"I saw your post in response to the SongFacts interview re-printed in Hypebot. You are abslutely right, and I referenced it wrong in the article. Michael's management wished to perpetuate create a campaign for the title and that's what we were concerned with at the time. The media was turning on Michael, and we thought pushing that titled could strength the media backlash. My comment in this article was too short-cut and not a clear version of the story or what I intended to present.
Ultimately, what I had hoped to convey was that in the end, he was right, and that those of us who fretted over these issues with him, were ultimately over-protective. I always saw that our taking issue was ironic, as he took those risks and succeeded, which is what a legendary entertainer does.
I hope that brings greater clarity to the issue. I have the deepest respect and appreciation for Michael's talent and the enormously challenging life that he lived. I had the honor of working with Michael for several years. I thought the article was going to be one strictly about songwriting, so I perhaps let down my guard when it turned into so many questions about Michael. Unfortunately, anything that is said about MJ sadly seems to be a source of clickbait. I blame myself.
Sincerely,
Dan Beck
PS: I tried to stop the re-printing of this story because of your point. The "King of Pop" issue was an old story and for it to be a headline now is ridiculous. I got toalked out of stopping it. That was another mistake. It's horrible to have that out there. But again, I can only blame myself."