There truly are fairly compelling cases for and against, and the cases "for" often aren't the things the accusers say so much as it is the context of the situations Michael put himself in. I am yet to see a solid accuser. It really would only take a single consistent accuser to prove the claim to the world but so far, we don't have anything like that and I don't think that person exists.
There was an obsession and preoccupation with children though that still remains hard to explain for me. We can only take the 'lost childhood' so far. I struggle to connect a lost childhood to having other people's boys in your bed. I struggle to connect the lost children to dolls of children and photos and paintings of them and this absolute veneration he seemed to have for them.
There are certainly photos of Michael with Jimmy Safechuck all cuddly which look like couples photos and would make even the biggest MJ fan feel a bit of cringe in their stomach.
And further to the questions about Michael, the artificial inseminating of his kids. You have to ask why? Why would he not just have normal, human, heterosexual sex with a woman and impregnate her? Yeah, Debbie Rowe probably wouldn't have been anyone's choice for that task, but he was MICHAEL ****** JACKSON. Surely there was a gorgeous woman out there who would have happily bore his children and done the deed with him. Why did he not take the route almost all men would have?
Why is the marriage to Lisa Marie Presley so fraught with questions on its legitimacy and timing?
You can't just not ask these questions. I think we like to put it in the "too hard basket". We're fans. We're effected by his music and his artistry. But none of us actually know Michael Jackson to say anything for sure about his personal behaviour. But certainly he did a lot of things - A LOT - that bring his character into question.
But so far, every claim has fallen apart. We've seen nothing but grifters, people with imaginative memories, fathers with movie dreams and financial aspirations and the like. We've not seen anyone come through as an honest victim who has put sharing their truth above the dollar signs.
You can still be a good person but do bad things.
In his mind, he was Peter Pan , he was the saviour of children and loved them unconditionally so for him, whatever he was doing he considered normal.
Let's be honest, if he was your next door neighbour he would have been locked up decades ago.
I'm on the fence as to where I stand, I don't want to believe this stuff but when I weigh up his behaviour, it does make you question what he was doing.
This is where I'd lean if he did it. He asks in an interview "where's the jack the ripper in the room?" Well... he wasn't jack the ripper I don't think.
But I think there is a chance he "may" have been a man who legitimately, in his own mind, "fell in love" with boys. And he may not have thought that love was in any way wrong. He can be all the things that he believes himself to be - the giver - the entertainer - the musician - the King of Pop - the genius - and he may justify other nefarious actions to himself by the fact that the world simply "doesn't understand".
These are legitimate questions.
But once again, Leaving Neverland falls apart under inspection. That could be, as has been said before, because children's memories of things decades later can be a funny thing, but it could also be because it's all absolute bullshit. We legitimately do not know. I certainly hope it's bullshit.
As fans we need to accept we didn't personally know Michael Jackson. It is well known away from the camera he adopted a deeper voice and became less effeminate. We know Michael created a mystique around himself to keep fans and the media guessing. We are defending our perception and image of Michael Jackson but we can only speculate.
. I think Michael is 100% innocent.
