Michael Jackson at 15 years of his "sleeping with children is very nice"
He was proclaimed innocent, but the shadow of doubt ("pedophile disguised as a friend to trust") still hangs over the king of pop.
It was a media circus spiced up by the extravagant lifestyle of its protagonist. The image of Michael Jackson arriving to hear the verdict of the jury in a suit and black tie, emaciated and surrounded by an entourage of bodyguards and family, went around the world. It was 15 years ago, on June 13, 2005, the day the king of pop could not hold back his tears when he was found not guilty of abusing a child under 13 years of age. He did not manage, yes, to dispel all doubts. Even today, a decade after his death, there is a belief that Jackson went far beyond what was allowed with the children he surrounded himself with.
The process lasted four months, damaging the singer's image and health. By then, the myth was subscribed to painkillers and drugs that ultimately ended his life. Jackson breathed in relief, but said nothing, his lawyer spoke for him: "I am crying with happiness. Thank you all! The press has been unfair and has carried out a parallel trial against Michael, but the opinions I think should be limited to inside the courts, "he said after the acquittal of his client
Jackson was accused by Gavin Arvizo, a cancer patient at the time. Arvizo said that he was 13 years old when the singer tried to abuse him. Arvizo was a Neverland regular and slept with Jackson in his room. The star himself gave an account of this in a documentary that was one of the bases of the trial.
In it he appeared holding hands with Arvizo and recounted how he had slept with children for years and that there was nothing wrong or sexual about it. "It's a very nice thing. I slept in a bed with many children when Macaulay Culkin was little: Kieran Culkin slept on this side, Macaulay on this side, his sisters there ... We woke up at dawn and went in the hot air balloon, you know We have the images. I have all that material, "explained Jackson, casually.
He apparently did not regret that in 1993 he had faced an accusation for alleged abuse of a minor, Jordan Chandler. On that occasion, the case did not go to trial due to the child's refusal to collaborate and after the singer had agreed to pay 23 million to settle the lawsuit. In April 2005, Ralph Chacón, a former member of Neverland security, testified that he had seen Jackson perform oral sex on Chandler, in addition to seeing him kiss him passionately.
The stories in that direction have been numerous. The latest documentary to shake his figure, 'Leaving Neverland' was broadcast on HBO and directed by British Dan Reed. The film centers on Wade Robson and James Safechuck, allegedly abused as children by Jackson.
They speak in a graphic way of penetrations, masturbation and oral sex, acts that the artist understood as "romantic" and not abuses that would have landed him in prison for the rest of his life. That image of "pedophile disguised as a friend to trust" as they paint him is increasingly difficult to avoid when his name comes up again. His is already an asterisk star.
