Michael Jackson: the Jackson family's 'golden goose'

The first anniversary of Michael Jackson's death came and went without too much of a commotion. Of course we were inundated with tribute shows on MTV and specials on many cable stations, but they say the whole topic of celebrating the first anniversary was, generally, not as popular as had been expected.

I did, however, tune in to some of the specials.

It seemed as if the major point of focus was the alleged conspiracy surrounding Michael's tragic death: was Dr. Conrad Murray solely to blame, or is he just a 'fall guy' in a grander conspiracy to usurp millions from the King of Pop?

Honestly, I do not believe Michael Jackson was 'murdered', as his lovely sister, La Toya, claims. I don't believe it for one second. 

Let's think about it: why would anyone want to kill Michael Jackson? He was not a threat; if anything, he was a nuisance to Sony Music, taking loans out against his Beatles music catalogue but always managing to just escape losing it.

I know how it sounds. It would have been better to just rub him out?

But why go so far as to do something like that? In spite of his veritable pariah status or alleged waning popularity, he was still the biggest living celebrity in the world prior to his death. Even if he was just to be jeered for being 'freakish Wacko Jacko', he could still garner an incredible amount of attention.

Any conspiracy to bump off the world's biggest celebrity would fail, simply because it would be incredibly profitable to be that whistleblower, perhaps more profitable than simply going along with said conspiracy.

In sum, I think Michael was, unfortunately, just a drug addict. 

He was not 'murdered' in some highly orchestrated plan that only makes perfect sense within La Toya's head. Was he capable of doing the This Is It shows at London's O2 Arena come July 2009? No, he was not. He was too thin and too gaunt, despite whatever his autopsy report said. Above all, I don't think he was mentally capable of doing the shows, and the mind is everything.  

Michael most likely was hurting desperately for cash (the discussion of his financials after his death showed he was deep in the red) due to outrageous spending habits.

But it seems as if the Jackson family is heavily invested in this 'conspiracy' angle. I cannot comment on their grief because I don't know them personally; maybe this is a way for them to assuage their own guilt for not 'being there' for Michael.

Who knows?

However, this whole 'conspiracy theory' is looking extremely profitable, more like a money grab than anything else. And, as evidenced by the public's seemingly declining interest in the Jackson saga, it is best to push things out while it is still advantageous to do so, like now.

It seems as if more Jacksons are jumping on the conspiracy bandwagon.

guess which one received the most 'handout' requests? HINT: he glows in the dark. LOL.

In December 2009, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon Jackson had a sit-down interview with Larry King to promote their reality series that had aired on the A&E channel. They asked for their opinions regarding the 'conspiracy' as spearheaded by their sister, La Toya.

LARRY KING: You're father, Joe, has suggested that Michael's death involved foul play. Your sister, La Toya, voiced a similar opinion.

Here's Latoya on "The View" in mid September.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

LATOYA JACKSON: -- thought it was homicide, that he had been murdered.

Yes, absolutely. Michael continuously told me, La Toya, if I die, I'm going to be killed. They're going to kill me over my catalog, over my publishing. And he was afraid of that.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

KING: What do you think of that, Marlon?

MARLON JACKSON: Well, I think every -- each one of us -- if you ask each one of the brothers or the sisters their opinion, you might get a different answer for everybody.

KING: What's yours?

MARLON JACKSON: That's -- my opinion is that I want to sit back and let them do the investigation and let them come out exactly what -- what took place. I don't want to form an opinion. And one of the other brothers might have a totally different view point.

KING: You think La Toya, Tito, made an opinion too soon?

TITO JACKSON: Yes, she may have, yes, yes.

JERMAINE JACKSON: Yes.

TITO JACKSON: She may have.

KING: If (sic) that pretty much the way the family feels too? Well, Joe, too, then spoke too soon.

JERMAINE JACKSON: Yes.

MARLON JACKSON: Yes, I think he did.

 But here was Jermaine Jackson last night, seemingly appearing to change his tune:

JERMAINE JACKSON: What he administered in Michael should have been in a hospital setting and he did not act alone. 

I all feel, myself, Randy, Latoya, all of us feel that he's the fall guy. And knowing how this whole thing works, and knowing it's higher up than just the doctor, and he's there. And if you squeeze him hard enough, he will talk. 

LARRY KING: Do you think your brother was killed? 

JACKSON: Yes, of course. Of course. 

KING: No doubt in your mind. 

JACKSON: No doubt in my mind. 

KING: Have the authorities done enough? They haven't -- 

JACKSON: No.

What made Jermaine change his mind in the span of six months or so? I can only imagine it has something to do with--you know--that stuff that's made out of paper and you use it to buy things. You know, money.

Anyone possessing two brain cells to rub together knows the 'conspiracy theory' around Michael's death--or, rather, the promotion of the idea of Michael's death being an elaborate conspiracy--has to do with money.

Remember, Michael's likeness and Michael himself, have always generated income for the Jackson family. I was surprised to learn how deep it went, how long he has been the proverbial 'cash cow'.

Vanity Fair magazine's July 2010 issue had a fabulous article about being behind the scenes--or the 'true story'--of Michael Jackson's Thriller video. It was said within the piece, written by Nancy Griffin who had been there back in the day covering the whole thing for Life magazine, the Jackson family were essentially moochers:

Michael was the Jackson family's golden goose.... Now with millions of Thriller dollars flowing in Michael's direction, Joe and Katherine and the brothers--all of whom needed money, thanks partly to extravagant spending habits--felt entitled to cash in.

The article even mentioned Joe Jackson would use Katherine as a way to squeeze Michael into doing profit-garnering endeavors, essentially making sure the family was always taken care of. This all, of course, is mirrored by Jermaine and Randy's insistence on keeping their own children with Michael's cash cows at the Encino property.

When Michael was facing child molestation allegations in 1993, his own family refused to publicly defend him without first receiving compensation. This is from Maureen Orth's 1994 Vanity Fair article "Nightmare at Neverland" (which is a fantastic article about the 1993 child abuse charges; Orth was surprisingly fair):

For $150, 000 Joe Jackson would appear on the show (Hard Copy) to talk about Michael's troubles.... The relationship between father and son had come down to a tabloid-TV deal.

Joe actually approached Hard Copy on his own; there had been no offer from the TV show. Again, from the article:

...[T]he family, ever ready to cash in on Michael, was planning a $6 million TV extravaganza, The Jackson Family Honors, and counting on their distant son and brother to show up and perform...

If we flash forward to present, the Jackson family continues to hound their now deceased 'golden goose' (still a money-maker, of course) for his eggs.

In spite of the woefully evident reality that Joe probably did not care much for his son, he has filed a wrongful death suit against Dr. Conrad Murray to get 'justice' for Michael, the kind of justice that thickens your wallet and enables said wallet-holder to buy nice, nice things.

Jermaine and La Toya are still giving interviews to anyone who will listen. Katherine is even getting in on that action, as shown by her appearance on NBC's Dateline June 25th, not to mention promoting her new book, which is, of course, meant to to show the 'real Michael' to the world. (to be fair to katherine, she is probably a gullible pawn in the other family members' and their 'associates'' game to cash-in)

Randy is still 'tweeting' away on his twitter page, bitching about something. Latest activity? He claims the organizers for the 'Forever Michael' memorial held last night in Los Angeles were 'taking advantage of his family' for money, despite the fact both his mother and father are getting a cut of the profits from the ticket sales.

That's rich.

Although my judgments may be wrong, it seems as if every memorial planned for Michael's fans is stopped dead in its tracks by Randy Jackson. As some enlightened internet commenters have observed, perhaps Randy is simply angry he has yet to receive his cut--or a big enough portion--of the Michael pie.

I would sit here and worry about Michael's children but it is what it is, isn't it?

The reality is Prince, Paris, and Blanket's blood relatives are avaricious; they will undoubtedly be squeezed for money for the rest of their lives. If any of you watched the specials on the E! channel, clearly someone within the Jackson family is providing bizarrely intrusive, camera-phone-like pictures of the kids. My guess would be Alejandra Jackson, seeing that it was her daughter on E! News speaking about the secret lives of her cousins.

Not to mention the Jackson 3 is now allegedly going door-to-door as Jehovah's Witnesses, preaching the Good News. Maybe it is premature of me but it would seem as if the Jacksons are preparing the children like they did Michael; could it have been the Gospel's tenets of charitable giving that made it impossible for Michael to turn down his mother's requests for money?

I'm suspicious...

So, what do we have here at the end of it all?

It seems as if it is yet another chapter in the saga of the Jacksons and money, a love affair as good as any romantic Harlequin page-turner. I will undoubtedly have more chapters to add, lest the public's interest in Jackson family greed dwindles to zilch.

I don't think that will happen; the Jacksons will fix that quickly. As someone acutely said (I'm paraphrasing, here): 'If the Jackson family had a choice between a living Michael and themselves being poor or a dead Michael and themselves being rich, we all know which one they'd choose.'

So much for 'justice-seeking', right?