Radio Australia Today Editorial

Michael Jackson. No resting in peace here.

30 June 2009

This morning some newspapers in Australia simply couldn’t make up their minds.

You see, someone had leaked the details of Michael Jackson’s autopsy, and this left the papers in a dilemma. It had all the tribute stories ready to go, with quotes from Jackson’s former producers, candle-bearing fans, co-musicians and family. But how do you reconcile something as salacious as an autopsy report with the feel-goodness of a memorial service? Or with Jackson’s former wife Debbie Rowe’s revelation that Jackson wasn’t the biological father of their children?

Answer: You don’t. You don’t even bother trying to reconcile the two. You just stick them in together. The Herald Sun here in Melbourne even jammed together on the front page Janet Jackson’s tribute to her brother, with Debbie Rowe’s claims. And boy, these juxtaposed headlines made for very strange bedfellows.

Stranger bedfellows, you might think are Debbie Rowe herself and Jackson. Why would this woman come out and tell the world that Jackson was not the father of their kids? The children would be in grieving, along with family and fans. A pretty tough time to let them know that their father is not their father. Even if they already knew about it, the embarrassment of a disclosure when the world’s media was focussing on the death of the man they had known as their father would be overwhelming for them. Parentage is a private matter, and should’ve stayed that way.

Being famous is no excuse for every single right to decency to be forgotten. Michael Jackson was a man who gave joy to millions. He may have lived a totally weird life, but it was his life to live.

How sad that his death has become an intrusive circus.

– Phil