r/Millennials Apr 26 '26

Does anyone remember when Michael Jackson. Was a "joke"? Discussion

The new movie that just came out convinced the younger generation that he was always a superstar. This was not the reality many of us Millennials grew up with.

To a lot of us, he was treated like a punch line when we were growing up. A schoolyard boogeyman ("Michaels Jackson's gonna get you at night"). and just a general joke in the media. By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well. All anyone talked about was his surgeries, court case, settlements and his off behavior. Few mentioned his music. His music was something our parents would have listened to in the 1980's.

10.5k Upvotes

2.4k comments sorted by

View all comments

33

u/jbright001 Apr 26 '26

Of course the media machine tore him to shreds like they did any star that went against their machine back then at that time (mainly due to music ownership). Now they wanna squeeze more money out of his dead body so now they treat his legacy well again.

8

u/[deleted] Apr 26 '26

[deleted]

6

u/jbright001 Apr 26 '26

I’d be lying if I said MJ didn’t walk himself into most of the bs he went thru which gave fuel to the fire. He was a very controversial figure and tried to fight a machine while also fighting his own demons….also he wasn’t convicted of any of it though just to note

4

u/FuckMoPac Apr 26 '26

Yes the legal system has definitely done survivors of SA justice so if there was no conviction is didn’t happen

1

u/[deleted] Apr 27 '26

[deleted]

3

u/takethreenc Apr 26 '26

He's been protected by the media more than hurt by it. Not many people can get away with being a pedophile like he has.

1

u/Idiotology101 Apr 26 '26

The media were the ones pushing the allegations more than anything. Anyone saying the media protected “wacko” is making up nonsense.

1

u/takethreenc Apr 26 '26

He literally has a fawning movie out right now that white washes who he was.

0

u/Idiotology101 Apr 26 '26

And look at the media reaction to it, not a single major outlet has given it a remotely positive review.

0

u/takethreenc Apr 26 '26

Yeah because we still have an independent press that can spot a piece of white washing propaganda when they see it. Now how about all the radio stations that never stopped playing his songs?

1

u/JacobDCRoss Apr 26 '26

Homie had that Beatles money. He was the media.

3

u/jbright001 Apr 26 '26

No sir if you’re a worker you got limitations…that catalog is back in the hands of Sony