Wow, this is some shit.

Let's hope they didn't take him to a children's hospital.

::stuck between making many totally inappropriate jokes and properly mourning a fascinating figure with unimaginable talent::

The NYTimes corroborated it with a city official in Los Angeles.

I'm truly saddened to hear of his passing. I hope he is remembered for all of the good things that he accomplished in life and all of the joy he brought to people through his music.

The first record I remember is Thriller. I used to sing along to "Beat It" with my Michael Jackson toy microphone.

I hope his kids come out of this okay.

I'm just going to go ahead and wipe the last 25 or so years of him from my memory. RIP

It's truly sad. He was full on crazy, but I think a lot of that was because of his fame. I would never try to apologize for what he may have done to kids, I have always just hoped it wasn't true. Anyway, two jokes:

"I guess it was time for him to Beat It."

"I knew he would do something dramatic to get out of his upcoming World Tour."

With all due respect to MJ and his loved ones and friends, RIP.

Holy Snap! Michael Jackson is dead!?!
 

OK, he was never gonna live to be 100 but really ...

Multiple reports: Michael Jackson dies at 50 - CNN.com

Entertainer Michael Jackson has died after being taken to a hospital on Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest, according to multiple reports including the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press. CNN has not confirmed his death.


A Los Angeles fire official told CNN that paramedics arrived at Michael Jackson's home after a 911 call.

Jackson, 50, had been in a coma at the hospital, sources told CNN.

Brian Oxman, a Jackson family attorney, said he was told by brother Randy Jackson that Michael Jackson collapsed at his home in west Los Angeles, California, Thursday morning.

Family members were told of the situation and were either at the hospital or en route, Oxman said.

Fire Capt. Steve Ruda told CNN a 911 call came in from a west Los Angeles residence at 12:21 p.m.

Ruda said Jackson was treated and transferred to the UCLA Medical Center.

Asked specifics of the patient's condition, he said he could not discuss them because of federal privacy laws.

The music icon from Gary, Indiana, is known as the "King of Pop." Jackson had many No. 1 hits and his "Thriller" is the best-selling album of all time. Jackson "as big as it gets" »

Jackson is the seventh of nine children in a well-known musical family. He has three children, Prince Michael I, Paris and Prince Michael II.

At the medical center, every entrance to the emergency room was blocked by security guards. Even hospital staffers were not permitted to enter. A few people stood inside the waiting area, some of them crying.

A large crowd was also gathering outside the hospital, according to video footage.

Outside Jackson's Bel Air home, police arrived on motorcycles. The road in front of the home was closed in an attempt to hold traffic back, but several people were gathered outside the home.

/me weeps...

*invalid link*

I screwed up the move and merge.. sorry

And let's not forget his earlier work:

CNN keeps sending me SMS alerts that he is dead and my iPhone AP app seems hell bent on making me know it too. If this is all they have to inform me all the fuss in the Middle East must have been taken care of previously.

Michael truly rocked the 80's. I am sad to hear of his passing.

Maybe pop music will die with him.

originally posted by wooDs:
I give it 2 hours, max, before the jokes start up.



Shit like this doesn't belong here on TFP,
in my opinion.

or I guess it's okay by the 'rules' as they stand.

I'm gonna be sick.

i have to say that i dont have any particular feeling about this beyond a vague sadness human level for his family & friends. and for him.

"Tasteless" has never been against the rules and has been embraced at times.

Things like this belong here. Death does not immediately confer sainthood. MJ was a great artist and a completely fucked up human being. There's no issue with acknowledging the latter. Unless of course you're going to impart similar sentiments on the dearly departed Laverentii Beria, who reportedly liked little girls, or Lou Pearlman who liked little boys. Both were absolute geniuses at what they did, but had a dark side, like most people suspected of Jackson.

So yeah, you can speak ill of the dead here.

He was absolutely magical to me as a kid. As an adult, I find him odd and unfortunate. RIP.

Were tasteless against the rules here, the board would be lacking the righteous indignation that we've gotten accustomed to.

Often celebrity will make as many people sick of hearing about "greatness" as those who are in awe of it. Jazz's mention of Jackson's dark side is a valid point. But if many people's entertainment is worth more than the victimization of children we are a fucked society.

http://picturesforsadchildren.com/blog/famous.png

edit: also, wikipedia (via reddit) brings us a startling twist to this story...

http://imgur.com/1VcFm.jpg

Very strange to me that I was the last poster originally to this thread and had some strong words to say about MJ. I was going to start a new one but decided to search first. I hacked my original post below:

I STILL feel the same as I did when I wrote that and yet I found myself unexpectedly crying when I heard the update that he had actually died. I think my sadness is because of what I said previously, I grew up with him and respected him at some point. He was great at his height.

I think mortality comes into play too. He was only 12 years older than me and was a huge part of my older "formative" years. It's hard to fathom that rich people don't have a huge team of doctor's to scour them from head to toe to find any "red flag" long before it kills them. Michael was Michael though. RIP

OMG Tito No!!!

I suppose I was secretly looking forward to a new MJ cd. Best of luck in the afterlife anyways MJ.

Michael deserves respect for his contributions to the music world. He was a great performer, and I respect him for the things he did in that regard.

Regarding his personal issues, they were more tragic than anything. Everything that swirled around him painted a picture of a man who was deeply, fundamentally disturbed. I never got the impression that he was as depraved or evil as some made him out to be, though. Naive, perhaps. Having never met him, naturally, it's difficult for me to make any such claims in an authoritative fashion.

The abruptness of this heightens the impact.

He'll be missed.

I couldn't agree more. I'm more disgusted by the people in the media that basically called him a piece of shit over the last few years and now that he's dead are lining up to kiss his ass and talk about how great he was.

Like Jazz said, death doesn't make one a saint, otherwise people like Gacy and Dahmer wouldn't still be hated.

I'm not going as far to say that I'm glad he's dead, but I'm not going to be hypocritical and pretend like he's a wonderful person now that he's dead. THAT is what doesn't belong here: being fake about how you truly feel about something. That's just dishonest, which, to me, goes against what this place stands for, but that's just my opinion. :)

of all the Michaels' in the world, only two michaels ever come up in my mind on a first name basis.

Michael Jackson and Michael Jordon.

both legends in their own right. you've got to be amazing to be remembered as Michael, and as a performer Michael Jackson was just that.

personal problems aside, his music changed the life of many. I'd like to remember him for his music than his personal issues. i could definately write a eulogy about the positive aspects of his professional career, but thats where it'd stop.

RIP MJ

Spector: An interesting point.

I think it's important to avoid either extreme. He was a human, and a rather bizarre one at that. My own preference is to acknowledge both sides, rather than portray him as a saint or a villain.

But people like caricatures. They're easier to understand.

I am not as shocked over his death as I thought I might be. I think it's because I feel we lost Jackson years ago.

His music and his image leave an undeniable imprint on anyone growing up in the 70s and 80s. What he became in his later years was something else entirely.

All I know is that his death is greatly benefiting my company: We sold all 35-40 Michael Jackson CDs and DVDs we had in stock.

Honestly, it may seem callous, but a natural death isn't the worst thing that has had, or could have, happened to the poor man.

I feel like part of my childhood just died, as well. I grew up with MJ-- had Thriller on cassette, a replica of that red jacket he wore with all the zippers, and some random t-shirts when I was five or six. The video for "Thriller" scared the crap out of me, and I couldn't listen to the song in the dark.

I don't really "mourn" for people I don't know... but this definitely makes me sad.

The word is that he was injected with Demerol just before his heart attack. Sounds like this will be a drug related death. His cause of death is due to be released on Friday.

Rest in Peace, Michael.

You were a severely misunderstood person. I hope you find the peace and privacy in death that you wanted in life. You were the King of Pop. We will miss you.

I remember as a kid, heading to Disneyland with my family, and we would head over to Tomorrowland. Since I was too short to ride the Space Mountain roller coaster, we went to something that (in my mind, at the time) was light years better than that.

CAPTAIN E-O in 3D!!!!!!

STARRING MICHAEL JACKSON

Directed by Francis Ford Coppola

Captian E-O 1986 Part 1 (8 min)

Captian E-O 1986 Part 2 (8 min)

In Disneyland, there's some light entertainment while waiting in line for their attractions. Whether you're watching R2D2 and C3PO argue while repairing a shuttle craft at Star-Tours or walking through an ancient pyramid at the Indiana Jones ride, there's always something to keep you ocuppied. At Captain E-O, it was a Making-Of featurette, where they when over the special effects, make up, costuming, choreography, etc, and they spoiled the whole movie for everyone in line.

Spoiler: With Executive Producer Geogre Lucus, the movie has a Star Wars meets Jim Henson's Workshop to it. The plot of the film is that Captain EO and his crew are heading out to a planet that has been conquered a techno-organic overlord and give them "The Gift", which consists of a few New Jack Swing dance numbers that change the world to a New Eden.

The short film features the songs "Another Part of Me", which was released on the Bad album two years later, and "Here We Are to Change the World".

Captain EO - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia

In the late 90's, Captain EO was replaced with, Honey, I shrunk the Audiance.

I find it interesting that when the topic of Michael Jackson comes up, I frequently find myself in the position of defending him for this very reason.

I have a really hard time believing he was a bad person... just severely disturbed. And not in the child molester sense, but in the incredibly naïve and unable to function socially sense. Everyone recognized that he was not mentally healthy, and that made it easy to see him as a child molester. The thing is, I don't think he was mentally together enough to actually avoid being caught and convicted, and he certainly wasn't given special treatment.

It seems to me that he was a victim of his own massive success, combined with being the victim of a pretty messed up family. His song, "Childhood," in particular gives a crushing view into the pain that was in Michael Jackson's mind. It's a terribly sad song in the context of his life. He lived his entire life in the spotlight, and he just never learned to deal with it.

---------- Post added at 04:44 AM ---------- Previous post was at 03:47 AM ----------

Andrew Sullivan said it quite well...

The Daily Dish | By Andrew Sullivan

Oh lighten up ffs. I bet you're a hit at parties.

Toughen up or something as I'm certain you'll read about even more offensive jokes online and / or hear them irl.

---

-+-{Important TFP Staff Message}-+- What does belong here at TFP is a certain level of respect for fellow members. Please take that into consideration before clicking the post button.

As initially indifferent I felt about this, I dreamed of Michael Jackson last night.

He's no more dead than Elvis, Cobain, Tupac and Lennon. He's just become eternal.

We no longer have saints, we have mythic celebrities.

"Who will exhume Brigitte Bardot and see if her fingers bleed? Who will test the sweet smell in the tomb of Marilyn Monroe? Who will slip with James Cagney's head? Is James Dean flexible?" Leonard Cohen, Beautiful Losers

For me, it comes down to this:

He was filled with talent and torment.

How soon we jump all over his allegations of sexual abuse, while forgetting or overlooking the severe physical and emotional abuse he suffered at the hands of his father.

---------- Post added at 12:09 PM ---------- Previous post was at 10:16 AM ----------

Michael Jackson currently owns the top 15 on Amazon.com:

other than when he was in the jackson 5, i think this was one of the best things he did.

...that's still no excuse.

`

Is anything? :rolleyes:

I think it's pretty shitty that he gets more attention than Farrah or Ed. Although, I'm sure the families of the other two are seeing it as a blessing in disguise. Maybe if his family copyrights his name real quick, they can pay off his massive $400+ million debt.

His talent does not excuse his crimes, nor can his crimes in themselves really deny the sheer audacity of his talent as a performer.

As a human being he was deeply flawed, had a hard time growing up, but grew up to subject people to dispicable crimes (not proved in a court of law, but found wanting in the court of public opinion).

The tracks and video's he put out when he was younger will always be classics

As a human, the best I can say is that may he rest in peace. A deeply troubled and damaged life has come to an unhappy end. I wont light any candles for him... yesterday a lot of people who never abused a child died also. I think broadly we can say Jackson proabably was not a rapist, but probably was factually guilty of abuse of his position and taking advantage of people who were too young to be able to say no and too young to be involved in adult things in any case. But also it is nothing to celebrate and I take no joy nor wish to make silly jokes about the death of a human being.