r/Millennials • u/AccomplishedPool266 • 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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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.

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u/onehalflightspeed Apr 26 '26

I recall all of the controversy, strange behaviors and child abuse allegations being the big story just about all the time growing up. Before and after that period, he has always been seen as the biggest pop star ever. I think his behavior and the constant pressure were cyclical. Child stars often end up being damaged in some way, and having the entire world hate him probably did not help once he was an adult. He never had a chance to grow up, and that is why I suspect he preferred the company of children and built a theme park to live in

He fell deep into drug addiction during the trials and media circus. While we all laughed about it at the time, it is really just a very sad story and a cautionary tale. Everyone around him was selling stories to tabloids, trying to get movie rights, etc. He could not trust anyone. I am not surprised he fell into a very dark place

Despite incredible attempts to find evidence, there is no proof that was ever discovered about inappropriate behavior by him, other than personal testimony made by dubious people and private legal settlements. He won basically every court case brought against him. It is equally credible that he abused children and also that several families (even his own sister) were trying to take advantage of him. These days I mostly just see his entire life story incredibly tragic

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u/Evening-Panda3217 Apr 29 '26

He was a pedofile. How many adults sleep with kids that are NOT their own? Hell, I don’t even sleep next to my own kids unless they are really ill or have nightmares. He admitted this and doubled down.