Fact Checking Diane Dimond’s Lies from TruTV’s “In Session”
On Friday, September 16th,2011 Tru TV’s legal orientated show “In Session” aired a round table discussion on Michael Jackson’s life, legacy, and upcoming trial. It was hosted by Ryan Smith, and consisted of Steve Manning (one of MJ’s former publicists), Mike Garcia (one of three of MJ’s former bodyguards, who was scheduled to help write a book, but, according to their Facebook page, is no longer associated with that project), Anthony DeCurtis (contributing editor for Rolling Stone), and the notorious Diane Dimond, who replaced author Joe Vogel at the last minute!
The one-hour discussion was divided into different segments and shown throughout the day 8am through 3pm CST. I was fortunate to record all of it on my DVR, and after watching it I was so disgusted by Dimond’s lies that I decided to transcribe the segment on – you guessed it! – the allegations, and refute them right here in a new post!
I want to take a moment to reiterate a point that I made earlier: we as fans need to step up and increase our knowledge of the exculpatory facts that prove that Michael Jackson was innocent. We can’t rely on hearsay, innuendoes, speculation, or conjecture, nor can we simply describe MJ’s childlike personality, heart of gold, charitable endeavors, or his parental abilities. The performance of Mike Garcia and Steve Manning was UNACCEPTABLE!
I’m going to say something, and it may sound harsh, but it needs to be said: don’t insult my intelligence by telling me that MJ is innocent because he’s a nice, sweet, childlike person who would never harm a child! That’s just as bad as haters who say that MJ is guilty because he bleached his skin, butchered his face, and was effeminate! When you use MJ’s childlike persona as a sign of innocence, haters or skeptics could see it as a sign of guilt! They will say “Maybe he did it out of childlike curiosity instead of a sexual desire!”
In the days and weeks after MJ died, I quickly got fed up seeing the endless list of people who knew MJ for 5 minutes at one point in their lives talk about his childlike personality and charitable contributions as exculpatory evidence whenever the allegations were brought up! That’s why I set out on this mission to learn the truth, and 2 years later, here I am, helping to run one of the most informative MJ blogs on the net!
I also have to admit that I was disappointed –not disgusted, but disappointed – in the performance of Mike Garcia and Steve Manning. Although they made a valiant effort, they came up short in providing a cogent, effective rebuttal to Dimond’s lies. Instead of providing cold, hard facts, they relied on such weak defenses as “Michael was a kid himself!”, “He was such a nice, sweet person!”, “He never harmed his own kids!”, “Evan Chandler killed himself, so that proves he was lying!”, “Jordan Chandler admitted he lied on the internet!”, etc. Dimond immediately countered all of their claims, and by doing so was able to insinuate that MJ was guilty. And I have to give it to her, she never explicitly said MJ was guilty, or was a p…, but she didn’t make the case for his innocence either! She gave the appearance of being “fair and balanced”, which gives her credibility with less-knowledgeable viewers, who unfortunately are the majority of the viewers! To use her words, this tactic is her effective “subterfuge”!
Congratulations, Tru TV! Congratulations, Ryan Smith! You guys succeeded in your goal of entertaining your viewers, as opposed to educating them! You gave Dimond a platform to misinform more and more of your (mostly) gullible, impressionable viewers!
This segment validates a decision I made several months ago to do a new post called “How to Talk to a Michael Jackson Hater”, which will consist of talking points that fans can use to effectively make the case for MJ’s innocence. For example, here is what I would have loved to have asked Dimond, and this will surely be included in the upcoming post:
Mrs. Dimond,
When Tom Sneddon filed his initial felony complaint against Michael Jackson on December 18th, 2003, it consisted of the following charges which allegedly occurred from February 7th through March 10th, 2003:
7 counts of lewd acts upon a child
2 counts of administering an intoxicant
However, in the grand jury indictment that was filed on April 21st, 2004, the dates of the alleged offenses shifted to February 20th through March 12th, 2003, and the charges were materially altered as follows:
4 counts of lewd acts upon a child
1 count of an attempted lewd act upon a child
4 counts of administering an intoxicant
1 count of conspiracy to commit child abduction, false imprisonment, and extortion
Mrs. Dimond, how do you explain that discrepancy in the charges? How do you explain the addition of the conspiracy charge, when Sneddon investigated Michael Jackson for almost 6 months before raiding Neverland? Why wasn’t Michael Jackson charged with conspiracy in the initial complaint? Why weren’t the 5 unindicted co-conspirators charged, even after they refused immunity for their testimony against Michael Jackson?
That’s an example of the type of substantive, analytical, well-researched and straightforward questions that need to be asked of Michael Jackson haters. I’d LOVE to see Dimond spin her way out of that one! That’s guaranteed to shut her up real quick! And do you guys ever notice how the media loves to question the conspiracy charge AFTER the trial (using it as a scapegoat for MJ’s acquittal), but they never questioned it BEFORE the trial, when it appeared out of thin air when MJ was indicted!!
Here is some additional info on Dimond that can be used for additional research:
Fans United For Michael Jackson’s Legacy did a recent post titled “Turn Off, Tune Out, Shut Off Diane Dimond”
A two-part dossier from MJJ-777 which compiles all of her dirty work. Here is part one and part two; part three is on the way!
The section of the Veritas Project aptly titled “Diane Dimond: Paragon of Deceit”.
LunaJo67’s four video compilations of Dimond’s coverage! This is over an hour of footage! It’s definitely not for the faint of heart! Open her “Michael Jackson: The Special Parts” playlist, and you’ll see the four “Diane Dimond Clips” videos. Have your barf bags ready!
MJJJustice Project’s post “Dimond – Duplicity is Thy Name”. Another excellent analysis of her clever, yet deceitful spin of the facts. In this post, they analyze her 1995 radio interview on “The Ken and Barkley Show”, which was transcribed in MJ’s lawsuit against Paramount Pictures Corporation (the company behind “Hard Copy”.)
Filthy Tabloid Trash’s Open Letter to TruTV, respectfully asking them to reconsider their decision to hire Diane Dimond to cover the upcoming trial. Obviously this letter fell on deaf ears!
The Edgy Matters blog post from June 25th, 2004, titled “C-O-N-SPIRACY”” where Dimond was sarcastically “charged” as the #1 co-conspirator in helping Sneddon violate the gag order by planting stories in the media to taint the jury pool and convict MJ in the court of public opinion! And let’s not forget their June 23rd, 2005 post titled “Diane Dimond vs. Journalism Code of Ethics”, a must read!!
And of course, we here at Vindicate MJ blasted Dimond in this overview of MJ’s 1995 Lawsuit against her and Victor Gutierrez, and in Jacques Peretti’s “What Really Happened” crockumentary!
