent guardian of her three grandchildren, Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and Prince Michael II. That ruling is in accordance with Jackson’s wishes—as outlined in a 2002 will. But it wouldn’t be a Jackson family court appearance if there weren’t a healthy dose of drama. The surprise of the day came when a lawyer for Jackson’s dermatologist, Arnold Klein, tried to enter objections to the parenting ruling. Lawyer Mark Vincent Kaplan explained that Klein wanted to “have a voice” in decisions pertaining to the children’s “education, healthcare and welfare.” Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff dismissed the claim, stating that Klein does not have any legal status in the case. The objection has fueled rumors that Dr. Klein is the biological father of Jackson’s two eldest children. The hearing also granted Mrs. Jackson and the three children monthly allowances from the Jackson estate, although the amounts were not disclosed. Debbie Rowe, the children’s biological mother, was also granted visitation rights.

BBC News

Uncle Walter: not so sadly missed

By Mark Steyn - Thursday, July 30, 2009 at 10:30 AM - 125 Comments

On the face of it—and on the face of them—Michael Jackson and Walter Cronkite would not appear to have much in common. Cronkite was (all together now) “the most trusted man in America”; Jackson was the least trusted child-man in America, at least to any parents whose ambitions for their kid extend beyond a $30-million out-of-court settlement. But, for those members of the Jackstream Media hoping to eke out one more week of prostrations and ululations for their Gloved One, Cronkite’s death served as a kind of intervention. For, if there’s one thing the press love more than a celebrity cut down in his prime(ish), it’s the opportunity for self-validation that the passing of one of its own affords. The media’s sense of proportion is never more out of whack than when bidding farewell to some iconic figure from its glory days, and one had high hopes that the eulogies for Cronkite might surpass the impressive new records in risibility set by the coverage of Washington Post doyenne Kay Graham in 2001: “The Most Powerful Woman In America,” “The Most Powerful Woman In The World,” “America’s Queen,” “Kay’s Amazing Grace,” “Oh, Kay,” “Special Kay”. . .

No “Kay. Why?” oddly enough. There was an element of triumphalism in all this: Mrs. Graham was a central figure in what the J-school bores regard as American journalism’s finest hour—Watergate. Bliss was it in that dawn to be alive! A mere eight years has passed since Kay Graham’s death, but the smug complacency that characterized her eulogies was noticeably absent from Cronkite’s, which mostly read like obituaries for an industry. It’s sunset, and it’s no longer bliss: the heir to Cronkite, Katie Couric, is the champion limbo dancer of evening-news ratings; the New York Times, the oracle from which all three network newscasts take their cue, is now junk stock. It turns out Walter Cronkite and Michael Jackson have quite a bit in common: both performers peaked circa 1980, and did very little these last two decades. In that sense, they belong culturally to the same generation. They represent the zenith of a shared, universal popular culture: Jacko’s Thriller was the biggest-selling album of all time ever; Cronko’s newscast was the most-watched in America. Barring dramatic and severe government control of technology, no CD and no news show will ever be that big again. And, when you think about it, millions of teenagers going out and buying the same slickly manipulative pop record is less weird than millions of grown-ups agreeing they’ll all get their world view from the same source. But (all together now, again) “that’s the way it was” back in the days when ABC, CBS, NBC, the New York Times and the Washington Post functioned as a co-operative monopoly. Continue…

Hunted to death

By Barbara Amiel - Thursday, July 23, 2009 at 8:20 AM - 29 Comments

You might think little of the adult Michael Jackson but I defy even the most cynical to remain unmoved by the Oct. 18, 1969, video of the Jackson 5 featuring Michael Jackson on the Diana Ross show belting out I’ll Be There. The pint-sized 11-year-old with the huge Afro and eyes to match, a big sweet voice and a determination to outflank Miss Ross in camera position, was already an experienced performer, though his grown-up moves were slightly off-kilter. He could simulate sexuality as he did a pretend ad lib of “look over your shoulder honey” but he was a kid all the same. “You and I must make a pact / We must bring salvation back / Where there is love / I’ll be there” he sung, but you sort of knew he’d “be there” buying an ice cream cone.

Though the song was subsequently recorded by just about every vocalist, it was always Michael’s. The words drifted in and out of his memorial service. Mariah Carey nearly fell out of her gown singing them. And still, in all the analysis following his death, no one actually mentioned the slightly inconvenient fact that no one was “there” for Michael when he really needed it, when it might have been more onerous than simply going to the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles. Continue…

Long live the king of pop

By Cathy Gulli - Thursday, July 16, 2009 at 12:00 PM - 1 Comment

Despite the shimmering gold coffin and the weepy eulogies at Michael Jackson’s memorial service, it marked the beginning of another chapter in the King of Pop’s reign. No matter what people say about Jackson’s life, there is only one way to characterize his death: right or wrong, it was among the biggest public funeral spectacles in history. More than 20,000 fans, relatives and friends assembled inside the Staples Center in downtown Los Angeles, and another 6,000 watched on a Jumbotron next door. Tens of millions of people held vigils in streets, malls, living rooms, movie theatres and office cubicles around the world, many crying or waving signs proclaiming, “Michael Jackson Lives.”

No one could have imagined this outpouring of wild emotion to Jackson’s sudden death on June 25 of cardiac arrest, possibly due to a prescription drug overdose. A dozen fans so overcome with grief they attempted or committed suicide. The ghost of Jackson apparently spotted in a posthumous video of the Neverland ranch. Rumours that Jackson’s comeback tour—50 concerts at the O2 Arena in London, which was supposed to start on July 13—will proceed with him appearing in hologram form. Even Jackson’s Facebook page reflects how death has boosted interest in him: it’s gone from 80,000 fans to more than 6.4 million. That’s 20 new fans a second, making him more popular online than anyone else, even Barack Obama. Continue…

Nanny has "nothing to hide"

By macleans.ca - Monday, July 13, 2009 at 12:08 PM - 1 Comment

Grace Rwaramba, former nanny for Michael Jackson’s children, has promised to “reveal all” she knows about the King of Pop’s drug habits to the police. For years, Rwaramba—first hired by Michael in 1991—was privy to the most intimate details of Jackson’s life. In particular, she was well-positioned to observe how Michael’s prescription pill addiction was being fueled by enabling doctors. But last year, Rwaramba was fired—allegedly for fighting with the star about his drug use. She has remained silent since then, but today, she will give a deposition to Los Angeles police who are investigating Jackson’s sudden death.

Rwaramba has not surprisingly been the subject of tabloid headlines, including that she used her position in the Jackson family to enrich herself. Many of those rumours have been fed to news outlets by the Nation of Islam workers who surrounded Jackson in his final years. It was Michael Amir, top aide to Jackson and Nation of Islam member, who fired Rwaramba back in 2008. But the Jackson family is standing by the former babysitter, encouraging her to spend time with the children she used to care for. Rwaramba has insisted that she has “absolutely nothing to hide.”

The Daily Beast

Michael Jackson: Wanna be endin' something

By Paul Wells - Friday, July 10, 2009 at 5:28 PM - 6 Comments

From the print edition, my piece on the Michael Jackson memorial, which is largely based on the piece I wrote several days earlier for our newsstand-only memorial edition. It’s my attempt to deal with the questions of race, gender and identity that were central to the Jackson riddle, and it closes with a brief attempt to imagine the singer’s last decade on this earth.

Michael Jackson’s Best Performance

By John Parisella - Friday, July 10, 2009 at 4:12 PM - 3 Comments

No one doubts that Michael Jackson is one of the greatest pop artists of all time. Civil rights leaders and numerous politicians have weighed into the historical significance of Jackson. Reverend Al Sharpton, for example, used the occasion to celebrate Jackson’s accomplishments and his contributions to pop culture. And in what was perhaps the most appropriate assessment, Barack Obama applauded the artistic heights Jackson reached while also acknowledging the contributions African-American entertainers and athletes made to the establishment of a comfort level between the races in America. It was as if he was saying that people like Jackie Robinson and Michael Jackson paved the way for himself, the first African-American president. Others, however, preferred to piggyback on the extensive media coverage to promote themselves in the process. Peter King, a Republican congressman from New York, opted to trash Jackson over his legal battles on child molestation accusations. But no matter the perspective, it is safe to predict that Michael Jackson will continue to solicit at least as many comments and interpretations in death than in life.

Continue…

Michael Jackson and Baseball Writing Analogies

By Jaime Weinman - Friday, July 10, 2009 at 2:49 PM - 0 Comments

I haven’t said much about Michael Jackson coverage (to which I, like all journalists, contributed in a small way), partly because there wasn’t much to say; this was a big story, a popular story, the inevitable number-one story for anyone. I will say that I’ve been reminded of something that Bill James wrote over 20 years ago in one of his Baseball Abstract books, responding to people who complain that baseball players (who, like Michael Jackson, are entertainers) make more money than cancer researchers or other “useful” people.

James wrote that the amount of attention paid to something, and the amount their services are worth, is a reflection of “what our values really are” — not what our values should be, not what we would like them to be, but what they are. He noted that he gave much more money every year to professional baseball and spent more time thinking about professional baseball than about cancer research, even though both his parents died of cancer “and I fully expect it’s going to get me too, in time.” And many people who say that cancer research is more important than baseball spend lots of money on tickets for baseball games — more money than they give to cancer research.

Replace baseball with some other form of entertainment and cancer research with virtually anything that has redeeming social value, and we have a fairly accurate description of how many if not most of us spend our money and time. Iran, Iraq, etc. are more important, in theory, than Michael Jackson, but in measurable terms (amount of money spent on his records, time spent thinking about his work), Jackson was more important to more people. So I wasn’t offended by the all-day coverage of the memorial. It mattered; one may wish it didn’t matter, but it really, really did.

That’s not to say that coverage should focus only on the things that are the most popular. But it’s an explanation not only of why Jackson was such a huge story, but why other kinds of stories become so big. There were many stories in the ’90s that had more important global ramifications than Bill Clinton’s affair. But what are we, in our daily lives, more interested in — geopolitics or sex?

For another view, see Howard Bernstein’s post “Making St. Michael,” where he has a lot to say about how celebrity coverage has changed and the development of the practice of instant canonization.

The farewell

By Paul Wells - Friday, July 10, 2009 at 2:02 PM - 6 Comments

If memorial services were really able to capture the best of the departed there would be no need for mourning. Michael Jackson’s celebrants at the Staples Center in Los Angeles on Tuesday paid their highest tribute through a kind of inadvertent omission: try as they might they couldn’t say or sing anything that was as gorgeous and exhilarating as Jackson was when he was at his best.

Singers from Mariah Carey to Usher showed how easy it is to make a pop song sound trite, but that only made the alchemy of Jackson’s own best performances all the more impressive. A succession of stars used hyperbole after hyperbole to describe the dead entertainer, making clear the difference between being big and talking big. “Michael was the biggest star on earth,” Queen Latifah said. Magic Johnson, the legendary Lakers star, said watching Jackson perform made him a better point guard. Nelson Mandela sent a message. Maya Angelou sent a dreadful new poem. Somehow most of it managed to be moving, because all the clumsiness and gaucherie were in the service of real love. When paying tribute to Michael Jackson, anything less than excess wouldn’t do. Continue…

"I Don't See Race. People Tell Me I'm White, And I Believe Them, Because I'm Bill O'Reilly"

By Jaime Weinman - Wednesday, July 8, 2009 at 11:50 AM - 3 Comments

The exceptional thing about Bill O’Reilly is that he’s the master of blurring the line between sincerity and self-parody. Glenn Beck has an element of conscious self-parody in his work; he’s sometimes trying to be funny. (His show makes a clear distinction between “comedy” moments and the “sincere” moments when the audience is supposed to take his apocalyptic warnings with absolute seriousness.) Sean Hannity comes off as totally sincere and totally dumb (his persona is that of the good-looking, straight-talking Real American who destroys effete elite liberals with their fancy book-learnin’). O’Reilly doesn’t cross the line into obvious silliness, yet he always leaves room for us to wonder whether he really means what he says.

And so it is with this segment, where he lectures an African-American “Fox News Contributor” (for God’s sake, man, I don’t care what they’re paying you, have some pride and stay off this network) on why Michael Jackson wasn’t really black and therefore the black community should not consider him an icon, and that “there’s no racial component here” even though he won’t stop talking about race. Is he serious? For that matter, is he serious when he uses the trademark strategy that he uses in every episode: saying one thing and then, when he is called on it, denying that he ever said anything of the kind. (You can pick any random episode and you’ll find O’Reilly claiming he “never said” a type of statement he was making a few minutes earlier, or possibly even a few seconds earlier.) We just don’t know. All the Fox News shoutfests are performance art, but O’Reilly’s is — I can’t believe I’m saying this — the subtlest, because you’re wondering from moment to moment whether this is real or a put-on. No wonder Colbert’s show has de-emphasized the direct parodies of O’Reilly; you can parody Beck or Hannity, but it’s difficult to parody a show that is so surreal.