| MICHAEL JACKSON HIStory 3: The Bad Chronology |
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MICHAEL JACKSON HIStory 3 The Bad Chronology
The Trials, Tribulations, and Allegations
The Word Is Out, You're Doin' Wrong Gonna Lock You Up, Before Too Long “Bad”, Michael Jackson
This chronology traces Michael Jackson’s legal history over the course of more than three decades. Related dates, events, and details derive from major biographies, interviews, newspaper and magazine articles, as well as from web news sources. (A partial bibliography appears at the end of this document.) The timetable includes controversial and, in some cases, unverifiable allegations and claims made over the years by biographers, reporters, and MJ associates. Corrections, clarifications, additions, and/or comments are welcome.
1984 -Louis Farrakhan, Nation of Islam head, calls for boycott of Jackson 5 Victory Tour. Tells People Magazine Michael Jackson “is a bad role model. His Jehri-curl, female acting, sissified-acting expression is not wholesome for our young boys, or our young girls.” -(from LaToya Jackson autobiography): Jehovah’s Witness elder to tells devout Witness MJ: “Your movements on stage suggest sex; don’t do them anymore.” “My brother complied without protest and promptly changed the routine.” -Elder exhorts congregation: “I don’t want any of you here today to be hypocrites like MJ, who professes to be a Jehovah’s Witness…. Do not idolize him!” -JW church denounces satanic and pagan images in Thriller video.
1987 -Feb. MJ leaves the Jehovah Witness church. -Aug. 31 BAD released. MJ’s description (from 1988 autobiography Moon Walk ) "’Bad’ is a song about the street. It's about this kid from a bad neighborhood who gets to go away to a private school. He comes back to the old neighborhood when he's on a break from school and the kids from the neighborhood start giving him trouble. He sings, I'm bad, you're bad, who's bad, who's the best? He's saying when you're strong and good, then you're bad.”
1988-89 -MJ fires long time manager, Frank DiLeo, his “Uncle Tookie.” -MJ writes in Moon Walk: “Frank was responsible for turning my dream for Thriller into a reality.” -DiLeo: “It was cowardly…. I treated him like my own son.” -DiLeo threatens to go public w/ “secrets to make the tabloids blush.” -MJ pays him $5 million severance. (Source: MJ biographer, Darwin Porter) 1990 -Jan. 1 Release of LaToya Jackson autobiography, Growing Up in the Jackson Family: “Here is my book, the one my family doesn’t want you to read.” -LT alleges father, Joe, abused her, her siblings, and mother. -National Enquirer reports MJ offered LaToya money to cancel her publication contract. LT denies the claim. 1991 -Nov. -Jermaine Jackson releases “Word to the Badd” (at the same time MJ’s “Black or White” is released.) Lyrics: Reconstructed, been abducted, don’t know who you are. Think they love you, they don’t know you, lonely superstar… Once you were made, you changed your shade; was your color wrong? Could not turn back, it’s a known fact, you were too far gone.” -Aug. 5 - MICHAEL JACKSON: The Magic, the Madness, The Whole Story, by MJ friend, J. Randy Taraborrelli. Released. -Excerpt (MJ tells Taraborrelli in early 80s): “I don’t care when people call me a fag. No one knows the truth. No one knows who, or what I am. It’ll just make me more famous.” -Author’s agent, Bart Matthews, tells media MJ offered $2 million to cancel the publication contract. -MJ allegedly pays parents of Australian boy, Damon Patrick, $2 million (Source: Biographers Darwin Porter, Stacy Brown) 1993 -Feb. 5 security guards fired by Neverland supervisor, Norma Staikos. (Later, “the Hayvenhurst 5” file suit against MJ for Wrongful Termination) -Norma Staikos ran Neverland “like the Gestapo – We were terrified of her. You never knew from day to day whether you had a job or not.” (Neverland employee to biographer, Darwin Porter) -MJ promotes Bill Bray to head of N’land Office of Special Services (OSS). May 8 MJ takes 13-year-old, Jordie Chandler, to Morocco’s World Music Awards. MJ employee, Bob Jones: “M’s wooing of the young boy… was embarrassing: the cooing, the hugging, and holding hands… M and this little boy were, I dare say, in love.” (from Jones’ 2009 MJ biography, THE MAN BEHIND THE MASK) -June Chandler, Jordie’s mother, confronts MJ about sleeping w/ Jordie. MJ insists it’s innocent, “It’s about family, truth, honesty, love.” MJ gives June a Cartier diamond bracelet. (biographer Diane Dimond) -Aug 20 LAPD opens investigation into child molestation charges against MJ during his DANGEROUS Tour -MJ hires Anthony Pellicano, “PI to the Stars.” - AP later convicted of wiretapping and racketeering (see 2002, 2006, 2008) -Sept.14 Chandler attorney, Lawyer Feldman, files molestation suit against MJ. Jordie also claims: MJ shared homosexual pornography w/ him, gave him alcohol. MJ told him to repeat 3X daily six wishes: 1. No wenches, bitches, heifers, or hoes 2. Never give up your “bliss” 3. Live w/ me forever in Neverland. 4. No conditioning 5. Never grow up. 6. Be better than best friends forever. -Jordie’s father, Evan’s, dental offices ransacked. Dead rat in mailbox. -Jordie nearly hit and run by car. -Chandlers’ attorney, Larry Feldman, placed under federal marshal protection after a bomb threat. -Sept. MJ to Israel w/ teen Cascia brothers. Protesters throw stones, carry signs: Go Home, Pervert! You’re An Abomination! (Darwin Porter ) -Oct. MJ attorney, Bert Fields, unsuccessfully petitions Santa Barbara court for 6-year case postponement, beyond statute of limitations. -Chandler attorney, Larry Feldman, outraged over MJ calling Jordie “a liar and extortionist,” implying boy “is the reason for his [MJ’s] drug addiction. I am outraged. There is no deal [for private financial settlement]!” -Sister, LaToya, at Tel Aviv news conference, supports molestation charges against MJ: “I cannot and will not be a silent collaborator to his crimes against small innocent children.” -Brother, Jermaine, quoted in the London tabloid Daily Express: "I love him, but you have to wonder if there might not be some truth in it." Later, Jermaine denies ever having made the statement. -Sister, Janet’s ex-husband, James DeBarge, tells police informant (according to British tabloid) he walked in on MJ and Sean Lennon “together in a sexual way.” -Mother Katherine: “When I first heard the rumors that he was gay, I thought I’d go crazy… He is not gay. It’s against our religion.” -Oct. 24 Fearing arrest in U.S., MJ flies to Mexico City, joined by attorneys, his plastic surgeon, Dr. Arnold Klein, and friend, Liz Taylor. -MJ ODs on percodan. Suffers nervous breakdown. On "suicide watch." -Nov. 7 Neverland personnel director, Norma Staikos, flees home to Greece. (Returns to testify to grand jury two months later) -Nov.8 Police raid MJ’s rooms at Jackson family Hayvenhurst estate in Encino. -Nov. 12 MJ cancels remaining DANGEROUS tour. -Nov 22 “Hayvenhurst 5” file Wrongful Termination suit against MJ. Allege being fired by MJ because they “knew too much.” MJ countersues. H5 allegations: -In 6 years of employment, they witness MJ bring 30 to 40 boys to Hayvenhurst for sleepovers, some arriving in middle of night. -“Questionable tactics of Anthony Pellicano”…“conspiracy to intimidate or dissuade witnesses from testifying. Alleged Intimidation of H5: -H5 attorney, Ted Matthew’s, Pasadena office window smashed in. MJ files rifled. -Tan sedan pulls in front of TM’s Harley, on freeway, locks up brakes. Matthews crashes into rear bumper, breaks three ribs. -Dec. MJ enters drug rehab program in Mexico -Scott Thorson, former Liberace lover/companion, alleges early 80s affair w/ MJ in London. Offers to testify against MJ. Passes lie detector test. Challenges MJ to do same. MJ refuses, saying lie detector tests are “against my religion.” -Eddie Reynoza, Thriller actor/dancer, claims MJ raped him at age 16. -Dec. 20 Neverland: Police conduct 25-minute strip search on MJ, photograph his penis. Photos match Jordie Chandler’s drawing of same. -MJ calls search “the most humiliating ordeal of my life…a horrifying nightmare.” -Dec. 22 MJ paid TV rebuttal to molestation charges. Statement excerpt: “Throughout my life, I have only tried to help thousands upon thousands of children to live happy lives… If I am guilty of anything it is of giving all that I have to give to help children all over the world; it is of loving children of all ages and races… of believing what God said about children: ‘Suffer little children to come unto me and forbid them not for this is the kingdom of heaven. In no way do I think that I am God, but I do try to keep God’s light in my heart.” 1994 -Jan 25 MJ lawyer, Johnnie Cochran, finalizes $22 million out-of-court settlement with Chandlers. DA forced to drop criminal charges. -Jodie Chandler later moves to New York, has cosmetic surgery, making him unrecognizable. -MJ beefs up Neverland security: installs six locks on his bedroom door, w/ motion detector alarms. -Feb. 2 Geraldo Rivera show: La Toya claims MJ paid $1 million to father of his preteen companion, Jimmy Safechuck. -May 26 MJ marries Lisa Marie Presley in Dominican Republic. - Media speculate that MJ arranged marriage to quell homosexual rumors. -Dec. “Neverland Five” (3 security guards, a maid, and office manage) sue MJ for Wrongful Termination, harassment, eavesdropping. 1995 -June 14 Diane Sawyer ABC interview w/ MJ and Lisa Marie airs. Couple claims active husband /wife sex life. DS asks about MJ sleeping w/ boys. DS: Are the sleepovers over? MJ: It’s all moral and it’s all pure… It’s on the level of purity and love and just innocence. If you’re talking about sex, then that’s a nut. That’s not me. DS asks about “suicide rumors” MJ: I was never suicidal. I love life too much. I’m resilient. I have rhinoceros skin. -Evan Chandler files breach of Nondisclosure agreement against Sawyer, ABC & MJ -July Hayvenhurst Five lawsuit dismissed -Sept.7 MTV Awards: 250 million viewers. MJ kisses wife, Lisa Marie: “Just think, nobody ever thought this would last. -Dec. Chilean Journalist, Victor M. Gutierrez, on Hard Copy alleges existence of 27-minute video of MJ having sex with a boy. MJ files $100 million slander suit. -Gutierrez tells Vanity Fair’s Maureen Orth, Anthony Pellicano, threatened him, "Consider yourself dead!" Gutierrez alleges being attacked outside his L.A. apartment. "After I got beat up on the street by three guys, Pellicano stopped in a black Lexus, looked at me, and laughed. "He made my life miserable with threats to my family, to me.” 1996 -Jan. 18 MJ and Lisa Marie divorced in L.A. “Irreconcilable differences.” -Lisa Marie: “It was getting nasty. I was ready to kill him, I swear to God. -LM Calls MJ “the most selfish person in the world.” (Darwin Porter) -March Gutierrez publishes inflammatory Michael Jackson Was My Lover -April MJ allegedly pays Neverland nurse, Branca Francia. $2.4 million “hush money” for molestation of her pre-teen son, Jason. -Sept 15 Neverland 5 trial begins. (Ends: March 17, 1997) -Oct. 15 Jury awards MJ $2.7 million in slander suit against Gutierrez. (Author declares bankruptcy, moves to his native Chili.) -Nov. 15 MJ marries Deborah Rowe, Dr. Klein’s assistant, in Sydney, Australia. MJ allegedly honeymoons w/ boy Tony, “my nephew” (Darwin Porter) 1997 -Feb 13 First child, Prince Michael Jackson Jr., born to Debbie Rowe -MJ / DR joint statement to press: MJ is biological father, son not conceived by artificial insemination. -Later (2002) Debbie Rowe admits Prince I & Paris conceived by artificial insemination. -March 17 Neverland Five trial ends. N5 ordered to pay MJ $1.5 million for countersuit. 1998 -April 3 Second child, Paris Katherine, born. 1999 -Oct 9 MJ and Deborah divorced. D surrenders parental rights to MJ. -Over 100 lawsuits are filed against MJ in late 1990. About 50 suits per year. “M had become the most frequently sued performer in the history of entertainment.” (Darwin Porter) 2002 -Feb. 2 Prince Michael II (“Blanket”) born. (Identity of mother still unknown.) -Winter Myung Ho Lee, former MJ partner, files $14 million suit against MJ. -Lee suit alleges: -MJ consented to demands of former Neverland supervisor, Norma Staikos, for hush money -- in $70,000 to $100,000 installments. -Debbie Rowe threatened if MJ didn’t pay $10 million in divorce settlement, she’d “spill the beans” -Lee tells Vanity Fair’s, Maureen Orth, MJ paid Mali voodoo witch doctor, Baba, $150,000 to perform curse on Spielberg, Geffen, Katzenberg, and MJ “enemies.” – -June, 2003: MJ privately settles w/ Myung Ho Lee for undisclosed sum -Nov. MJ dangles 10-month-old Prince M II over hotel suite railing in Berlin
2003 -Feb. 6 Martin Bashir Interview, 2-hour documentary. w/ Gavin Arvizo, 12, on MJ lap. Bashir questions MJ about sleeping w/ children. -Feb. 19 MJ 90-minute Bashir rebuttal video, w/ Gavin. -Nov. 8 MJ deposed in copyright infringement suit (for “Thriller,” “The Girl is Mine,” “We Are the World”) filed by songwriters, Robert Smith & Reynaud Jones. Nov. 18 Eddie Reynoza claims to tape a 14-minute phone conversation w/ MJ about impending arrest. MJ: "My lawyers are going to get me out of it. It's nothing but scandal. They want my money… I wake up every day and think I'm in hell. I don't even want to be alive." Reynoza: "He's had little boys around for nine years straight, 24 hours around the clock.” R claims MJ showered parents w/ gifts "He would buy five Cadillacs at one time. He gives homes, Jaguars, trips for their birthdays." -Nov. 18 70 Santa Barbara police officers search Neverland. -MJ in Mirage Hotel, Vegas, w/ dozens of German or Austrian boys. Evicted. Broken liquor bottles, cigarette burns. Manager: “It looked like a hurricane had blown through.” $50,000 damage claimed. -Nov 20 MJ booked at Santa Barbara jail for child molestation. Posts $3 million bail. Released MJ alleges cops dislocate his shoulder. Dances on SUV roof outside court. -Nov 21 Jermaine Jackson interview w/ CNN Kyra Phillips, excerpt: “My brother is not eccentric. We had an incredible, wonderful childhood. My brother is about peace. This is nothing but a modern-day lynching.” -Nov 21 -LA Times reporter investigating Anthony Pellicano finds dead fish and red rose on broken windshield of her car. Informs FBI -FBI agents raid Pellicano’s offices. Find grenades and homemade bombs. -P arrested. Pleads guilty. Sentenced to 30 months in federal prison. -Dec. MJ hires defense lawyer, Mark Geragos (other clients: Winona Rider, Scott Peterson) -MJ soon replaces Geragos with Thomas Mesereau Jr. (other clients: Robert Blake [2003 murder case], Mike Tyson [2001 rape case] -Dec. 18 Santa Barbara DA, Thomas Sneddon, charges MJ with seven counts of child molestation, two counts of intoxicating a minor. - Sneddon family claims death threats from MJ fans. S buys a gun. -Dec. 25 Ed Bradley interview. MJ: “Before I hurt a child, I would slit my wrists” 2004 -Jan 9 MJ arraigned in Santa Maria, CA. Charged w/ 4 felonies, including molestation of cancer patient, Gavin Arvizo, -June 9 After 30 years of service, MJJ VP, Bob Jones, fired in Special Delivery letter from Randy Jackson. -Dec 17 MJ invites media to Neverland holiday party for 200 children. Event organized by his defense lawyer’s girlfriend. 2005 -Winter LaToya Jackson, on ABC News, defends MJ against new charges. -Katherine Jackson TV interview w/ Rita Cosby: Says many skinheads live in Santa Barbara county, and DA Sneddon’s son may be one. Claims Sneddon harbors “a personal vendetta” against her son. -Katherine: “There are two sets of rules in this country – one for the white people and the other for black people.” -Feb 5 Geraldo Rivera MJ interview airs on Fox. Rivera: “Once you get past the [Jackson] packaging, he’s really just a normal guy…. the case against him is profoundly and astoundingly flawed.” -March 1 People v. Jackson begins. (Jordie Chandler refuses to testify, reportedly fleeing country.) Prosecution calls 90 witness, Defense 50. 700 pieces of evidence, including MJ porn books: -The Boy: A Photographic Essay (prepubescent naked boys) -Boys Will Be Boys – (same) -A Sexual Study Of Man – (homosexual sex acts) -Magazines: Juicy, Barely Legal, Ripe and Ready. -MJ & Gavin fingerprints on magazines. -March In Touch weekly runs photo of MJ (46) and Emmanuel Lewis (34) in bed, sucking on baby bottles.” -April 4 Jason Francia testifies MJ “spooned” him in tickling sessions -J’s mother, Branca Francia, Neverland maid, tells reporter, Diane Dimond, MJ “made me lie all the time… That was his favorite word ‘You Don’t Know.” -March 10 Gavin Arvizo testimony, alleging molestation. -MJ missing in court for GA testimony. Judge Melville gives him one hour to appear. 67 minutes later, MJ arrives in pajamas and slippers, seeming sedated. -April 13 Gavin’s mother, Janet Arvizo, begins 5 day testimony. -MJ lawyer, Thomas Mesereau, calls Janet & Gavin “a mother-son grifter team.” Exposes Janet as JC Penny defrauder / Welfare cheat. -April Debbie R. supports MJ, damaging Prosecution. -D testifies that she never met her kids till they were three or four years old. MJ introduces her to kids as “a friend of your Daddy’s” -May 11 Macaulay Culkin testifies for Defense, claiming MJ never molested him. -Brett Barnes also denies sexual contact w/ MJ. -Sister Karlee Barnes testifies MJ slept alone w/ Brett virtually every night onDANGEROUS tour – “365 nights.” -MJ fans heckle MJ critic, reporter Diane Dimond, outside courthouse: Bitch! Liar! Diane Demon! Racist white she-devil! Burn in hell! Die! -June 13 JURY FINDS MJ INNOCENT OF ALL CHARGES. -CNN/USA Today/Gallup poll days after innocent verdict: 34% agree; 48% disagree. -Gavin Arvizo, adopts assumed name, goes undercover. -June MJ moves to Bahrain, guest of Abdullah bin Hamad Al-Khalifa son of Bahrain king, Sheik Hamad. Biographer Darwin Porter claims sheik provided MJ “personal boy servants” Oct. Eminem video mocking MJ, w/ boys in background: “Come here little kiddie, on my lap.” -Oct. 18 Marc Schaffel, producer of video “What More Can I Give?” sues MJ for $800,000 production costs, plus $2.3 in personal loans. Claims he did “boy searches” for MJ in Brazil, 1999 and 2001. Also claims he offered hush money to a Brazilian family. MJ countersues. -July, 2006: Jury awards $1.2 million to Schaffel, $200,000 to MJ. 2006 -Feb. 4 MJ private investigator, Anthony Pellicano, arrested on federal charges of witness tampering, wiretapping, racketeering, conspiracy, extortion, identity theft. -March 9 CA Dept. of Labor fines MJ $169,000 for failure to cover workers’ employment insurance. MJ pays up, plus extra $306,000 in back pay. -Nov. 13 Janet Arvizo found guilty of Welfare fraud. Ordered to repay $13,606.
2007 - JACKO: HIS RISE & FALL. The Social & Sexual History of Michael Jackson by Darwin Porter, released. -Quote from Freddie Mercury, Queen singer, MJ friend who died of AIDS in 1991: “I should have used Michael as a role model and dated only 10-year-old virgins.”
2008 -May Pellicano found guilty of 76 counts of racketeering & wiretapping. Sentenced (in December) to extra 15 years in federal penitentiary -Nov. Sheik Abdulla sues MJ in London for $7 million for unpaid living expenses. MJ settles w/ sheik out of court for undisclosed sum. -Thriller video director, John Landis, sues MJ for unpaid royalties. Charges MJ w/ “fraudulent, malicious, and oppressive conduct.” 2009 -May Former partner, Raymone Bain, sues MJ for breach of contract. Demands $44 million. -Nov. 18 Evan Chandler, father of alleged molestation victim, Jordie Chandler, commits suicide. Years before, E had been diagnosed w/ terminal Gaucher Disease, a rare metabolic disorder. -Jermaine Jackson states that suicide is proof Chandler could not live with the guilt of defaming MJ w/ molestation allegations. July UNMASKED: The Final Years of Michael Jackson, by Ian Halperin, released. Author correctly predicts MJ death in June. Reviews 1993 and 2005 molestation cases, concludes MJ was innocent. -Bob James (MJ ex-employee) Stacy Brown (MJ friend) release MICHAEL JACKSON: The Man Behind the Mask. Excerpts alleging molestation: -“It started to seem to me that Michael did indeed have some sort of sex drive and it wasn’t the least bit natural.” -“Michael had a sinister gift for identifying these boys…. I was continually amazed by how he could determine which of the many children he came into contact with might be “woo-able,” whose parents could be bought off.” -Neverland was “in reality… an enormously expensive lure, the ultimate candy from a stranger.” June 25 MICHAEL JACKSON DIES Posthumous Michael Jackson criticisms: Bill O’Reilly: “Talking Points is just about fed up with all the adulation. It’s basically grandstanding and pathetic in the extreme. Yes, the man was an all-star entertainer. That’s it. So, enough with the phony platitudes. The truth is Jackson’s interactions with children were unacceptable…. Now that he’s dead, he is a hero. How does that work?” Andrea Peyser (New York Post): “From the accolades, prayers, and cries of grief, you’d think you were witnessing the death of a saint, not an accused serial pedophile who hated the skin in which he lived. He was an amoral walking skeleton.”
Michael Jackson eulogies: Paul McCartney: "It's so sad and shocking. He was a massively talented boy man with a gentle soul. His music will be remembered forever and my memories of our time together will be happy ones” Liz Taylor: “There will never, ever be the likes of him again… [Michael was] "a modern day prophet." Rev. Al Sharpton: “A man who taught the world to love…. It was Michael Jackson who brought blacks and whites and Latinos together…. There are those who like to dig up mess, but millions around the world, we are going to uphold his message. It’s not about mess, it’s about his love message…. Don’t focus on his scars, focus on his journey.” President Barack Obama: “He was one of the greatest entertainers of our generation, perhaps any generation…. His extraordinary talent and his music was matched with, I think, a big dose of tragedy and difficulty in his private life. And I don't think we can ignore that. But it's important for us to affirm what was best in him.”
BIBLIOGRAPHY
MICHAEL JACKSON: The Man Behind the Mask Bob James/Stacy Brown (2009)
UNMASKED: The Final Years of Michael Jackson Ian Halperin (2009)
MICHAEL JACKSON: 1958-2009: Life of a Legend Michael Heatley (2009)
MICHAEL JACKSON: King of Pop: 1958-2009 Emily Herbert (2009)
JACKO: HIS RISE & FALL: The Social & Sexual History of Michael Jackson Darwin Porter (2007)
MICHAEL JACKSON: For the Record Chris Cadman and Craig Halstead (2007)
MICHAEL JACKSON CONSPIRACY Aphrodite Jones and Tom Mesereau (2007)
ON MICHAEL JACKSON Margo Jefferson (2007)
BE CAREFUL WHO YOU LOVE: Inside the Michael Jackson Case Diane Dimond (2005)
MICHAEL JACKSON: The Magic, the Madness, The Whole Story J. Randy Taraborrelli (1991)
GROWING UP IN THE JACKSON FAMILY La Toya Jackson (1990)
MICHAEL JACKSON UNAUTHORIZED Christopher P. Andersen (1995)
MOONWALK Michael Jackson (1988)
MAGAZINES, NEWSPAPERS, WEB NEWS SOURCES People Magazine Time Magazine Newsweek Vanity Fair Ebony New York Times LA Times Washington Post Wall Street Journal The Sun The Guardian Rolling Stone Daily Beast Huffington Post ABC News NBC News FOX News CNN BBC TMZ VH1 MTV News Allmusic NME
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