I was incensed at the tone of Wednesday's nationally televised press conference announcing a warrant for Michael Jackson's arrest on charges of child molestation. It proved again that when it comes to Michael Jackson, everything - even the sexual abuse of a child - is a laughing matter. I watched the press conference with a St. Petersburg Times colleague and we both were shocked over the jokes and guffaws bandied about by Santa Barbara District Attorney Thomas W. Sneddon Jr., Sheriff Jim Anderson and the media.
I'm not saying people aren't going to make jokes. Heck, that's to be expected. But, when I'm hearing the news from police, I want the news, not clever banter. These people were discussing an adult who now faces multiple charges of child sexual molestation, who has a warrant for his arrest, with prosecutors asking for bail to be set at $3-million. These are grim charges, and yet, the entire room erupted in laughter several times. I half expected Saturday Night Live cast members to waltz in and start a great sketch.
The sheriff and the DA and the media folks may as well have been discussing any of Wacko Jacko's shenanigans - the sleep chamber, the quickie marriage to Lisa Marie Presley, the fact that he makes his three children wear those surgical masks in public.
The most shameful moment was when a member of the press asked what we should tell parents who are considering letting their children stay at Neverland Ranch (as if this were a risk posed to so many).
"My advice is don't do it," Anderson said. The room erupted in laughter.
"None of our kids were there!" Sneddon said, grinning.
More laughter.
The conference ended and the camera was back on the befuddled CNN correspondent at the desk in the studio. She was shaking her head. She commented on the humor in the press room being out of synch with what were certainly not "humorous charges" against Jackson.
Chalk it up to the Jackson freak show.
We've always suspected something's a little off about Michael Jackson's private life. We mused about what goes on in that Neverland compound of his out in Los Angeles. Whenever his kooky image appears in the media - dangling that baby over the balcony, or holding up placards asserting that then-Sony chief Tommy Mottola was the devil - we dismiss "Wacko Jacko," chalk him up as an eccentric, and let him do his thing.
Jackson's not nearly as Bad or Dangerous as he likes us to think. We snicker.
In all of the media's coverage of Jackson, that's the message. He's kooky! Look at him on that make-believe date with Brooke Shields, or Madonna. Nudge, nudge. Wink.
Tuesday's raiding of the pop star's Neverland Ranch by Santa Barbara County law officials reminded us again that Jackson's "thing" may not be so kooky and innocent. The morning raid confirmed an "ongoing criminal investigation" of child molestation charges by a single 12-year-old accuser. Wednesday an arrest warrant was issued for Jackson, 45. This time, Jackson may not squirm out of it.
Flashback to 1993: Jackson was accused of child molestation by a 13-year-old boy. By that point the world had come to expect weirdness from Jackson. After spending the last few years of the late 1980s displaying increasingly bizarre behavior - sleeping in the hyperbaric chamber, attempting to buy the Elephant Man's remains - the star who once moon walked his way to the top of the world had entered a freaky realm all his own.
And the media loved it: Jackson's in his mid 30s and he cavorts with little boys in his PJs! (Jackson admitted this year in an ABC television documentary that he enjoyed sleeping in bed with children. In the film, a 12-year-old boy, diagnosed with cancer, shares stories of sleeping in Jackson's bed. Filmmaker Martin Bashir suggests to Jackson that some may perceive this behavior as inappropriate. Jackson says those people are "wacky.")
Jackson got out of that 1993 debacle: The civil suit against the singer was settled out of court, reportedly for millions of dollars. (The next year, the criminal case was closed; the boy refused to testify. Prosecutors said two more children also refused to testify.) Somehow, Jackson managed to still have a career; he sold two more platinum albums (though critics noted their decreasing quality), had several hits and a few television specials.
Will the investigation go differently this time?
At what point does this man become accountable for his actions? Jackson received the Humanitarian Award at the 2003 Radio Awards.
I don't care how eccentric an artist is, he or she is not excluded from the rules of basic human decency. Or the law. If kooky Michael Jackson is molesting children at Neverland Ranch, it's not funny. It needs to be stopped.
