NEWS
November 3, 2009
SHAME ON THE Oct. 28 article by Chris Jones of the Chicago Tribune regarding the release of the Michael Jackson film "This Is It. " He perpetuates the false accusations that Michael was a child molester, that he was Wacko Jackson, that he had lapses in judgment. Michael was acquitted of the molestation charges as there was no validity to them. His marriages and plastic surgery are none of Jones' business. I hope Jones was taught as a child that if you can't say something positive about a person, don't say anything at all. Vera D. Royster Philadelphia
NEWS
June 17, 2005
IT IS TOO EASY to find fault with Michael Jackson's eccentric behavior because it is filled with so many contradictions. Michael was born African-American but now looks so pale no suntan can cure it. Michael married Elvis Presley's daughter even though Elvis once said that the "only thing a colored person can do for me is to buy my records and shine my shoes. " Michael says his childhood was abusive, and yet he has been accused of sexually abusing minors. It is not important how the media sensationalizes Michael's private life.
NEWS
May 6, 2005 | By ELMER SMITH
IT'S ONLY halftime in the Michael Jackson trial. But I have reached a verdict. Not innocent! But you knew that. You can't fill a phone booth with people who believe Jackson's contact with young boys is innocent. Anyone who would allow her young son to sleep in Jackson's bed or to spend an unsupervised evening with him is more pimp than parent. The term "neverland" should have taken on new meaning back when he made his first million-dollar payout to a pim, ahh, parent.
ENTERTAINMENT
September 27, 2005 | HOWARD GENSLER gensleh@phillynews.com Daily News wire services contributed to this report
THE reinvention of Michael Jackson continues. It seems the King of Pop is looking to become the King of Rap. Yes, according to Rush & Molloy in the New York Daily News, MJ is looking to become edgier. More hip hop. Less hopscotch. "Soon you will see him surrounded by all kinds of beautiful women," says Jackson insider and "Alien Rock" author Michael Luckman. And Jackson's reportedly close to landing folks like Jay-Z, Missy Elliott and Mary J. Blige to perform on his hurricane relief song, "From the Bottom of My Heart.
NEWS
May 4, 1991 | By W. Speers, Inquirer Staff Writer Contributors to this report include the Associated Press, Reuters, the New York Post and the New York Times
An unauthorized Michael Jackson book, just out, portrays him as a lonely, reclusive figure whose life has been shaped by disdain for his father, Joseph, who slapped his children around and flaunted his affairs. Along the way, Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness, by J. Randy Taraborrelli, details the pop star's surgical rehab and his jealous evaluations of fellow superstars such as Bruce Springsteen ("Really overrated. He can't sing and he can't dance") and Mick Jagger ("How did he ever get to be a star?"
ENTERTAINMENT
January 1, 1994 | By W. Speers, INQUIRER STAFF WRITER This story contains material from the Associated Press, the Los Angeles Times, TV Guide, the New York Post and the Washington Post
Michael Jackson broke his self-imposed, seven-week seclusion Thursday night when he turned up for a show at Steve Wynn's Treasure Island resort in Las Vegas. He watched with Wynn, ex-junk bond king Michael Milken and a squad of bodyguards. Jackson, in red-leather jacket and cap, was applauded by some in the audience. He's said to be staying at the Mirage, next door to Treasure Island. Meanwhile, the lawyer for the boy accusing the pop star of sex abuse said that Jackson was "stonewalling" in that the only written answers to hundreds of questions submitted in an inquiry involving the 13-year-old's civil action against him were his name and address.
NEWS
May 9, 2013 | By Howard Gensler
IF YOU believe in the notion of resting in peace, Michael Jackson is going to be tossing and turning. In an exclusive chat with TMZ.com, choreographer Wade Robson 's lawyer, Henry Gradstein , has reopened MJ's pedo-files. Wade spent many weekends with Michael between ages 7 and 14, and Gradstein told TMZ that Michael was a sexual abuser whose brainwashing finally took its toll on Wade last year and sent him into a tailspin. Gradstein said that Michael would tell the impressionable Wade, "If anyone ever finds out about what we did we will go to jail for the rest of our lives" and "our lives will be ruined forever.
NEWS
February 20, 2003
I'M WAKING up quite refreshed these days now that I know more about Michael Jackson than I know about why our nation's defense system completely failed on Sept. 11. Michael Jackson must be on the list of "Acceptable Diversionary Topics" handed out to the networks by the government. Maybe we should add "sequined" to our "Tom Ridge Danger Color Chart" to alert the nation when Mr. Jackson is up to no good. Mark F. Walker, Philadelphia With the newest bin Laden tape, it's NOW or NEVER.
NEWS
July 7, 2009 | By Traver Riggins and John Tampane, INQUIRER STAFF WRITERS
The boarded Uptown Theater in North Philadelphia was as much a place to remember Michael Jackson as it was a reminder of the good old days when the Jackson Five performed here 40 years ago. People began to gather outside the Uptown on North Broad Street for the 7 p.m. candlelight vigil more than an hour in advance. The moment of silence in the star's honor was brief. Instead, the crowd danced, cheered "We love Michael," and sang songs. More than 100 people, many of them baby boomers whose teen and young-adult years were fueled by Jackson's artistry, showed up last night to bid the star farewell.
NEWS
June 26, 2009 | By Alfred Lubrano, Matthew Spolar, Kia Gregory and Robert Moran, Inquirer Staff Writers
Tweeting and texting, phoning and yelling in the street, Philadelphia-area residents shared the news last night of the death of Michael Jackson, the oddity and icon who perplexed and entertained America for decades. Not so much a person as a once-in-a-lifetime event, Jackson was part car wreck and part comet, and the 50-year-old's passing on a warm summer night galvanized people in the city and environs. "I was devastated," said Neil Shore, 39, a disc jockey at the Camden Community College radio station, WDBK-FM (91.5)