E' tempo di conoscere il vero Michael: L'UOMO DIETRO AL MITO

MAN BEHIND THE MYTH [Walking Moon Studios]

0: 07 Man’s voice:

“Michael Jackson, 50 years old, the King of Pop has died.”
Woman’s voice:

“Michael Jackson has died…”
0:14 Jermaine Jackson:

“My brother Michael Jackson, the legendary King of Pop Michael Jackson passed away on Thursday June 25th 2009, at 2:26 pm”
0:26 Author: How did it come to this?

Michael Jackson life is a remarkable journey filled with the brightest of moments and the darkest of hours.

Who is Michael Jackson, really?

Michael was the most recognized man in the world. Friends treasured him, world leaders invited him, colleagues admired him, children naturally gravitated to him, and the public was fascinated with him.

0:58 Some cashed in on that fascination when they discovered that a story with his name got attention. It got readers and ratings. And if there was no story unethical reporters made them up because using the name “Michael Jackson” got attention. Some even launched careers writing his coat tails.

1:18 There are two Michael Jacksons – the caricature brought to you by the tabloids cashing in and the Michael described by those who actually knew him. What is the truth and who is telling it? You decide.

1:34 Michael Jackson at Carnegie Hall, New York, February 14th, 2001:

‘Heal The Kids’ is about doing something, about making a difference and trying to help adults and parents realize that it’s in our power to change the world that our children live in.
Who among us would have believed that the sound of children at their playgrounds would be replaced by the sound of automatic machine-gun fire at our schools? That the sound of little girls skipping rope would be overshadowed by the frantic squeals of children dodging bullets? Yet (beginning to cry) instead of loving our children more, we install metal detectors in our schools.

2: 28 Michael Jackson at Oxford University, UK, March 21st, 2001:

“Friends, the foundation of all human knowledge, the beginning of human consciousness, must be that each and every one of us is an object of love. Before you know if you have red hair or brown, before you know if you are black or white, before you know of what religion you are a part, you have to know that you are loved.”
2:51 Sensation gets attention. Words like “bizarre” and “freak” come right out of circus side-shows where they made fun of misfortune. Repeat something enough times and people begin to believe it. Using those tricks and others allowed the media to use Jackson for profit. And while they were focused on the color of his skin, his face and obsessing about the paternity of his children the real story – Michael Jackson, the humanitarian – went untold.

3: 25 [Picture of the News of the world - Evil Empire]. A TV correspondent says:

“The paper is accused of paying off police or hacking into the phones of celebrities, members of the royal family and murdered teenager, victims of terrorism and war widows for years. British police say they’ve uncovered nearly four thousand hacking victims – four thousand!
3: 44 Family member of 07-07 bombing victim:

“It is hard to imagine that at the lowest point of your life you couldn’t get any lower and then hearing that someone may have well been listening to the very intimate conversations and you realize that things can get lower”…
3:59 David Cameron, UK Prime Minister:

“How do we improve the ethics and morals of the press in this country and make sure they will improve in the future?”
4:04 Family member of 07-07 bombing victim:

“How can people get up in the morning and think, “That’s a good idea for the sake of the story is beyond me”. [picture of Piers Morgan with News of the World in the background]
4:10 Ambush journalists take advantage too. The game is to gain someone’s confidence with promises to expose the truth, but instead ambush with surprise questioning and clever editing. Martin Bashir filmed Jackson, then released a cut-and-paste hit piece only to make a name for himself. He inserted innuendoes about children in voiceover that led another family using the same attorney to repeat an old idea – accuse Michael and extort money a second time. Instead Michael went to trial and proved his innocence. NOT GUILTY on fourteen counts. But the damage was already done.

4:56 Unethical journalism is not above using subliminal messages to direct you in thinking. Notice in this promo where they placed a king’s crown. That’s not an accident – that’s planting a suggestion.

5:07 Correspondent:

“Martin Bashir and his crew were here at Neverland. They got to witness what was to become an almost weekly experience – busloads of children, some from the inner city, some orphans, some terminally ill, but all of them escaping the reality to spend the day at Michael Jackson’s creation.”
5:27 “About Michael’s ranch Martin Bashir’s on-air comment was:

“One of the most disturbing things is the fact that a lot of disadvantaged children go to Neverland. It’s a dangerous place for a vulnerable child to be.”
But what he said behind the scenes was this:

“I was here yesterday and I saw it, and it’s nothing short of a spiritually kind thing”.
5:52 Thomas Mesereau:

“He made Michael Jackson think this is going to be a positive documentary and Michael trusted him partly because he had worked with Princess Diana”.

6:01 Correspondent: “This comment about Michael’s method of raising children was included on Bashir’s special:

“They’re restricted… They are overly protected. I was angry at the way his children were made to suffer”.
And this is what Bashir said in private: “I was here yesterday and I saw it, and it’s nothing short of a spiritually kind thing”

But this was not:
Your relationship with your children is spectacular. And in fact, it, it almost makes me weep when I see you with them”.
6:22 Correspondent:

“Michael didn’t learn till after the documentary was made that Martin Bashir had been officially reprimanded in Britain for unfair journalistic practices”.

6:32 On Late Night Jimmy Fallon February 24, 2011:

Q.“Is there things that you left out, things you are unhappy you did?”
Bashir: “Absolutely not. It was difficult I guess to some extent because I come from Britain where we don’t do sycophantic interviews, we don’t really suck up to people very much and do that kind of thing”.

6:49 After Michael Jackson’s death on June 25,2009:

Bashir: “When I made the documentary there was a small part of that which contained a controversy concerning his relationship with other young people, but the truth is that he was never convicted of any crime, I never saw any wrongdoing myself, and last his lifestyle made him a little unorthodox – I don’t believe this is criminal”.

7:08 Some reporters were playing a tabloid relay while Jackson was fighting for his life – and for justice in court.

7:16 Voice of Nancy Grace on “Odds of Molestation conviction of Michael Jackson”:

“Las Vegas, the place is up for grabs tonight odds to the one that Jackson will be convicted in one to five counts”.
7: 30 [CNN Headline News & Court TV]

“Welcome back, everybody. I’m Ms. Grace….. Thank you for being with us tonight” [slowly covering her face with a sequined glove]
7:39 Some reporters stir up people’s emotions for ratings or call themselves experts using innuendo with a line “sources tell me” to plant suggestion and peek interest. They dehumanize before they dismember the celebrity they target. What was all that fuss about the mask, his skin color, umbrella?

[pictures of Gloria Allred, Victor Gutierrez, Diane Dimond, Jane Velez Mitchell, Martin Bashir, Maureen Orth]

8:00 Diane Sawyer:

“We thought they were eccentricities. Could this in fact be a personal style that evolved to disguise a serious disease?”
8:07 Michael had Lupus, a lung disease and Vitiligo. He didn’t bleach his skin. Vitiligo destroyed the pigment.

8:15 The doctor on the ABC News, the “Michael Jackson battle with lupus” program:

“Many patients with Lupus have Vitiligo”
8:18 Actress Cicely Tyson, July 7, 2009:

“It started to develop… the vitiligo.. And it started on his hand. And the glove was to camouflage it. That is how the glove came into being”.
8:23 Diane Sawyer’s program:

Doctor: “Quite a few of my patients have fibromyalgia. He may have suffered from that. Very common to be an insomniac.”
Diane Sawyer: “One thing for a lupus patient – don’t let the sun on your skin”
Doctor: “That’s right. “
8: 33 The mask kept paparazzi stalking Michael from splashing unflattering pictures and headlines in tabloids the next morning. And their obsession about paternity – what was really behind those stories about race and having children? Was it thinly veiled racism?

8:51 Diane Dimond:

“Well, one glimpse at Michael Jackson will show you that he doesn’t really look like an African American man any more.”
Diane Dimond on “Insider”:

I think the Jackson family is all about this [gesture denoting money]. I think that’s why they’ll fight for the children because where the children go that’s where the money goes….
9:05 [voice of Diane Dimond on Howard Stern’s show]:

Who is the real baby daddy of at least the first two kids? These kids are not biologically related to Michael Jackson!”
[Howard Stern: “They are not”]
“And I keep reporting that and the fans keep saying: “No, no, they are. They are his… No, they are not.”
[Howard Stern: “No, they are not”].
“Get a clue”
9:22 Another voice:

“I guess biracial children could look different. They’ll be whiter or darker. And they can be sort of all one or all other…”
[Pictures of other African-Americans: Lena Horne, Mariah Carey, Jolene Ivey, Jax and Jaid Nilon, Rashida Jones]

Diane Dimond:

“Blue eyes? Not so much”.
9:35 And questioning paternity or skin color only insults families who adopt or use fertility procedures to have children.

9:43 Diane Dimond:

“It is Michael Jackson, and he lives… he lives to be strange”. He is in free fall now, and we all stay glued to the set till we see the splat” [her hands make a slapping sound].
“I think this was Michael Jackson’s destiny to die this way”.
10:08 Here are some of the people Michael counted among his friends – Caroline Kennedy, Ted Kennedy and Shirley McClain, Jacky Kennedy, Ronald and Nancy Reagan, President Bush, President Carter, President Clinton, Nelson Mandela, Princess Diana, Prince Albert of Monaco, Princess Stephany of Monaco, the Dalai Lama, Amon Ndoufou of Sanai (Ghana Ivory Coast), President of Namibie Sam Nujoma…

Michael was a cheer-leader for humanity. He always said he believed in us, said “We are the world”, and that together we could heal many of humanity’s challenges.

10:37 How do you heal the world according to Michael? His lyrics tell us how. You ask people to stop fighting, lay down their weapons, hear the Earth song and become her stewards, and save the children.

10:58 Michael Jackson was a person who championed children, not harmed them, that’s why he was exonerated by the law. He was found not guilty because he was innocent. Always has been.

11: 14 Thomas Mesereau:

“I’ve said many times since the verdicts that the reporting hit the bottom of the barrel. Not with everybody. We had very professional journalists who I still call journalists…
But we also had bottom feeders like Court TV. Diane Dimond from Court TV had been sued by Michael Jackson in the mid of his very contentious litigation. Thomas Sneddon the D.A. had risen to her defense – he signed a sworn declaration in the civil case. They stayed in touch for a long time. She really identified herself with a conviction and all her media were.
She was reporting like Lisa Bloom, the daughter of Gloria Allread who constantly reports Michael Jackson and tries to get involved in anything he does even when she has no stake in the matter. And of course Nancy Grace was the third one on that show. They wanted to create daily drama, daily conflict, daily excitement and that’s never going to change. Their priorities are ratings and money, and they will do whatever it takes to obtain those priorities”.
12:06 Ever asked yourself why we never heard about Michael Jackson from the people who actually knew him? Why didn’t the media tell us about Michael the man?

12:18 Ron Magill, keeper of Miami Zoo:

“I’ve never had a nicer gentleman, a more appreciative person with more well-behaved kids come to the Zoo.”
Q. “Not what you expected?”
Ron: “Absolutely not what I expected. And I hosted a lot of celebrities here at the Zoo. And quite frankly, many of them are not pleasant people to be around… He was the absolute opposite.”
12:35 Frank Dileo, Michael’s manager during the Bad era:

“We were in Europe and we were doing the Bad tour. Every city we went to we went to a children’s hospital and bought them a piece of equipment. Not one hospital for the whole tour – every city. There was a boy that was dying and wanted to meet Michael. And Michael would talk to him and the kid perked up and he was like amazing and I went off into the corner and I cried. I really couldn’t take it. Michael came over and put his arm around me and said: “You have to understand, Frank – this is our job. Not on the stage – this is our job. To make somebody feel good. He believed that. He absolutely believed that. “
13:20 Teddy Riley:

“My daughter stayed with him and has so much fun… He is just such a fun guy”.
13:26 Whoopy Goldberg:

“Would you leave your children [with Michael Jackson]? “Yes, I would” (nodding her head). “Yes, I did. I left my child with Michael, yes….”
13:32 Voice of Brooke Shields:

“So many people really don’t know him and they don’t give him a chance and they are so ready to criticize”
13:36 Kenny Ortega:

“I was with Michael in Eastern Europe and we got off of the plane and he said “Do you want to go to the hotel and do you come to an orphanage with me?” Rather than going to a hotel he went to the orphanage. And he walked into this orphanage and I remember him looking and he was walking around and he was very calm. The promoters were there and they were looking around. And the conditions were pretty grim and I saw him whisper to someone and whisper to someone else and he was, you know, moving through and interacting with the children… And later I found out what he’d whispered was: “This orphanage will be turned around – there will be new beds in here, there will be clean sheets in here, there will be more people here taking care of these children by tomorrow or I am not going to go on stage”.
14:16 Susan Yu, Michael’s former attorney:

“Michael was perhaps one of the best client’s I’ve had. He is generous, he is kind, he is grateful. He thanks you for all the work you do every day…”
14:24 Bruce Sweden, engineer/music producer:

“He had a very wonderful human side to him too. He was polite and gentle, and in a business where we didn’t hear these words too often Michael, if he would ask for something during the session he’s say “Please”. Such a great guy!
14:40 Madonna at MTV Video Music Awards 2009:

“He seemed other worldly but he was also a human being. .. I know what it’s like to walk down the street and feel like the whole world is turned against you. I know what it’s like to feel helpless and unable to defend yourself because the roar of the lynch mob is so loud you feel like your voice can never be heard.
[When I first heard that Michael had died.. all I could think about in this moment was] “I had abandoned him.” That we had abandoned him. That we had allowed this magnificent creature who had once set the world on fire to somehow slip through the cracks. [While he was trying to build a family and rebuild his career, we were all passing judgment. Most of us had turned our backs on him]. …He was so unique, so original, so rare, and there will never be anyone like him again. He was a king.”
15:23 Michael used his fame and his platform not just to improve orphanages, but to teach children and to take on social issues – gang violence [Beat it], tabloid corruption [Scream], poverty [We are the world], racism [Black or White], stewardship for the planet [Earth song] and even war [Heal the world].

15:42 Michael Jackson:

“This is Lisa Marie and myself at a hospital in Budapest. I saw this little kid. His name was Farkas. I asked this nurse “What’s wrong with this kid?” She said that he needs the liver. No matter what it takes I’m going to find a liver for him, so I said [about my] organization around the world and I said “I’m not giving up. I’m not going to have the child die.”
I was so happy when I get a phone call. They told me “We found the liver”. And he has his life…
16:12 Maybe it’s time we take another look at Michael Jackson to find out what really happened. We are also busy trying to shelter our children from the bullies of the world wringing our hands in worry and fear. Yet, we missed the biggest case of bullying the world had ever seen.

[Pictures of newspaper covers: “Buy a slice of Wacko Jackso”, “Jacko gets a wacko”, “Jim Jam Wacko”, “Sicko Jacko”, etc.]

16: 32 Michael Jackson is the poster boy. He endured years of torture on a global stage with the whole world watching. And the children? They loved Michael and they were watching. They are watching now. What kind of world do we want to hand off to our children?

16:51 Michael asked us to heal the world and save it for our children. He was on his way back to remind us – we are the world. And he died trying…

17:06 Michael Jackson at Exeter, UK, June 14th, 2002:

“Sadly, sadly, we live in a state of fear. Everyday we hear of war on the news, on the radio and television and the newspapers, always of war. We hear of nations hurting each other, of neighbours hurting each other, of families hurting each other and the children killing each other. We must learn to live and love each other before it’s too late. We have to stop! We have to stop the prejudice, we have to stop the hating, we have to stop living in fear of our own neighbors. I would like all of you now to take the hand of the person to the left and to the right. Go ahead! Right now! I mean it! Don’t be shy! Do it! It starts now! To the person next to you. To the left and the right. I mean it. Right now! Go ahead! Don’t be shy. Do it! Do it! Now, tell the person … tell the person next to you that you care for them. Tell them that you care for them. Tell them that you love them. Tell them that you love them. This is what makes the difference.
Together … (Michael laughs) together we can make a change of the world. Together we can help to stop racism. Together we can help to stop prejudice. We can help the world live without fear. It’s our only hope, without hope we are lost.”

19:10 Paris Jackson:

“Ever since I was born daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine….. I just wanted to say I love him…. so much…”

19:32 Ron Magill:

“I looked at it myself and said, “Michael, I have to be honest with you. If more people saw this side of you I don’t think you’d have the type of controversy that you face all the time and his answer will stick with me as long as I live, as he took my hand, shook it hard and said, “The problem is no one will ever know what it’s like to have to be me.” And I thought he’s going to cry. He really had that look on his face, and it really taught me a lesson – don’t prejudge someone by what you are listening to in the media”.