Bettyboy72 said: "KevinKlawitter said: "
I was molested as a child, and yet I’m here to remind you: he was tried and found innocent. The allegations were not dismissed. They were investigated, and he stood trial."
Not to be pedantic, but being found "not guilty" is not the same thing as being found "innocent"."
And he paid a lot of money in settlements. Do innocent people do that? I think not.
After watching the much hyped Janet doc this week it is abundantly clear that the Jackson family is very married to sticking to a script and not deviating from it. Ever. Rose colored glasses and revising history. It makes sense since their livelihood hangs in the balance of preserving the legacy. The family is mired in trauma and deeply troubled. I feel for them.
A Vegas show that celebrates the music seems more palatable than a musical that celebrates the man."
100% this. If this were a jukebox musical alla Mamma Mia, Rock of Ages, or Thriller Live! that celebrated and monetized his catalogue by shoehorning songs into a fictional story, we wouldn't be having this conversation. The issue is this musical is a PR job trying to rehabilitate and change the narrative of an accused predator in order to profit off of his musical legacy. The fact its the estate who commissioned this bio-musical, means it critics role and even the audience's role to ask why did you not mention the fact that for the last third of his life he was an accused predator. If the estate were not involved alla Barnum, Bonnie & Clyde, Bloody Bloody Andrew Jackson, Chaplin, Evita, creators can get away with stating this aspect of the subjects life was too difficult to fit into the story or not the focus of the piece because that is a reasonable answer when you are trying to turn a persons entire life into a 2.5 hour musical. When the estate is involved the question then becomes, "Is it though or is this meant to be a piece of propaganda meant to preserve the legacy of the subject?"
In the case of MJ its clearly the latter because if anything I would be fine with a sympathetic look at MJ and seeing how the years of religious trauma, domestic abuse, and coming to fame at such a young age takes a tole on a person and lead them down a dark path. They are too focused on preserving their own image and bank accounts to allow for that. He is a flawed genius, but FLAWED. The musical not only sanitizes that but doesn't even acknowledge it, which it is rightfully being called out for. . If the musical wasn't going to address the final third of his life, at least address the one of the massive pieces of trauma from his childhood so better explain and lead up to why he is a flawed human being.
Its akin to how ironically Dreamgirls, despite being a piece of fiction is a more truthful and factual to the history of Motown records and Barry Gordy, than Motown: the musical, which was written by Gordy himself. We all know Gordy was a ruthless business genius, but we also know he screwed over numerous people in his rise to the top, but if you only watch Motown, you'll think it was actually everyone else who screwed Barry over and he's the victim.
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