Spike Lee: Their Behavior Toward Michael Jackson Was Shameful
Spike Lee, the producer of the new documentary Bad 25 and a director who has been nominated for the Oscar twice, believes that when Michael was stubbornly trying to outdo his own masterpiece, Thriller, in the mid-to-late eighties, the media went after him viciously and targeted his personal life. That’s when media attention shifted from his music and art to the private matters of his life—and Lee believes this truth is a disgrace for the media.
At the Toronto Film Festival, held last month, Spike Lee said: "People were filled with hatred; they were breathing hatred. Read the reviews that were published about the BAD album back then—they wrote that this album wasn’t worth a penny. They didn’t even call Michael by name and called him ‘Wacko Jacko’—it’s shameful. Those people should be ashamed of what they did to him."
"Michael wasn’t stupid. He had seen many Black artists at the height of their careers who ended up falling into bankruptcy. He had seen many Black artists who had only tried to remain artists—but Michael was a breakthrough. There’s nothing wrong with being a perfectionist."
"Take a look at the Billboard chart rankings from 25 years ago, when Bad was first released, and then listen to the songs from that era and see whether any of them still remain today or whether their shelf life has run out. BAD is still alive today. But what about those songs that were among the top ten back then? Where are their listeners now? Does anyone talk about them today? Greats endure and remain. That’s not even debatable."
Although Lee blames the media for destroying Michael Jackson, he also acknowledges the natural curiosity people have about another aspect of his life: the change in his skin color. Although later it became clear that this color change was the result of his skin conditions—vitiligo and lupus.
"For Black people, it was a question mark. I was one of them, and I don’t want to lie to you. The reason is that Michael never talked about his illness. We would say, ‘Wait, brother, what happened?’ I’m not the representative of 45 million Black people, but I have to say that there was a lot of gossip and talk about it."
Even though the documentary’s main focus is on Michael Jackson’s music, it reveals more about the very private man who, in reality, never experienced personal privacy—and it sheds a bit of light on the man who had to use makeup and facial-changing techniques just to have dinner with his brothers at a restaurant; a man whose smallest presence in public was enough to drive people into a frenzy; a man who in the entertainment industry couldn’t remember anything from his childhood.
Lee says: "From the age of six, he was forced to sing and dance to fill his stomach."
The Jacksons, with their nine children of varying heights, were a poor family.
In one part of the film, one of the Jacksons’ confidants, with tearful eyes, recounts a conversation he had with Michael long ago. Michael wished he could appear like a spirit at a party, just to see what ordinary people talked about with each other. One of the songs on the Bad 25 album, titled “Price of Fame,” refers to this.
But what was the price of fame for Michael Jackson?
"Michael isn’t here, he isn’t here, he doesn’t have a physical presence here anymore. He was the most well-known person on Earth—and that comes with a price. You could say he paid his price of fame with his life, and that’s the truth."
Source: eMJey.com / Brandon Sun
At the Toronto Film Festival, held last month, Spike Lee said: "People were filled with hatred; they were breathing hatred. Read the reviews that were published about the BAD album back then—they wrote that this album wasn’t worth a penny. They didn’t even call Michael by name and called him ‘Wacko Jacko’—it’s shameful. Those people should be ashamed of what they did to him."
"Michael wasn’t stupid. He had seen many Black artists at the height of their careers who ended up falling into bankruptcy. He had seen many Black artists who had only tried to remain artists—but Michael was a breakthrough. There’s nothing wrong with being a perfectionist."
"Take a look at the Billboard chart rankings from 25 years ago, when Bad was first released, and then listen to the songs from that era and see whether any of them still remain today or whether their shelf life has run out. BAD is still alive today. But what about those songs that were among the top ten back then? Where are their listeners now? Does anyone talk about them today? Greats endure and remain. That’s not even debatable."
Although Lee blames the media for destroying Michael Jackson, he also acknowledges the natural curiosity people have about another aspect of his life: the change in his skin color. Although later it became clear that this color change was the result of his skin conditions—vitiligo and lupus.
"For Black people, it was a question mark. I was one of them, and I don’t want to lie to you. The reason is that Michael never talked about his illness. We would say, ‘Wait, brother, what happened?’ I’m not the representative of 45 million Black people, but I have to say that there was a lot of gossip and talk about it."
Even though the documentary’s main focus is on Michael Jackson’s music, it reveals more about the very private man who, in reality, never experienced personal privacy—and it sheds a bit of light on the man who had to use makeup and facial-changing techniques just to have dinner with his brothers at a restaurant; a man whose smallest presence in public was enough to drive people into a frenzy; a man who in the entertainment industry couldn’t remember anything from his childhood.
Lee says: "From the age of six, he was forced to sing and dance to fill his stomach."
The Jacksons, with their nine children of varying heights, were a poor family.
In one part of the film, one of the Jacksons’ confidants, with tearful eyes, recounts a conversation he had with Michael long ago. Michael wished he could appear like a spirit at a party, just to see what ordinary people talked about with each other. One of the songs on the Bad 25 album, titled “Price of Fame,” refers to this.
But what was the price of fame for Michael Jackson?
"Michael isn’t here, he isn’t here, he doesn’t have a physical presence here anymore. He was the most well-known person on Earth—and that comes with a price. You could say he paid his price of fame with his life, and that’s the truth."
Source: eMJey.com / Brandon Sun