On 29 May 2011, 90s pop singer Aaron Carter was filmed for an interview with freelance 'journalist' and friend Daphne Barak for OK! Magazine's 27 June Australian edition. The article and excerpts that have been released have spread rapidly across the media for one reason - it involves Michael Jackson.
Mr. Carter’s friendship - and we use that word loosely - with Mr. Jackson is not in question. What is in question are the elements in the interview suggesting that Mr. Jackson would have given Aaron Carter drugs or alcohol, or that he would have acted improperly towards him in any way- something that the Michael Jackson Fan Community strongly disagrees with.
Any such claims made by Mr. Carter can be easily debunked simply by referring to his previous consistent assertions. It is well known that Mr. Carter had always spoken highly of Jackson’s positive influence on his life and work, and had unquestionably denied that anything inappropriate had ever occurred between them (see Howard Stern interview:
http://youtu.be/nE2Cq6WGCpk) even as recently as 2010. In several past interviews, including his interview with Howard Stern referenced, he claimed that he only spent one night at Neverland, which occured on the occasion of Mr. Jackson's 45th birthday party. On that particular night, Mr. Carter said he slept in the theater with Chris Tucker - he on one side of the theater and Mr. Tucker on the other. Furthermore, Mr. Carter emphasized that he never slept in a bed with Mr. Jackson, nor did he go into Mr. Jackson's room. As a matter of fact, Aaron Carter so steadfastly denied any inappropriate behavior in his friendship with Mr. Jackson, that he was on the witness list for the defense in the 2005 trial.
Indeed, after all the years of defending Mr. Jackson, the Fan Community finds it quite puzzling that Mr. Carter would all of a sudden give such an inconsistent interview.
Let's not lose sight of the fact that Frank Cascio, who had maintained his friendship with Jackson since his childhood, tweeted in defense of Mr. Jackson on 30 June 2011 as follows: "I knew Michael for over 25 years and NEVER once did he use cocaine or suggest to anyone else to use cocaine. Never!!!!" (
http://twitter.com/#!/fdcascio/status/86547254990733312). Mr. Cascio and his family had been visited by Mr. Jackson on a regular basis. Also, Mr. Cascio frequented Neverland and had even traveled with Mr. Jackson from a young age. In addition, Mr. Cascio also attended the party at Neverland to which Mr. Carter refers.
In light of the above mentioned and all other undeniable evidence, the Michael Jackson Fan Community is questioning the real motive behind this seeming change of heart and story.
The timing of the interview is also extremely suspect. In June, while millions around the world were mourning the passing of Mr. Jackson, some- with even a remote connection to him- seemed to find it an ideal opportunity to promote their book, CD, or project, or to use an acquaintance with Mr. Jackson as an opportunity to get free promotion and make profit. Mr. Carter's current $1,000,000 debt to the IRS cannot be downplayed. Neither can it be ignored that he is currently promoting the impending release of new music as well as a reality show. Aaron Carter’s willingness to jump on the aforementioned bandwagon, although quite disappointing, is not surprising.
The slanderous story published by OK! Magazine, surfaced on 15 June prompting some concerned Jackson fans to immediately reach out to Aaron Carter via twitter, only to be rebuffed and ignored by the latter for not less than two weeks. An official and strong statement of denial would have obviously halted this slander in its tracks. Indeed, this is what an honorable person would do in love and respect for a deceased friend and mentor. Unfortunately, the sickening speculation and insinuations have been allowed to linger. As a result, the only person who has been fully damaged in this appalling debacle is Mr. Jackson --an easy target-- who is unfortunately not here to defend himself.
Now that this story has been thoroughly reported, Mr. Carter, through his representative, has issued a statement saying that he was misquoted in the article. Yet in still, as the edited excerpts of the interview clearly demonstrated, Mr. Carter skillfully and purposely answered questions in an ambiguous way which has allowed for speculation and has resulted in apparent innuendo. Consequently, the public opinion has been utterly misled.
Carter's denial through TMZ on 1 July 2011 is now being widely reported, nevertheless, more needs to be done. Ideally, Mr. Carter must demand a full retraction from OK! Magazine, if it is indeed misrepresenting what he really said. However, as the slander continues to unfold, it is increasingly clear that the Carter camp has seen the benefits of tying his name in a negative way to Mr. Jackson’s and is taking full advantage of the frenzy and (inter)national media coverage.
Daphne Barak has also had an extremely dubious past. She is known to have previously "forged" stories.
Grace Rwaramba, who had been Jackson's children's nanny for several years, was approached and befriended by Daphne Barak with the sole aim of taking advantage of her in the hopes of finding out information about Michael Jackson. In a story written by Mallika Chopra and published in The Huffington Post on 28 June 2009, Mallika said the following: "
I witnessed Daphne act as a friend while trying to bait information from Grace on her conversations with Jackson family members and friends about his death... I found that Daphne indeed had written an article full of quotes by Grace for a tabloid magazine. (A quick search of her other work not surprisingly shows she did a recent feature on Amy Winehouse.) Grace’s quotes are now being picked up by other tabloids and will find their way into more magazines and articles. (People Magazine is also featuring some inaccuracies today, such as the claim that Grace pumped Michael’s stomach on several occasions. For the record, Grace never pumped Michael’s stomach. She has not the slightest idea how she would even do such a thing.)... " (
http://tinyurl.com/nbqshd 'Bloodsuckers and the World of Michael Jackson')
Daphne Barak was also at the center of controversy in reference to an inteview with Sanam Bhutto. An article published by SouthAsiaWatch on 24 March 2009 chronicles her faux journalism.
It says,
"Daphne Barak [...] has been foisting herself upon the famous and noteworthy families of the world for years now. Her living is made by offering "exclusive" interviews, scintillating gossip, and manufacturing rumor and innuendo at every turn. She is often spotted interviewing members of families in crisis, taking advantage of their grief and need for hope, in order to fuel her personal drive for fame, access, and notoriety. Daphne portrays and tarnishes the image of Bhutto by revealing or blatantly manufacturing details that cannot be independently verified about Bhutto's life... any references to Bhutto or Pakistan that she writes should be taken as near-fiction or nothing less than a complete fabrication... In more recent Pakistan news, Daphne Barak has done the nation of Pakistan and its people a grave disservice by manufacturing a news story featuring "statements" from Benazair Bhutto's sister, Sanam, regarding the President of Pakistan, Asif Zardari. While biased journalism may be tolerated in many circles, Daphne Barak crossed the line into complete fiction. Sanam Bhutto, outraged and distressed at the lies attributed to her, vigorously denounced the fiction produced by Daphne Barak, via print and video ." The article also mentions how she "
cozied" up to the parents of Amy Winehouse, "
feeding off their grief and concern for their daughter" in order to get a story on Amy Winehouse. (
http://tinyurl.com/3luq3ge)
Her methods have been consistent: befriending a person for the purpose of interviewing them so that she can then put a spin on said interview. Is this what happened with Aaron Carter? Note her tweet about him on 29 May:
This speaks volumes about Ms. Barak's ethics and values as a journalist. It also speaks volumes of the character of both Ms. Barak and Mr. Carter. As far as they and others who have been involved are concerned, they have been able to raise their profiles on the back of Mr. Jackson.
Furthermore, it is quite disturbing that we live in a time when our media is blindly willing to copy-paste a story without first verifying its accuracy and veracity. Very few media outlets made mention of Carter's previous denials, not to mention the reputation of the interviewer. Although the slanderous story about this interview originated from OK! Magazine, which is most certainly not known for being a reputable publication, it hasn't taken long for over 150 media outlets to copy-paste the story as fact and run with it. This becomes even more disturbing when this practice is adopted by news outlets that are supposed to report factual stories, such as CBSnews, USA Today and CNN. It is frustratingly apparent that facts are not of great concern to the media, which is regrettable.
Now that some aspects of the interview have been denied, we can only hope that there will be a more rigorous screening process before stories are aired or published, especially when the source is a tabloid and the author has a questionable reputation (see
http://youtu.be/x9Dz7rs8VfA).
We call on all Michael Jackson fans to boycott the magazine and to express their disagreement to the editors of OK magazine as well as their distress to Daphne Barak (the author). Fans also need to let their sources of news and information know that they are no longer interested in uncorroborated, salacious stories.
Michael Jackson was defamed and maligned in life. His fans are committed and determined to see that this defamation does not continue in death.
I am at work ATM so I cannot spend a lot of time on the internet. When I get home, in a few hours, I iwll see if I can find the contact information for NME.
