Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (101 page)

In June of 2002, Kelly was arrested in
Winter Haven, Florida, after prosecutors in
Chicago indicted him on 21 felony counts of
child pornography. The soul star was led away
in handcuffs as fans gathered to shout "We love you," in much the same way they'd reacted to Michael. Kelly was eventually acquitted of the charges. Had he not been, he might have faced up to 15
years in prison.

Of course, Kelly's arrest had nothing to do with the sales of Michael's
Number Ones album. It was Michael's own arrest that may have hurt sales.
From reports, it appeared that Michael was too weak to produce an entire new
album and was forced to cancel the announced Resurrection, which was to be
the follow-up album to Invincible. Wanting to get something on the market, he
released Number Ones instead, filled with recycled songs from his previous
all-too-familiar repertoire.

Even though the songs it contained were recycled from earlier albums, the
Number Ones album sold six million copies worldwide. Michael, who had
predicted that at least forty million copies would be sold, defined this figure a
great disappointment.

On November 16, 2003, Joe Jackson gave a now-infamous TV interview
with Louis Theroux in which the father-often called a "ruthless Svengali"became furious at the suggestion that his famous son might be homosexual. "I
can't stand gays!" Joe shouted. He was also asked if he'd like to see Michael
settle down with a partner. Joe shot back, "What do you mean by `partner?"'

"A boyfriend or a girlfriend," Theroux replied.

The question seemed to infuriate Majestik Magnificent, Michael's former
personal magician, who'd accompanied Joe to the interview. "He is Michael's
father and you're going to sit there and say he has got a boyfriend. How much
more disrespectful can you be? You should just say a girlfriend or wife, not
insult Mr. Jackson."

When Theroux, on camera, asked why the question was disrespectful, Joe
interrupted him. "Because we don't believe in gays. I'm sitting here saying
right now, he's not with no boys. OK?"

Majestik then continued to object, on camera, protesting loudly,
"Michael's not gay...You have to be gay to have a boyfriend and I'm telling
you, Michael is not gay!"

Before walking angrily off the set, prior to the scheduled end of the interview, Joe claimed that he had never beaten his son. "You beat someone with
a stick. I whipped him with a switch and a belt."

Two days after his father's interview, Michael was at the Mirage Hotel
and Casino in Las Vegas, where he'd gone to shoot the video for R. Kelly's
"One More Chance."

For nearly a month, Michael had been holed up at the hotel where a waiter reported that nearly three dozen boys, some of them "German or Austrian"
were seen coming and going at all hours of the day and night. Inside his lavish suite, Michael was said to be drunk or drugged and hadn't dressed for three weeks, appearing in a long dashiki robe dyed a
deep, almost purplish scarlet.

On the morning of November 18, 2003, an
assistant manager of the hotel sent Michael an
urgent message, asking him to evacuate the
hotel that night. The other, usually affluent,
residents of the hotel had lodged several complaints about the noise level, especially the
blasting rap music heard day and night.

R. Kelly

"Somebody on Michael's staff seemed to
be recruiting good-looking boys from the
Strip," claimed a waiter. "All of them looked to
be around sixteen, maybe older-none really very, very young."

Michael had demanded that food from room service be left at the door.
But the assistant manager wanted to see firsthand the condition of Michael's
suite to assess damages before evicting him from the hotel. Using a pass key
he entered the suite to witness a scene of devastation. "It looked like a hurricane had blown through," he later said.

Elegant sofas and armchairs had been burned by cigarette butts. Liquor
bottles were scattered everywhere. And since room service waiters weren't
allowed in, rotting food had never been removed. Broken glasses with stale
booze were seen everywhere. At first glance, it appeared that Michael would
have to pay at least $50,000 in damages, maybe more. About seven young
boys, some in jockey shorts, were sprawled about the suite.

From the bedroom, the assistant manager heard Michael's whispery voice.
He appeared to be sobbing. "Oh, God, no!" Finally, he raised his voice in a
bellowing rage. "Not again!"

It was only later that the assistant manager learned the news that Michael
was hearing on the phone. Once again, Federal authorities had raided
Neverland, based on allegations made by the 12-year-old boy, Gavin Arvizo,
who had appeared all cuddly with Michael on the Martin Bashir TV documentary. Soon radio and television stations were carrying the news that an arrest
warrant for Michael had been issued based on multiple charges of child
molestation.

"Here we go again," Bob Jones said. "Only this time Michael may not
escape the noose tightening around his neck."

"He loves genres that emphasize mutable identities, carefree
cartoons and horror tales. And it's mutability that makes his
dancing so special. That ability to turn a lames Brown funky
chicken smoothly into Josephine Baker's knock-kneed
Charleston. He has the ability to be liquid and percussive all
at once, to create an aura of suspense and improvisation. "

--Margo Jefferson

"He understands the value of copyrights and that his public
eccentricities-pajamas, umbrellas, sunglasses, top hats, children in masks, etc., going right back to hyperbaric chambers
and the Elephant Man bones-are all part of a well-choreographed game to keep the public interested in his fading
celebrity. "

--Roger Friedman

"We have watched as we have been vilified and humiliated. I
personally have suffered through many hurtful lies and references to me as Wacko Jacko.' This is intolerable and must
stop. The public depiction of us is not who we are or what we
are."

--Michael Jackson
Responding to a TV movie about his family's troubles

"Given Mr. Jackson's having shared his bedroom with boys,
while not illegal in itself, was deeply troubling. Given the fact
he was acquitted, but still highly suspected by many adversaries, he must never again submit himself to the appearance
of wrongdoing. He really has to make that modification-and
substantially so-and I think he will. I don't know any of his
fans who would not advise him now to please avoid the
appearance of impropriety. "

--The Rev. Jesse Jackson, June 2005

On November 18, 2003, some 70 investigators from the Santa Barbara
County sheriff's and district attorney's offices stormed Neverland. A cabal of
20 officers were assigned to search the 2,700-acre ranch as part of an ongoing
criminal investigation. No immediate arrests were made, and Michael
remained in seclusion in Las Vegas. In case Michael had actually been in residence at Neverland, police also had an arrest warrant in addition to a search
warrant.

Police officers spent two full days crawling over the ranch, looking for
videos and photographic evidence. In Santa Barbara, Tom Sneddon, the district attorney, urged Michael to "get over here and get checked in." At the
time, Michael was still in Las Vegas.

Michael charged that the raid on Neverland was deliberately timed to sabotage the release of his new album, Number Ones. Sneddon claimed he knew
nothing about the release of any album. "Like the sheriff and I are into that
kind of music," he said sarcastically.

Sneddon, who had failed to build a case against Michael in the Jordie
Chandler scandal, seemed determined not to let that happen again. He told
associates that "Jackson won't be able to moonwalk his way clear of the long
arm of the law this time." Since 1993, California law had changed, and it was
now permissible for prosecutors to force alleged child abuse victims to testify against their accused molesters. "The Jordies of the future can't be silenced
with millions," Sneddon said.

Michael faced a formidable foe in Sneddon, who was serving his sixth
term as the county district attorney. Sneddon had such a reputation for tenacity that he was called "Mad Dog" by his associates.

Michael had even written a song about the prosecutor calling it "D.S.,"
changing Sneddon's name to Dom Sheldon. The lyrics of Michael's song said
he was being sought "dead or alive."

As news of the latest allegations of child molestation were leaked to the
press, Stuart Backerman, spokesman for Michael, blasted them as "outrageous, false, and scurrilous. When the evidence is presented and the allegations proven to be malicious and wholly unfounded, Michael will be able to
put this nightmare behind him."

Most of Michael's celebrity friends ran for cover when charges of child
molestation were once again leveled against him. Not so 71-year-old
Elizabeth Taylor, who slammed the media for acting "abominably" toward the
entertainer. "I thought the law was `innocent until proven guilty.' I know he is
innocent, and I hope the media all eat crow. I believe Michael will be vindicated."

Earlier in 2003, Elizabeth's friendship with Michael had been shaken
when he didn't turn up for a date with her at Neverland. In anger, she refused
to invite him to her star-studded birthday bash. But he repaired the fractured
relationship when he sent her 1,000 sterling
silver roses.

MJ's mugshot from the
Santa Barbara County jail

The question on everybody's lips was,
"Is it possible for a grown man to share his
bed with pre-pubescent boys and not be
guilty of something?" Oliver James, a psychologist, weighed in with his opinion: "It's
quite clear that he has a kind of pedophile
personality. The idea that he is regressed and
is arrested in his development is one way of
thinking about it, but if you want to know
why he repeatedly has young boys in his
home, that doesn't explain it. You have to
look at the trauma that he suffered-physical abuse, being beaten up in a really vicious
way, combined with some kind of sexual
abuse."

Although some press reports main tamed that Michael's cohorts had placed him on "a suicide watch," he managed to pull himself together and fly on a leased Gulfstream IV plane from Las
Vegas to Santa Barbara, where he was driven to the county jail.

On November 20, Michael, his hands cuffed behind his back, was led into
the county jail and booked on charges of child molestation. Inside the Inmate
Reception Center, he was fingerprinted and photographed. Later, before a
field of microphones, he referred to the allegations against him as "a big lie."

Before his release, Michael posted $3 million bail and surrendered his
passport. An arraignment was set for January 9, 2004, before a judge in the
Santa Barbara Superior Court.

After the sheriff's department posted Michael's booking photograph on its
website, Michael's dilemma became the most famous celebrity arrest in the
history of entertainment, even more so than the time police arrested Frank
Sinatra.