In what has to go down as the Least Surprising ConclusionTo An Entertainer’s Biographytm of all time, TMZ is reporting that Michael Jackson has taken the Big Moon Walk at the tender age of 50.
(LA Times confirms)
* And don’t waste your time or mine piling on. You know what I’m talking about.
Update: Prize for the best backhanded obituary of the day goes to Associated Press…
He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for his backward-gliding moonwalk, his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and his high-pitched singing, punctuated with squeals and titters.
h/t Ed S.
Update 2: – Racist!
One last comment:
A “tragic childhood” is a 4 year old in Bangladesh with retinoblastoma. A “tragic life” is a Russian teenager sold into the sex trade.
Michael Jackson did not have a tragic childhood, nor did he have a tragic life.
He had the life he chose.
To excuse his behavior as though it was simply a pre-programmed result of his years as a child performer is not just intellectually lazy, it’s an insult to every individual who has overcome true childhood hardship, deprivation and/or abuse to emerge as a functioning member of society.
Michael Jackson was no bobbing cork on the sea of circumstance – he was a multi-millionaire with the means to choose any lifestyle he wanted. “Functional adult” was one of the options. He chose otherwise.
Celebrate the music if you like, but for decency’s sake, don’t celebrate the man.
All in all a relatively satisfying end to the life of a child molester. May they all end up like this. Sooner would be nice though.
Sad, I hope he finally has found peace. I don’t agree with the things he did but I wouldn’t wish the life of a child star on anyone. Maybe his children will have a chance at a normal life.
He sure did have talent.
The lesson here is Mamas don’t let your babies grow up to be celebrities. Another sad example of a person whose childhood was stolen by parents and promoters with dollar signs in their eyes. How many child stars grow up to normal functioning adults?
A sad event for his family and friends, a ratings bonanza for the media.
As bizarre as he was. God rest his soul.
I got dibs on that nose that kept falling off.
We’ll talk about this endlessly tomorrow while the US house votes on cap & trade and not a peep about that.
So sad.
Widely considered the greatest vocalist of all time, MJ will be missed, but never forgotten.
MJ is one of my all time favorite artists, and my daughters favorite. She went on an “all MJ” stint in 2007 driving my wife crazy. She performed “Beat It” at the school talent concert and now is called “mini MJ” by her peers, much to her chagrin.
I echo MaryM’s comments.
Looks like I’ll be digging out my copy of Off the Wall tonight.
Is he going to be buried, cremated or just melted down?
lol shawn
Poor Farrah, from top story to the back page in a few hours.
Anyone find out how to get $11,668 from the Canadian Government? Advertisement on LA Times link. What????
Well, at least we still have Latoya.
My God! Always something hateful, right, Kate?
Get help.
Such a talented little boy, it was almost surreal.
What a messed up life.
Too bad, too soon for anyone, but I won’t miss him, he just didn’t do anything for me. It was tragic for others, say Sarah Vaughan, who had real talent, but many, many problems, some of them no doubt, beyond her control. R.I.P.
Ms. Sunshine,
Maybe hateful (though not really), what keeps you coming around? And why is “I’m offended” the only thing you can write here?
Mary’s just upset that she won’t get a chance to let her kid “play” with Mike so she can claim millions in payoffs for molestation accusations.
Even in death MJ manages to make a scene and take attention away from a real celebrity of my generation: Farrah Fawcett. and yes, I did have one of those posters in my room as a teen.
The fact that Michael Jackson had talent was never in dispute. It was, as Kate said, the obsession to be a freak show that turned many people away. I kind of figured something was loose when he wanted to turn into Liz Taylor or Lisa Minnelli.
The more those names I grew up with keep showing up in the obits, the more I start to worry about my own mortality.
Young boys in Los Angeles are safer now than they were 24 hours ago.
G*d have mercy on his soul.
He was an amazingly talented man but totally screwed up; was he trying to channel Liz Taylor, who’s not dead yet?
I wasn’t a Michael Jackson fan, but I loved him singing ABC-123. He was cute, fresh-faced, enthusiastic, and a great dancer.
What a sad life.
One weird, weird dude.
ABC-123:
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=MYx3BR2aJA4&feature=related
Who will inherit his Orange County chopper with a side car?
Jackson was an idiot. Kinda like an Idiot Savant.
The Idiot part of him prevailed and he basically committed suicide through his lifestyle. He could have been a contender in his metier but chose to follow a perverted lifestyle and pandered to his
base instincts.
Personally, for a Black singer, I much prefer Nat King Cole to this asshole. Nat was indeed a performer that didn’t need bullshit to be a star.
Okay, I was the generation that was supposed to love Thriller.
And I get that everybody says he had talent.
But can I just ask a question? What talent? Didn’t anybody else find his voice just a little bit too high? Did he really sing that well?
I guess he did concerts well and danced well, so maybe that’s the talent. But I truly don’t get it. I just don’t like high voices in men, and I have “Thriller” going through my head and it’s awfully annoying.
I do admit he was cute as a child, and did have a great child’s voice. I just don’t think he ever had a great man’s voice.
That doesn’t make his death or his life any less tragic. I guess I’m just wondering what everybody else saw that I just didn’t.
Will the free concerts he was to give in London this summer be cancelled? Or will there be a public gathering, holding of hands, and a sing-a-long to his videos?
OK, I wasn’t much of a fan of his music or his character, but I do wish his family and friends condolences.
Weirdo musician dies. RIP.
I read a report somewhere that he may have been autistic. Aspbergers Syndrome? It would certainly explain his bizarre behaviour.
No, Harry, he was not autistic in any way. Mr. Jackson didn’t get a chance to play, in the way that a normal child plays, when he was very young. As a result, he did not mature normally. This is a well-known phenomenon, and I find it hard not to appreciate a certain sadness there. He also did some interesting things in the fields of professional entertainment and music, which is what it is. I will say this, though: if you aren’t listening to the following at about 110 dB while roller-skating on a Saturday night in 1979, then you probably don’t understand what Mr. Jackson did so very, very well 😉
Don’t Stop ‘Til You Get Enough
Orange County chopper?
More like a ‘Big Wheel’.
SheilaG, me too, never saw what all the fuss was about. One hit album? Lots of folks can make that claim.
Al Sharpton has just told the world that he made sure that Michael Jackson was at James Brown’s last funeral, because he was one of his heroes. I don’t know how many other funerals he had, but he must have been as hard as King Kong to kill; or else Rasputin!
Three stars gone within a few weeks.
He might have been a freakshow but he had talent back in the day.
Sorry, it’s spelled Aspergers Syndrome. Wearing a mask for fear of germs, and sleeping in a oxygen chamber may may be explained by OCD. Aspergers and OCD are often linked together.
here we are, screwed priorities all;
Some nutbar 1/2 way around the world wants wipe the US off the map (and by proxy that includes us) and all we can find is a bunch of BS about some other over paid over rated nut bar that has exited this earth.
BTW, Farrah Fawcett died today too 🙁
Vitruvius, sorry, I didn’t see your comment when I posted mine – you make a good point.
I never cared for him much. One day I had the car stereo up and they played Black or White. Whether I liked him or not he worked hard for the money and the music wasn’t that bad. The dancing was good and he!! look at the family he had. He carried the clan a long way. Sad to see people die young. Same for Farrah, a truly brave woman.
Michael Jackson died a long time ago.
He was born the same year I was, but he was always so much younger than me.
I respect his talent, but am mystified about the self mutilation.
Micheal Jackson….
“A Legend In His Own Slime”
If only we had universal health care…
I’ll never forget this day.
I can finally take my Farah Fawcett poster down.
Michael who ?
Loved MJ’s early stuff – not so much the thriller era and after. Sorry he didn’t get a real childhood and the resulting drift into notoriety.
And Farrah – a real icon for me. So sad. Both were part of landscape for me growing up
In God’s hands. RIP.
when ALL the Owebama supporters in hollyweird are dead and gone I’ll be happy!!!
MJ gets to be the Anna Nicole of 2009! Whatta role to star in. Greta/Nancy/Larry et al will have their work cut out as we get to re-live in every prime time moment this summer of Michael’s harrowing last 10 years and experience in stunning 3-D the battles for custody of the 3 kids and the remains of his squandered fortune! Reality TV just got a leetle crazier.
Meanwhile…MJ gets to learn a new dance: the Saturn Walk.
Michael Jackson died? Dang.
Farrah Fawcett must be p1ssed!
I thought he did a great job on “Human Nature”, but then I heard the Miles Davis version and forgot about it.
Some nice tunes but now some kids will be safer and those molested can be assured he won’t be back. All in all a fitting end.