Well a good thing about his book excerpts being out is that the majority here don't seem to want to buy the book anymore. I won't, and I hope it flops big time. That's what he deserves for selling out his 'friend'.
I've noticed that from Michael's close friends, the only ones who have respected his privacy are celebrities themselves - Diana Ross, Elizabeth Taylor, Liza Minnelli come to mind. It maybe due to a number of reasons. The genuineness of their friendship might be the main factor, but I also think being celebrities themselves they were able to empathize with his need for privacy, and having plenty of money and fame of their own they bore no hidden agendas to capitalize and make money off the friendship they shared with Michael.
That is what sets people like the Cascios apart from the likes of above. The Cascios are regular folks, for all their years of friendship they still might have been in awe of Michael, and his celebrity status. They may have viewed the friendship as something that could benefit their family materially, knowing how generous Michael was with his friends. And with Michael gone, they still see it as a friendship that could be used to make money at whatever cost to Michael's reputation and legacy: the book.
Ivy, I think you are missing the point many are making here. We are not denying Michael's frequent use of prescription medication for various illnesses, the point is all this has been hacked to death in the media. We don't want another person, a friend on top of that, coming out with a book perpetuating the same stuff.
A friend, especially, shouldn't be doing that - because we have enough of that out already. Why couldn't he focus on the positives in Michael's life? Isn't that what people do when a supposed good friend passes away? Have you ever been to a funeral and have that persons close family and friends bring up the deceased persons issues in their eulogies, "well he was a great father, but he was an alcoholic yada yada yada..." Leave the nitpicking to the media, and detractors, but why would he follow that beaten track if he considers himself to have been a good friend? That is not what real friends do. Trust.
