by Donald Bogle
Billboard also commented: “Jackson, who records for Sony Music Entertainment’s Epic label, also singled out company chairman Tommy Mottola, saying he was ‘mean, he’s a racist, and he’s very, very, very devilish.’ ” The publication added: “Jackson also accused Mottola of using ‘the n-word’ when speaking about an unidentified black Sony artist.”
This type of public feud was something Michael had always avoided in the past.
He also now believed that the media’s criticism of him grew out of its racism. He told his friend Shmuley Boteach that the white press didn’t like the fact that white girls the world over screamed and cried in adoration of him, shouting out: “I am in love with you.” “That’s what has made it hard for me, because I was the pioneer and that’s why they started the stories. ‘He’s weird.’ ‘He’s gay’ . . . anything that turns people against me. They tried their hardest. And anybody else would be dead as a junkie right now, who’s been through what I’ve been through.”
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Still seeking to rectify his image, to reveal to the public that he was not Wacko Jacko, Michael granted an extended interview to British journalist Martin Bashir for a TV quasi-documentary Living with Michael Jackson. No doubt for Michael, part of the appeal of the interview was that Bashir had conducted a widely seen interview with Princess Diana. That alone perhaps validated Bashir’s credentials as a serious journalist. Over a period of eight months, cameras and Bashir followed Michael on his shopping trips with his masked children, on his spending sprees in Las Vegas. The cameras also trailed him to Berlin and later Miami. But of most interest was his life at Neverland. Seen with Michael were a thirteen-year-old cancer victim Gavin Arvizo and his younger brother, both of whom had been guests at Neverland. So was their mother. During the interview, Michael held Gavin’s hand, and Gavin put his head on the singer’s shoulder. When Bashir, who must have realized that he had hit a jackpot in “exposing” the King of Pop, questioned Michael’s comment that the child slept in his bed at Neverland, Michael replied with a naïveté and innocence that might have been touching had it not led to such serious repercussions. “Why can’t you share your bed? The most loving thing to do is share your bed with someone,” he said. “When you say ‘bed,’ you’re thinking sexual. They make that sexual. It’s not sexual. We’re going to sleep.” Overlooked was the fact that Michael stated that while Gavin and his brother slept in the bed, Michael himself slept on the floor. Michael also said that at other times other children such as child star Macaulay Culkin, Macaulay’s younger brother Kieran, and his sisters had also slept in his bed. He refused to see how anyone might view it as anything other than innocent.
Shortly after Living with Michael Jackson aired in the United Kingdom on February 3, 2003, then in the United States on February 6, 2003, Jackson was engulfed in an uproar that seemed to bewilder him. His appearance with Gavin Arvizo coupled with some of his comments confirmed for some that he was “overly fond of young boys.” When Lisa Marie watched the program, she cringed. “I had the same reaction everybody else had—it was like watching a train wreck. It seemed like it was overly cruel—the guy [Bashir] had his agenda and was after him,” she recalled. “It honestly looked to me like, it would be like somebody walking into a convalescent home and just antagonizing someone and having it on film the whole time.” She also believed Michael was again on drugs. “I didn’t see the Michael that I knew in that Martin Bashir interview. He was high as a kite, from what I saw and from what I knew.”
But now the child molestation claims that had dogged him resurfaced. Because Jackson shrewdly had his own camera crew filming at the same time as Bashir’s, Michael used his footage—The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See—as a rebuttal to Bashir’s interview. Frank Cascio believed that in the larger context, the unedited tapes revealed “how opportunistic Bashir had been, editing the material in the most sensationalist way imaginable.” But such damage control did not help the situation in which Michael found himself.
On February 20, the mother of Gavin Arvizo was interviewed by the Sensitive Case Unit of the Los Angeles Department of Children and Family Services. She was suspected of neglect. At that time, she stated—the entire family did, in fact—that there had been no inappropriate contact between Michael and her son. That comment, however, later changed. Nonetheless, the children made other trips to Neverland, as did their mother. At one point, the mother spoke to an attorney about Bashir. She said she’d never given permission for her children to be on the show. But somehow the focus shifted to Michael Jackson. It was then, despite the mother’s earlier protestations, that charges of child molestation began. She also consulted the same attorney who had obtained the settlement in the Chandler case.
In June 2003, a criminal investigation began. In November 2003, a search warrant was issued for the Neverland ranch. Seventy investigators were on the scene. A warrant was also issued for Michael’s arrest. On November 20, Michael flew from Las Vegas—where he was shooting a music video for a song from his new album, Number Ones, a compilation of his greatest hits—to Santa Barbara, where he surrendered to police. Handcuffed, booked, and charged with child molestation, he posted a $3 million bail.
In December, there was reported to be much discussion and dissension within Michael’s staff about the security force provided for the singer by the Nation of Islam. “Officials from the Nation of Islam, a separatist African-American Muslim group,” reported the New York Times on December 30, 2003, “have moved in with Michael Jackson and are asserting control over the singer’s business affairs, friends, employees, and business associates of Mr. Jackson said.” The paper also reported that while members of the organization had been invited to Neverland to provide security some weeks earlier, those members were “now restricting access to him and have begun making decisions for him related to the news media, his business affairs and even his legal strategy.” Such claims were denied by Michael’s lawyer (in the child molestation case) Mark Geragos as well as by The Final Call, the Nation of Islam’s newspaper. But the New York Times reported that one senior Jackson employee, who spoke on condition of anonymity, said emphatically: “The Nation of Islam and Louis Farrakhan’s son-in-law [Leonard Muhammad] have taken over completely and are in full and total charge.”
Mark Geragos informed the New York Times that some members of the security force were Muslim but that that didn’t mean they were members of the Nation of Islam. Still, two of Michael’s top business partners stated they had been unable to reach him for the past two weeks.
It was also reported that Geragos and Leonard Muhammad had negotiated an interview that Michael had just given to television’s 60 Minutes. Interestingly enough, the New York Times reported: “Mr. Jackson was introduced to the Nation of Islam through his nanny, Grace Rwarmba [sic], who is a member of the group, and through Mr. Jackson’s brother Jermaine, several people close to Mr. Jackson said.”
Controversies continued to swirl around Michael. In time, Mark Geragos left his defense team.
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In January 2004, Michael was arraigned in court at Santa Maria. Late for the arraignment, he was chastised by the judge. But he was also out of it. With hundreds of fans looking on, he danced to his music atop his SUV, which of course drew media attention. “It was more apparent than ever that Michael had become delusional,” recalled his publicist Bob Jones. “He seemed to think the 2,000 or so fans and hordes of media in attendance at the arraignment were gathered for a concert rather than a criminal proceeding. The entire day was nothing short of a circus.” In April 2004, Santa Barbara District Attorney Thomas Sneddon convened a grand jury, which indicted Jackson. For millions around the world reading about the case or watching reports on the evening news or reading accounts online, it seemed a shocking replay of the Chandler accusations. Even ardent Jackson supporters asked had he not learned anything—about appearances, if nothing else. In January 2005, the case went to trial. Michael was charged on f
ourteen counts: four charges of child molestation; one charge of attempted child molestation; one conspiracy charge; eight possible charges of providing minors with alcohol.
Forming a united front in his defense, showing up daily in the courtroom, were members of the Jackson family, including La Toya, now back in the family fold. One day his sisters displayed a dazzling dash of show biz in the courtroom: each was dressed in white. But the entire family looked genuinely distressed, especially Katherine. Michael himself—sometimes late for court, another time wearing pajama bottoms when he arrived—often appeared disoriented. But daily he sat through the proceedings.
The trial drew worldwide media attention. Michael’s legal team had undergone a change. In the end, Tom Mesereau led the defense of Michael. Michael’s brother Randy took an active role in the defense too. Reporters, photographers, and videographers packed the area, although no cameras were permitted inside the courtroom. As it turned out, the trial was a show unto itself.
Not attending the trial and seemingly silent—in comparison with her vigorous defense of Michael in the Chandler case—was Elizabeth. Nor was much heard from Lisa Marie, who later said that at the time she still felt distanced from Michael. Yet she remained convinced that Michael had been misled by Bashir during the interview. Some questioned Elizabeth’s silence. But the truth was that she was now greatly incapacitated. In 2002, she had undergone radiation therapy for basal cell carcinoma. Two years later she underwent spinal surgery to repair seven compression fractures. Suffering from osteoporosis, she was also diagnosed with congestive heart failure in 2004. The pain now was crippling. Much time was spent in bed—with her dog Sugar nearby. Her great solace were her children and grandchildren.
Many of the prosecution’s efforts seemed to backfire. Actor Macaulay Culkin, Brett Barnes, and Wade Robson were cited by the prosecution as having been molested by Jackson in the past. There were witnesses who were set to attest to the molestations of the three. But all three appeared in court and testified that they had slept in Jackson’s bed but he had never molested them. Nor had he done anything sexual to them.I
Called to testify by the prosecution was the mother of Jordan Chandler, who stated that Jackson and Jordan had slept in the same room on various occasions. But she denied ever having seen any molestation. She also testified that though she was listed as plaintiff and received settlement money in the first molestation case, she herself had not sued Jackson; instead, it was her former husband and her son. She also stated that she had not seen her son, Jordan, since 1994.
The prosecution called Debbie Rowe, assuming she would testify “that a videotaped statement in early 2003 supporting Mr. Jackson had been enticed from her and that her answers to questions then had been heavily scripted to favor him.” At the time of the trial, she was seeking to have her custody rights over her children, which she had relinquished in 2001, reinstated. Most were convinced that perhaps she would put a nail in Michael’s coffin. But Rowe testified “that she had refused to even look at the questions in advance of the taping and that she had been eager to give answers largely supportive of Jackson.” She also stated that three of Jackson’s business and public relations associates were “liars and thieves who worked together to exploit his fame and steal his money.” When asked to describe Michael, reported the New York Times, Debbie “looked affectionately at her former husband . . . and began to cry” as she said: “There’s two Michaels: there’s like my Michael. And then Michael that everyone else sees. Michael the entertainer.” Also reported: “Mr. Jackson at that moment dabbed at his own eyes with a tissue.” In the end, many in the courtroom felt her testimony was “highly favorable to the defense.” She helped save Michael.
The testimony from the prosecution witnesses was sometimes ludicrous, and some of the facts about the Arvizo family threw the entire case into question. The mother’s checkered past was revealed. In August 1998, the family had been accused of shoplifting at a JCPenney store in West Covina, California. She sued JCPenney saying she had been roughed up—“viciously beaten”—by the store’s security officers. Two years later she accused a male officer of sexually fondling her breasts and pelvis area for “up to seven minutes.” JCPenney had settled the case out of court for the amount of $152,000. Throughout the mother’s testimony, she sounded confused and erratic, and jurors were not pleased when she snapped her fingers at them. The paper quoted one female juror: “I disliked it intensely when she snapped her fingers at us. I thought, ‘Don’t snap your fingers at me, lady.’ ”
“Their mother, a difficult witness for the prosecution,” reported the New York Times, “testified that Mr. Jackson had held the family captive and that he had forced them to make a video testimonial to rebut a documentary in which he had acknowledged sleeping with young boys. The mother appeared to lose the jury with her rambling, incoherent and at times combative testimony. She argued with Mr. Jackson’s lawyer and delivered lectures to the jury, even as she wove a tale of mistreatment at the hands of Mr. Jackson’s minions.”
The defense put actor Chris Tucker, a friend of Michael’s, on the stand to testify that he had known the Arvizo family, and that in essence, the Arvizo family had tried to hustle him for money.
But most confounding was the fact that, according to testimony of the Arvizo boy, there had been no molestation before the time of the Bashir broadcast. Commented the New York Times: “The timeline of the accusations, for example, was problematic, because the molesting was said to have taken place after the broadcast of the documentary, when the world’s attention was focused on Mr. Jackson and the boy.” Why would Michael Jackson, once he was suspected of having molested a child who he previously had not molested, suddenly begin molesting him? None of it made sense.
Later, in November of 2005, defense attorney Thomas Mesereau spoke to an audience at Harvard Law School. Mesereau stated that at the time of the trial, he heard “the prosecutors tried to get [Jordan Chandler] to show up, and he wouldn’t. If he had, I had witnesses who were going to come in and say he told them it [Michael’s reported molestation of him] never happened and that he would never talk to his parents again for what they made him say. It turned out he’d gone into court and got legal emancipation from his parents.” In 2009, Jordan Chandler’s father, Evan Chandler, would commit suicide with a self-inflicted gunshot wound to his head.
• • •
In the end, some of the trial seemed a travesty. And in the end, Michael Jackson was found innocent of all fourteen of the initial charges. After a two-year investigation and a six-month trial, the jury unanimously acquitted Michael on June 13, 2005. His family was jubilant. Michael himself was relieved. But the ordeal had drained him. Bruised and battered by the accusations and the trial, he became, if anything, less trusting and more paranoid. Michael would never again be the same person. He was a broken man. Six days later—on June 19th—Michael left the United States with his children by private jet. Ten days later he arrived on the remote island of Bahrain in the Persian Gulf, the guest of Sheikh Abdullah bin Hamad bin Isa Al Khalifa, the wealthy second son of the king of Bahrain. Originally a friend of Jermaine, the sheikh had musical aspirations with hopes that Michael might be of help. With Michael, he made plans to form a music company called Two Seas Records. In Bahrain, the sheikh wined and dined Michael in sumptuous high style. A palatial home was provided for Jackson and his family. Land was provided for Michael to build an even more lavish home. A Bentley, a Maybach, and a Rolls-Royce were also available for the singer. But professional ties were soon broken. “Michael abruptly abandoned Bahrain—and his royal partner’s plans for a record company after signing a contract promising half of everything he [Michael] created going forward,” reported Zack O’Malley Greenburg. With his children and their nanny, he departed for London, and later Ireland where he stayed for the next six months. In Ireland, he collaborated on new music with will.i.am of the group the Black Eyed Peas. But the sheikh had no intention of letting the matter just pass. He took legal act
ion against Michael. “When Jackson’s erstwhile business partner later sued,” said Greenburg, “the singer claimed he had no idea that [half of everything he created going forward] was part of the deal but subsequently settled for more than $5 million.” Obviously, it was money the singer did not have. Dejected and dispirited, Michael decided to return to the States—where other lawsuits and legal entanglements awaited him. But he had no choice. Finding himself in a precarious financial position, one that he could no longer deny, he had to pull things back together and also somehow work his way through his mountains of debts—for the future of his children as well as himself. He also hoped to perform at one of the big hotels in Las Vegas.
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I. In 2013, Wade Robson filed a lawsuit saying he had been molested. In May 2015, the lawsuit was dismissed in court.
Chapter 22
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ON DECEMBER 22, 2006, Michael Jackson returned by private jet to the United States. His plane touched down at McCarran International Airport in Las Vegas late in the evening. With him were his three children; their nanny, Grace; and an assistant. Waiting to take the passengers to a home where they would reside was bodyguard Bill Whitfield. Having been recently hired by an associate, Whitfield had not been told who his new client at the Las Vegas airport would be. He was surprised when he realized the slender man dressed in black who had gotten off the plane was indeed Jackson. Nor did Jackson know Whitfield, who was part of a motorcade of four Cadillac Escalades. But according to Whitfield, it “was not the same Michael Jackson who’d left the country the year before. There was no entourage nor a security team that night because there was nobody, period. He was all alone.” All the passengers were driven by Whitfield to a home at 2785 Monte Cristo Way.