Who’s Worse? Michael Jackson or Jerry Sandusky?

Jon Widawsky
Jul 20, 2017 · 4 min read

I have to say that on the whole, it pains me to write this. Growing up a huge Michael Jackson fan, I hate to think that the King of Pop is such a horrible person. PYT, Rock With You, Wanna Be Startin’ Somethin’- the list of amazing songs that I have spent countless nights dancing to is far too long to list here. But at a certain point the cultural conversation must be switched from discussing Jackson as a person who made amazing music first and discussing the allegations second to discussing him as a putrid predator who happened to be one of the best performers of all time.

When Jerry Sandusky dies, will there be in memoriam salutes to him, too?

Only so many smoking guns can go off before you put the pieces together. Jordan Chandler, a teenage boy, was able to accurately identify the discolored spots of Jackson’s penis. For me, this is the beginning, middle, and end of the discussion. There is absolutely no way for anyone to properly identify these marks unless he himself has seen the penis in question, and there is no way to see that penis in question without the owner of the penis knowing that it is being exposed. Once you allow yourself to believe that this truth is unassailable, there is simply no way to reconfigure any other allegations in a light that paints Michael as anything but the scum of the earth.

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Michael Jackson is a dirty, rotten, disgusting child molester. He didn't do it once, he didn’t do it twice, he did it multiple times, then paid off his victims. There are countless documents that connect the dots and show that this is the truth, not the least of which are that A- acclaimed choreographer Wade Robson admitted that Jackson molested him and then lied under oath about it as a child and B-an unnamed victim has evidence of checks written to her by Jackson for a total of $900,000 to buy her silence.

But still, in 2017, 8 years after his death, MJ is still viewed in the highest of regards. Bill Cosby has been removed from television. Jerry Sandusky has been viewed as the devil (and rightfully so). Aren’t Michael’s actions equally as bad as Sandusky’s? If Cosby can’t have his shows on TV anymore, why do we still have Michael’s music playing on the radio at all times, and on his birthday is he remembered as a cultural icon, rather than an uber-creep?

In viewing Jerry Sandusky as one of the worst people on earth, here is the basic list of transgressions:

  • molesting multiple underage boys over the course of many years
  • using his standing as a public figure to gain the trust of those boys
  • using his celebrity status as a ruse to allow underage children into his orbit under the premise that he would improve their lives in some tangible way
  • allowing these boys into his home and then abusing that trust
How is what this man did any different than what Michael Jackson did?

What makes these actions any different than anything Michael Jackson did? He literally did the same exact things, except he openly has admitted to sleeping in the same bed with the boys! In the same manner that Sandusky used his charitable foundation to lure in the boys to a place where they would trust him, Jackson too marketed his Neverland Ranch as a place where children can just be children and leave their worries behind.

Somehow still, in the cultural zeitgeist Michael Jackson is not viewed as a pedophile. Some people are aware of the allegations, but brush them aside. Many people won’t even admit that the allegations are true, brushing them aside and blaming the victims. Similar to the Cosby allegations, maybe one person can be fabricating a claim in order to extort money from a rich celebrity, but after so many allegations, can’t common sense dictate that we are so far over the deep end that at least a few of the allegations must be true?

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The question I have now is what Jackson’s legacy will be when we fast forward 20–30–50 years. Over the last few years, I personally have tried to stop listening to Michael’s music because it just makes me feel uncomfortable praising him in any way. In the same way people don’t watch The Cosby Show anymore, and that it is impossible to view OJ Simpson highlights without thinking of murder, in my mind Michael’s music his become inextricable with his child molesting.

Will society ever reach a point where Michael Jackson is remembered as a pedophile and not a performer? Over the course of many years, I really hope that the paradigm changes, I just don’t know how to make that happen. My guess is that as his victims become older and more comfortable with the horrible experiences Michael subjected them to, they will break their silence. One day in the next 20 or so years, the court of public opinion will shift, and people will see the truth. When this happens, will they stop listening to Michael’s music? I can only hope so.

Either way, to me, Michael Jackson can only be viewed in one way. Even though as a performer he may have been a Thriller and seem Invincible, he was simply Bad and very Dangerous, and the issue is as clear as Black or White.

At the end of the day, Michael Jackson is the moral equivalent to Jerry Sandusky, only with great dance moves.

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