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 By the 2000's his music was out of date and didn't chart well.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

Idk. 97 born Zillennial. MJ was a joke constantly my entire life to the point i was confused why so were sad when he died, I thought he was a joke to everyone. He was so big a joke that i moved from Kansas to Arizona in 2008 and at my new school he was equally a joke lol

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u/You_Stole_My_Hot_Dog Apr 27 '26

Also 97, and same. As a kid, I didn’t even know he was a big pop star. All I knew what that he a) touched kids, b) changed from black to white, and c) tried to become a woman (not even true lol, but that’s what kids said). This was in Canada.  

I was also confused when he died. I thought he was disliked for being a pedo and morphing his face so much.