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Pop star's image tarnished despite what jury decided

By ERIC DEGGANS
Published June 14, 2005

It was a verdict some cynics predicted, certain that Michael Jackson's star power would protect him where the weakness of the prosecution's case did not.

But now that the world's most famous pop star has been found not guilty on 10 charges in his child-molestation trial, the singer still stands as a powerful example of a modern-day malady: the corrosive potential of celebrity status in America.

"It is the extreme case of how a celebrity-obsessed culture can result in extreme toxicity (for the star)," said Robert Thompson, a pop culture expert and head of the Center for the Study of Popular Television at Syracuse University. "Here is a guy who became so powerful, so wealthy, that he was able to secede from regular human society and create his own existence. Michael Jackson's story itself is a great American tragedy and one that has celebrity sitting right in the middle of it."

It is a curious conclusion, given that Jackson has, in the words of one TV commentator, "dodged the bullet of his life" in walking away with not guilty verdicts after his trial on charges he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor who visited his Neverland ranch.

But the four-month proceeding exposed the 46-year-old star's bizarre personal life, revealing his massive personal debt, stashes of adult pornography, details on how he shared his bed with children and other disturbing details.

Weeks before the trial's end, industry experts predicted Jackson's career would be destroyed by the spectacle - undone by public assumption of guilt regardless of the verdict and widespread distaste over the details of his eccentricities.

Which begs the question: Have we watched the slow-motion death of a cultural icon?

"Innocent or guilty, the Michael Jackson we know is dead," said Ronn Torossian, president of 5W Public Relations, a New York-based company that has worked with pop stars such as Ja Rule, P. Diddy and Lil' Kim.

"The ability for him to sell records and market his brand ... to continue to be a pop icon ... is over," Torossian said. "What parents will allow their children to buy his next CD? What publicly traded company wants to be in business with him? His only shot is the possibility of being the next Wayne Newton in Vegas somewhere."

That's why the Michael Jackson case somehow matters, despite the lurid details, empty punditry, tabloid-style journalism and celebrity-obsessed hangers-on.

Since he was first charged with molestation and giving alcohol to a minor in 2003, Jackson has seemed to devolve before the public eye - going from a beloved star to an odd, beleaguered, physically frail shadow of the guy whose 1982 hit album Thriller helped redefine pop music as the second best-selling album of all time.

"Michael Jackson sacrificed his life to greed years ago, when he decided that being big was better than being good, or being big was all that mattered," said rock critic Dave Marsh, author of the 1986 book Trapped: Michael Jackson and the Crossover Dream , speaking last week before the verdict was announced. "That's what our culture has become - this cancerous gigantism ... (assuming) that the biggest is the best. And he was always a horrible example of that."

Regardless of how the verdict fell, the implications would have been troubling. A conviction would have implied that Jackson operated his Neverland ranch home as a pedophile mill of sorts: attracting vulnerable children and families to an estate packed with amusement park rides and games, untouched by law enforcement for years.

And now, despite the not guilty verdicts, there are some who will see the decision as confirmation that wealthy celebrities such as Jackson, Robert Blake and O.J. Simpson cannot be convicted of serious crimes in America.

"If he's acquitted, the law's an a--," said Marsh, who was convinced last week the jury was wrangling over lesser charges. "I don't have a problem saying it is patently obvious Michael Jackson has done unconscionable things to children. A 40-something man sleeping with children, going out and recruiting them. ... The guy built his life around it."

The whole spectacle was a long way from the heights of Jackson's career, which he began in the late 1960s as a precocious child star performing with his brothers in the bubblegum R&B group the Jackson 5. He built his solo career with a series of groundbreaking albums: 1979's Off the Wall , 1982's blockbuster Thriller and 1987's Bad.

With mesmerizing dance moves and a series of captivating videos for hits such as Billie Jean , Beat It , Smooth Criminal and Thriller, Jackson was the biggest star of a then-emerging video age. He was ubiquitous in ways that seem typical for a megastar now, with 15-minute videos presented as short films and replicas of his zippered leather jacket sold at grocery stores.

"I remember when the Thriller video was released ... they had schedules for when they were going to play it, like it was a movie," Syracuse University's Thompson said. "He's in the same list with Sinatra and (Bing) Crosby and Elvis and the Beatles ... one of the biggest figures in the history of 20th century music."

Some celebrities have warned against prematurely writing Jackson off, precisely because of his achievements.

"He can always have a career making music," producer Rick Rubin (Beastie boys, Johnny Cash) told the Associated Press. "People are always interested in the great acts, and there's no question he's one of the greats."

[Last modified June 14, 2005, 01:26:18]