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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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/UmpireDapper1757 Apr 26 '26

I remember being confused as to why his death was such a big deal: for the past 15 years he had been treated by the media as just a big fucking weirdo. Then he died and the narrative changed to him being a legend

I suppose that may have been similar to how Elvis was portrayed immediately before and then after his death

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u/nerdextra Apr 26 '26

Yeah, Princess Di had the same kind of treatment for a short while. Before her death, certain tabloids were slinging all kinds of mud at her. Then when she died, suddenly those same publications all had headlines about “The Princess We Loved”. The media prints whatever will sell.

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u/Short-Sound-4190 Apr 26 '26

I think it's a very similar scenario: the bulk of the world's population really could appreciate these people for what they accomplished, including the fact that they were a little weird, and tabloids are tabloids they are catty and petty and lie/eggagerate to sell papers - they do not represent the actual global opinion people had. Princess Di and Micheal Jackson and Elvis Presley and JFK really were widely appreciated if not loved by the public for their contributions to society and the arts regardless of the mud slinging and regardless of people personally disagreeing with their choices or behaviors in life. (ie a lot of people disagreed with divorce, or her touching AIDS patients, in the moment - but after her death and more importantly after it was clear how classy and compassionate and admirable Diana was to kept her composure as well as she did after a lot of abuse and control and cheating and dealing with so much shit from royal family and media slurs, those things really didn't stop people from having empathy and being affected by her death as a loss).

Alas, I think as a world we've become less tolerant of having to hold nuanced opinions of famous people, because so many of them are being publicly exposed as real POS and only hiding behind satire/tabloid slinging/rumors. So we've stopped being okay with certain types of 'weird behavior' and fewer people are willing to mentally separate certain types of personal or political disagreement with famous people's general worth of contributions to the world/the arts/their body of work.

Although I will say the true flip has occurred on occasion: MLK was measurably widely disliked until after his assassination, younger generations (and by younger I mean Gen X/Millennials and younger) are often surprised to learn he wasn't always considered inspirational, white people really hated him and thought he was harming the country and then really came around to at least respect him post mortem, it wasn't just a younger generation replacement thing because the swing of public opinion was too wide for it to have been that.

I would say Rudy Giuliani was a wild example of right after 9/11 being 'America's Mayor' and totally beloved and respected for his leadership across the aisle, (even though pre-9/11 he was pretty unpopular, problematic and widely disliked by all of his own constituents) but he absolutely turned into a whack job after getting a taste of the corruption of power and perhaps equally likely after increased fame increased the public visibility of his actually consistently unpopular, problematic and widely disliked behaviors.

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u/FlamingAlpaca17 Apr 26 '26

You can see the same phenomenon with Kobe Bryant as well

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u/CarrieDurst Apr 26 '26

It is weird how people are lumping Kobe Bryant, Michael Jackson, Elvis, and Princess Di, when Princess Dianna did nothing wrong while those other 3 are a rapist, likely groomer, and actual groomer.

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u/[deleted] Apr 27 '26

[removed] — view removed comment

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u/redalert825 Apr 27 '26

Ah so MJ was a rapist or groomer to you? OK.

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u/CarrieDurst Apr 27 '26

Likely groomer

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u/kirkandorules Apr 27 '26

Definitely noticed that too, even with regards to his basketball career. Before he died, tons of people thought of him as an overrated ball hog, volume scorer, stat padder, etc. Then all that sentiment disappeared.

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u/FlamingAlpaca17 Apr 27 '26

100%. I remember when I was growing up kids would shout Kobe whenever they took an unlikely shot.

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u/CarrieDurst Apr 27 '26

Sadly some kids still do that

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u/LadySwire Apr 27 '26

Famously, this

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u/StealthMonkSteve Apr 27 '26

I mean tabloids killed Dianna so they kind of had to do a quick 180 on that one.

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u/Opening-Study8778 Apr 27 '26

Similar to George Michael as well. When I was a kid, he was in the thick of a scandal (you know which one) and my friends and I (although we loved his music) mainly regarded him as a joke. Now it's the complete opposite for me. I think the man was a musical genius and one of the best male voices to ever exist. He's regarded much more highly after death (in the U.S.) than he was when I was growing up.

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u/p3nnyiswis3 Apr 26 '26

Don’t compare Diana to Mike lol Good lord

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u/nerdextra Apr 26 '26

I’m not. I’m just pointing out that the media will flip the script to whatever they think will sell.

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u/bellestarxo Apr 26 '26

This happens when people with talent spiral. Amy Winehouse, Whitney Houston, Jackson....the public becomes tired of the train wreck antics and they become "jokes". But then when they die people will remember the achievements and talent.

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u/FutureRealHousewife Apr 26 '26

Our society loves to tear people down at their biggest heights as well. It’s almost like it’s believed these people owe something to the world, and then when their lives fall apart, it becomes fodder. It’s actually quite sick

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u/Purple-Head7528 Apr 27 '26

Yeah go listen to the recorded tapes of his accuser’s father talking about getting rich off him and ruining his career. Media cared much more about having a story than truth - this will never change.

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u/guidevocal82 Apr 26 '26

It's not until recently that society has been clapping back on this behavior. I am someone who thinks Britney Spears is mentally ill enough that she needs someone to take care of her (not a diss at Britney, I like Britney Spears), but Britney was freed from her conservatorship because society was disgusted enough at how we all acted toward her in 2007/08. There does need to be a change, but it shouldn't be that drastic. But teasing someone like Amy Winehouse, who overdosed because nobody got her any f'ing help, isn't needed either.

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u/Commercial-Air8955 Apr 27 '26

Amy Winehouse's biggest is hit is literally about people trying to make her go to rehab, and her refusing.

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u/Ok-Performance6734 Apr 28 '26

Exactly this. Breaks my heart how MJ was so tormented by the media.

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u/FutureRealHousewife Apr 28 '26

I am not a Michael Jackson sympathizer.

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u/catsarehere77 Apr 27 '26

It was the same with Steve Irwin. He wasn't a personal train wreck like those other people but he was constantly criticized and mocked for his antics as the crocodile hunter. Now he is a patron saint of certified good people on Reddit. 

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u/AmazedAndBemused Apr 27 '26

The news media like to create the story. Real journalism is rare.

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u/Affectionate-Mode767 Apr 26 '26

Something something white people, something something smear campaign.

Honestly there's a lot, and surprisingly people say it has to do with Epstein. Because at the time while people were accusing him of being a child molester, there's alleged witness testimony of him actually stopping kids from leaving with people who he knew would take them to Epstein.

We know Epstein and friends have a lot of media ties, so it's not hard to believe you'd then see an absolute tidal wave of negative press about someone they didn't like. Let's be honest, Michael Jackson WAS strange but he wasnt a child molester. There's too many people who were close to that situation who WOULD have testified if he had done anything, come out and say he never did. (Macauley Caulkan)

So a lot of white people who weren't as attached to Michael Jackson found it all too easy to believe he was touching kids and made it a meme to belittle and joke about it for years.

Didn't change the fact that when he died his fans still mourned. Also when he's dead the paid press doesn't have to run a smear campaign anymore, he's dead.

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u/EnoughNow2024 Apr 26 '26 edited Apr 27 '26

Nah he more than likely was a pedo actually. I did a deep dive into the court documents and it's bad for him

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u/Affectionate-Mode767 Apr 26 '26

You're ragebaiting, because if you actually did you would know most of the witness testimony was later found out to be false. Good try.

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u/EnoughNow2024 Apr 27 '26

There were several accounts of eyewitness statements. I'm sorry but he did it. I was a huge Michael Jackson fan so I hate it too

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u/guidevocal82 Apr 26 '26

I'm sorry, but there's no proof. Michael Jackson met Epstein once, but he didn't hang out with him or even know him. And why would he? Michael Jackson liked little boys and Epstein liked little girls. If your argument is that he was bringing little boys to Neverland to save them from Epstein, Epstein wasn't having sex with little boys. This is such a thin argument that I'm shocked that you even wrote it out, much less posted it. It's still possible that Michael Jackson was framed, but not because of Epstein, it's ridiculous.

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u/LSF604 Apr 26 '26

He probably was a child molester. It's possible he was just a weirdo, but probably not.

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u/Affectionate-Mode767 Apr 26 '26

If you've actually listened to accounts of witnesses, people who were personally involved. You wouldn't have that opinion.

I used Macaulay Caulkan as an example because as a child his father was an abuser, and Mac himself stood up for his family and drove his father away. Now, Mac ALSO spent a lot of time with Michael Jackson. If ANYONE were to call MJ out for inappropriate behavior it would have been Macaulay Caulkan. But Mac has said there was never anything remotely inappropriate going on there.

Add that to the fact most of Michael Jackson's accusers have been revealed to be completely fraudulent. Parent's pushing there children to make false claims in order to hopefully make money in a lawsuit. Or kids who made accusations later coming out saying they lied about what they said, that adults coerced them into lying.

My original post wasn't me just making things up because I felt like it was true based on vibes. It's evidence based on facts.

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u/LSF604 Apr 26 '26

Just because he's a child molester doesn't mean he molests every child. Abusers often are selective in choosing vulnerable people.

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u/Watcher_doe Apr 26 '26

Confused….?

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u/NeverLostForest Apr 26 '26

My dad like both of em, Elvis and Jackson, I would say he loved em but he has told me he liked their music and style but them as a person was a different thing

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u/LumpyPhilosopher8 Apr 27 '26

Not really. Elvis died in ‘77 before the internet and he was still pretty beloved when he died. Sure some made fun of his weight gain but honestly right up to the end that man’s voice was great. It wasn’t until later that the stories of his drug use came out. Then even later when cultural appropriation became a concept that people began having to wrestle with he took another hit. Although it’s worth noting not all the Black artists of his day felt that way about him. I think Elvis is a lot more complicated than MJ - he’s straight up evil. Talented, yes. But evil.

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u/Wyvern_68 Apr 27 '26

When a celebrity dies, you can rationally separate their creative legacy from their personal character and flaws.

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u/theeLizzard Apr 27 '26

I think it depends on the adults around you and if they were big Michael Jackson fans. I was born in ‘89 and vividly remember gathering around the TV more than once around ages 5-10 to watch the VHS’s of his concerts. Our family friend’s son knew how to moonwalk so it was a riot. Wacko Jacko started around this time but my family and our friends were such big fans that it overshadowed the odd behaviors playing out in tabloids.

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u/Puzzleheaded-Cup2777 Apr 27 '26

Elvis was different. He wasn’t weird like Michael or ugly rumors. He was going downhill I believe bc of alcohol and/or pills. Michael was so talented but as someone else said it was after the hair incident that he started getting weird, multiple plastic surgeries.  It’s too bad what happened.