‘Paedo’ Michael Jackson still making MILLIONS for stars and music bigwigs nearly a decade since his death
IT has been nearly a decade since his death, but Michael Jackson is still one of the world’s highest- earning singers, raking in an incredible £150million every year.
Barely a month goes by without a new Jackson product being launched for his adoring fanbase — be that an unreleased song, a collaboration with a living superstar or the enduring success of the Thriller musical.
9But in the #MeToo era, questions are now be asked about why some of the biggest names in showbusiness are still flagrantly cashing in on a man who has become synonymous with child abuse allegations.
Charges of hypocrisy are becoming hard to ignore.
Jackson’s alleged crimes, which now include new and explosive sex abuse claims in shocking film documentary Leaving Neverland, seem to have been completely ignored, despite similar accusations costing the careers of his showbiz contemporaries.
As The Sun revealed last week, the film features claims Jackson sexually abused young dancer Wade Robson from the ages of seven to 14, including performing oral sex on him.It also alleges he began abusing child actor James Safechuck when he was just ten, after meeting him on a Pepsi advertising shoot.
James, now 40, says in the movie the singer taught him secret signals for when he wanted sex, such as scratching his hand with a finger.
‘WHEN A SONG PLAYS, CASH REGISTER GOES KER-CHING’
And he claims the singer would abuse him in a secret “sex cupboard” in his bedroom.
Lawyers for Jackson’s estate, now flush with money, are incredibly protective of his legacy and have angrily hit back at claims in the film.
For Leaving Neverland’s British director Dan Reed, this reaction is no great shock, and goes to the heart of why this one-time pop Goliath is still regarded as untouchable.
He said: “Every time a song plays, a cash register goes ‘ker-ching.’
It doesn’t surprise me that they’ve come out fighting in defence of their asset.”
Jackson’s brother Jermaine, 64, admitted on Good Morning Britain that Jackson made out-of-court settlements to accusers during his lifetime.
Paying off victims alone was enough to tarnish the careers of R&B singer R Kelly, Hollywood actor Kevin Spacey and movie mogul Harvey Weinstein.
Nobody will work with them again.
Yet Jackson’s brand is as strong as ever, despite prominent figures in the US, including Black Lives Matter co-founder Patrisse Cullors, referring to him as a “paedophile”.
And the machine behind Jackson’s estate is almost as powerful now as it was at the height of his fame in the Eighties, when he sold 109million copies of album Thriller and 30million of follow- up Bad.
In 2017 his record company Sony brokered a multi-million pound deal to extend the term of their control of his back catalogue, giving them licence to partner up on projects produced by his estate.
These include two new movies and A-list collaborations on songs Jackson had recorded but not released before his death in 2009 aged 50.Canadian superstar rapper Drake, 32, is one of these collaborators.
Last July he released single Don’t Matter To Me, which featured vocals from an unreleased recording by Jackson made back in 1983.
John Branca, co-executor of Jackson’s estate, said of the posthumous link-up: “Drake was so passionate about it”.
He must have been — buying the rights to those vocals would have cost hundreds of thousands of pounds.
Also undeterred by the allegations — first raised in 1993 when Jackson was accused in a civil law suit of molesting boy of 13, before settling out of court — is fellow R&B star Usher.
The singer performed at an event last August to mark what would have been Jackson’s 60th birthday.
I couldn’t say no. MJ just holds this place in people’s hearts which is so special
DJ and producer Mark Ronson
British DJ and producer Mark Ronson was also there, playing a set featuring his new track Diamonds Are Invincible, which is a mash-up of eight of Jackson’s biggest hits.
Gushing about Jackson at the event in Las Vegas, Ronson said: “I couldn’t say no. MJ just holds this place in people’s hearts which is so special.”
The celebration also included an evening performance of a Cirque du Soleil show called Michael Jackson One.
The Canadian entertainment company, the largest theatrical producer in the world, paid millions to the Jackson estate to create themed shows.
Cirque du Soleil is one of four stage shows based on the singer, along with Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour, West End production Thriller Live! and a new as-yet-untitled Broadway musical which begins in 2020.
GAGA BOUGHT JACKO’S JACKET AND CRYSTAL GLOVE
On top of that, a landmark exhibition celebrating Jackson’s influence on artists is now touring Europe after being launched by the National Portrait Gallery last year.
Music icon and Oscar contender Lady Gaga is also a huge Jackson fan and determined to preserve his legacy.
In 2016, she admitted spending “millions” on more than 400 pieces of Jackson memorabilia, including a jacket from his Bad video and a crystal-studded glove.
She intends to display them in a museum dedicated to her idol.
And Gaga’s loyalty to Jackson has remained intact, despite her being quick to distance herself from ex-collaborator R Kelly after a documentary series in January shed new light on allegations of the singer’s abuse of under-age girls.
While R Kelly was axed by his label Sony shortly afterwards, Jackson is still retained by the record company as one of their most lucrative assets.
Many radio stations pulled the plug on playing R Kelly’s hits — a move not even contemplated by any established radio station in the case of Jackson.
And certainly the star’s fans seem to not be turning against him.
In response to the new film, which premiered in the US last week, they have flooded social media in his defence.
Like the Jackson estate’s lawyer, they point out that Wade Robson, now 36 and one of the two accusers in the film, testified in another abuse case against Jacko, in 2005, that Michael had never touched him.And they note that every time an allegation has been tested in court, it has been dismissedThe diehard fans’ support — and their willingness to keep spending — means Jackson remains a powerful force.
But an unstoppable one?
That remains to be seen.
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9Jermaine Jackson asks Michael Jackson accusers to ‘Leave us alone’ as fallout from Leaving Neverland documentary escalates
