On January 25, 1994, the nightmare of the Jordie Chandler scandal officially came to a close for Michael Jackson. In exchange for that closure, Jackson signed off on the payment of a handsome sum to Jordie and his parents, said to be, in total, about $25 million.
The sum was staggering--at the time, it would have been about one-tenth of Jackson's net worth. Today, adjusting for inflation, Jordie's settlement would be equivalent to just about $39.2 million.
Certainly not chump change.
To the intelligent observer, that incredible amount of money paid to one's young boy accuser (Jordie Chandler alleged that various sex acts had occurred between he and Jackson, including kissing, lying on top of each other with erections, and nipple-sucking, as well as numerous sessions of masturbation and Jackson's performing fellatio upon the boy, at least fifteen times, all over the globe, followed by the consumption of Jordie's semen) would seem to suggest something needed to be hidden, and hidden fast.
For those still defending Jackson, they recognize, quite acutely, what intelligent observers have always noted: settling over, instead of fighting against, claims of child molestation does not tend to be conducive to a position of innocence. Fair or not, it is a fact that paying a settlement looks like an admission of guilt, a clandestine way of maintaining one's reputation without incurring (further) public or even legal scrutiny.
It is because Jackson apologists know this that they have steadfastly held on to the belief, against all evidence suggesting otherwise, that two things occurred:
- Michael Jackson had been forced against his will by his insurance carrier to settle the Chandler civil suit, and;
- Jackson was not the payer of the settlement.
Their position is as such: "Michael would've fought the Chandlers in court had the insurance company not settled against his wishes!"
If Jackson did not pay off Jordie Chandler over the boy's abuse claims against Jackson--settling for an obscene and suspicious amount of clams--his defenders can maintain the belief that Jackson was not a child-molesting pedophile, effectively absolving him of all guilt attendant to the misgivings aroused by his behaviors with other people's young sons.
If Jackson did not pay off Jordie Chandler over the boy's abuse claims against Jackson--settling for an obscene and suspicious amount of clams--his defenders can maintain the belief that Jackson was not a child-molesting pedophile, effectively absolving him of all guilt attendant to the misgivings aroused by his behaviors with other people's young sons.
