EDITORIAL: Michael Jackson and Racism
written by Rick Imamoto
It looks as if another multi-miillionaire entertainer is playing the victim card, as singer Michael Jackson is accusing Sony Records and its chairman, Tommy Mottola, of racism. Jackson is apparently upset that his latest CD, entitled "Invincible", has only sold 2 million copies. Jackson blames Mottola and Sony for not advertising the album during his television special, which aired on CBS last year. Jackson also accuses Sony and its executives of sabotaging his career after he had outsold white recording artists like Elvis Presley and The Beatles.
Joined by the Reverend Al Sharpton, Jackson held a press conference in Midtown Manhattan protesting against the record industry at large, bemoaning the fact that the industry had labeled him as being a “freak, homosexual, and child molester.” Inside sources say that Jackson’s real issues are that of a monetary issue and not that of racism at all. One of Jackson’s financial advisor’s alluded to the fact that Jackson has serious “cashflow issues,” and added that Jackson has been outspending what his royalties have been bringing into his wallet.
Taking into account that Jackson has endured a lifetime career of fame and popularity, perhaps we also need to consider the possibility of a bruised ego as well. Since his career peaked in the early 1980’s with the enormous commercial success of his best selling album, "Thriller", Jackson’s ensuing releases have steadily declined in terms of sales, beginning with the 1987 release of his album entitled, "Bad". Perhaps this decline in sales has something to do with the fact that a somewhat less than masculine figure is singing a song proclaming himself as “invincible” or “bad.”
Let’s face it people, Michael Jackson singing “I’m bad” is somewhat similiar to tennis star Anna Kournikova singing Queen’s “We Are the Champions.” Even still, i believe Kournikova (who has never won a tournament in her entire pro career) has a better chance of beating Wimbledon champion Serena Williams in straight sets at Forest Hills than Jackson does at convincing anybody that he’s bad or invincible.
When Jackson released the theme song to the motion picture "Free Willy" in the mid-90’s, it made me wonder if maybe he believed the movie was about the liberation of a little boy’s penis as opposed to the tale of a diseased killer whale. When someone like Jackson complains about being labeled “a freak, a homosexual and a child molester,” it makes me wonder what life would be like if Shaquille O’Neal got upset for people referring to him as “big.”
Mister Jackson, the fact of the matter is that most of the public at large are not willing to fork out their hard earned cash for the garbage that you call your latest music. My suggestion for a hit single would be to rework an Elton John song, maybe retitling it, Don’t Let Your Son Go Down On Me. The bottom line, Michael, is that you have not released anything worth listening to since the 1980’s. Sorry, pal, looks like you’ll have to put your chimp on a restricted diet. No more caviar for Bubbles.
C’mon, Michael... what happened to the days when it didn’t matter if you were “black or white?” For someone who describes himself as being “invincible”, it sure looks as if you’ve been beaten. A word of advice to you, Michael Jackson... cut out the pathetic whining, and start engineering a triumphant comeback effort. This sort of mindless posturing is far beneath an entertainer of your stature.
It saddens me that a recording artist of Michael Jackson’s caliber has resorted to targeting the recording industry as racists as opposed to blaming himself for his own lackluster creative efforts as well as his own lack of financial reasoning and general sensibility. In my opinion, Jackson’s limited commercial success is due to the fact that he is so out of touch with the common people, as his lifestyle and his music no longer speak to the hearts of people like you and I.