Michael Jackson (104 page)

Some observers who are sceptical of Michael Jackson’s innocence speculate that people in his life – his attorneys, publicists,
accountants and even family members – believe in their heart of hearts that the man is guilty as sin. It is thought that such
allies of his are merely exhibiting blind loyalty to him by publicly, and so vociferously, declaring his innocence. After
all, they have jobs to do, or family allegiances to protect, it’s thought. However, it’s not true. If a person is around Michael
Jackson long enough, he begins to believe in him. Michael is such an unconventional, curious person, the only way to truly
fathom him and his world is to actually be in his presence, experience it and take it all in. While he welcomes the support
of his inner circle, he does not appreciate it when they try to explain to him why outsiders are suspect of him and his behaviour.

‘He doesn’t want to hear it,’ his former close friend Uri Geller has explained. ‘I tried to tell him, “Michael, I know you
are innocent but you have to understand why there are others who do not believe that. You have to stop with the children in
people’s faces. You have to try to understand the public. It’s not just you. You are in the world.” He becomes sad, and his
eyes glaze over. Then he becomes angry. No one can talk to him these days, not really. So I think that people in his life
go about the business of defending him, and don’t bring up anything with him that really matters or addresses the problem.’

Ten years ago, Elizabeth Taylor and Lisa Marie Presley stepped into Michael Jackson’s world and attempted to bring some sense
and wisdom to it. They were not paid to do so, they did it out of love. If not for them, who knows how the Jordie Chandler
matter would have worked out for Michael.

Sadly, Michael no longer has allies such as Elizabeth and Lisa.

Elizabeth is too advanced in years and upset by the melodrama in her friend’s world to be recruited for such hard duty.

For her part, Lisa simply can’t become immersed in Michael’s problems again. It was tough on her, last time. When she ended
it with Michael, she suffered physical problems, a myriad of ailments, because she had been so anxious for so long about him.
In order to protect herself, she now keeps her distance. Some have indicated that she is more concerned about her new recording
career with Capitol Records than she is about Michael, and won’t align herself with him because of her fear of bad public
relations… as if Lisa Marie Presley has ever cared what the public thinks about her. Rather, she is taking care of herself,
say her friends, the way she used to take care of Michael.

Today, Michael Jackson’s best and most reliable support comes from people who are compensated by tremendous amounts of money
to shield him from the ugly truth of his world – and then explain away his deep sadness and pain by acting as if it doesn’t
exist. It’s not as if they have any choice. It’s the way he wants it.

How credible are the present charges against Michael Jackson?

While Michael is most certainly guilty of creating the appearance of impropriety where his current accuser, Gavin Arvizo,
is concerned, such wrong-minded choices about socializing with children – and making sure everyone knows about it – obviously
don’t make him a child-molester. As of this writing, the Santa Barbara District Attorney’s evidence against Michael is sealed.
Therefore, a firm opinion of his guilt or innocence is premature. Understandably, loyal friends and family members believe
he is innocent based on little more than… their personally held beliefs about him. However, critical-minded people who have
no emotional attachment to him have good reason for prudent scepticism. Still, the presumption of innocence is on Michael’s
side. That stated, the criminal case against him seems very weak, even at this early stage.

In the year 2002 and into 2003, Gavin Arvizo and members of his family had enjoyed being with Michael at Neverland Ranch on
several occasions. The Hispanic boy with dark hair and dark brown eyes from East Los Angeles is a comedy aficionado who aspires
to a career in that arena. At the age of ten he had been diagnosed with cancer so he was quite ill. He’d had an eight-pound
cancerous tumour on his left kidney; doctors were forced to remove that kidney as well as his spleen.

While he was sick, the youngster was asked by a comedy club owner in Los Angeles what would make him happy. He said he wanted
to meet certain celebrities – one of them being Michael Jackson. (Actually, Michael was third on the list, behind comedians
Adam Sandler and Chris Tucker.) Unfortunately, Michael has always been a sucker for young kids who want to meet him. After
the comedy club owner made quick arrangements with Michael’s ‘people’, one thing led to another, and before anyone knew what
was happening, Gavin and both his parents, younger brother and older sister were guests of Michael’s at his Neverland ranch.
It’s a bit startling, actually, when one considers how easy it is to gain entrée into the King of Pop’s castle.

Just as in the case of Jordie Chandler and his family, Michael became engrossed in the personal, complicated and troubled
life of the youngster. He not only began paying the boy’s medical expenses, and provided transportation for Gavin to get to
and from chemotherapy, he took him, his mother Janet Ventura-Arvizo and two siblings, Daveline and Star Arvizo, into his confidence,
into his secret world. He also extended his generosity to people
they
knew; for instance, he leased an apartment for the mother’s boyfriend. He pushed and pushed until he was fully enveloped
in their lives, exactly as he had with Jordie.

Caught up in the security of Michael Jackson’s cushy lifestyle, the family settled in. Compared to their lower-middle-class
existence in East LA, Neverland was… well…
Neverland
. They had safety and security – and the excitement of knowing a big star and trafficking in his exciting and privileged world.
Janet encouraged the children to call Michael ‘Daddy’. That was fine with Michael, but the immediate and inappropriate familiarity
suggested by the new moniker was disconcerting to observers in his camp. Didn’t he have three children calling him daddy,
already – his own?

‘It was too much,’ recalled someone close to the situation. ‘It was Michael not remembering what had happened with Jordie
Chandler and his old man [Evan Chandler, his father], and then letting these new kids and their mom into his world, no holds
barred. Whatever they wanted, man, they got. Money. Trips. Gifts. Toys. The whole Michael Jackson package. 360 degrees of
everything… and way too much alone time with the one boy [Gavin]. People in his [Jackson’s] camp were worried about it, but
there had been a lot of kids and a lot of families between Jordie and this new family, and Michael had let them all into his
life too, with no consequences. You can’t reason with him… he takes his chances. The questions for me have always been, when
does this guy have time for his career, how’d he even get to be the King of Pop when he’s so preoccupied with other people’s
lives… and how the hell does he keep track of all of these kids?’

When Gavin’s health took a turn for the better, everyone was elated. Why, it was as if Michael was some kind of miracle worker!
In just a few months, the youngster was born again. Of course, the fact that he was finally eating well and now able to afford
the best medications in the world – thanks to Michael’s largesse – didn’t hurt.

The story might have had a truly happy ending if everyone had then gone their separate ways. Gavin and his family might have
exited Neverland never to be seen again – with all being well that ended well.

However, at this same time, Michael was involved in the making of the Martin Bashir documentary. Bashir had heard about the
youngster and the transformation he had undergone as a result of his connection to Jackson, and wanted to include his story
in the documentary. Because it seemed like a good idea – he hoped people would
finally
understand his relationship with children if they were to see the footage – Michael agreed to it. When the documentary was
first broadcast in the UK, and finally in the USA, Michael was seen holding hands with Gavin while giggling and discussing
sleeping arrangements with him. He also made it clear that he saw nothing wrong with sharing his bed with children.

After the documentary aired on 3 February in the UK, and three days later in the USA, tongues began to wag about his odd interaction
with Gavin Arvizo. It was then that Gavin’s mother, Janet, complained publicly that Martin Bashir had allowed her son to appear
on the show without her permission. Of course, Michael did not secure her permission, either. However, at that time, the family
was still friendly with Michael and did not point out his lapse in judgement.

In truth, Michael Jackson isn’t used to asking anyone permission for anything. He reasoned that, considering all that he had
done for Gavin and his family, Janet wouldn’t mind seeing her son featured on his show. After she complained about it, it
was thought that she would simply have to get over it. However, Gavin was being ridiculed in public, other youngsters coming
up to him and taunting him for being ‘Michael Jackson’s boyfriend’. It is understandable that Janet was upset. However, Michael
had other problems, having to do with ‘damage control’. There had been outrage about the Martin Bashir programme, and Michael
charged Bashir with having taken statements and scenes out of context. ‘That damn Martin Bashir show didn’t work out as well
as I hoped,’ he told one of his staff members.

To set the record straight, Michael Jackson wanted to produce his own special and give his side of the story. He also wanted
to press Gavin into service: would he be interviewed for the new documentary and confirm that Michael’s behaviour toward him
had always been innocent? Yes, of course he would, and this time with his mother’s permission. Michael dispatched his so-called
‘video-grapher’, Christian Robinson, to tape an interview with the family. It seems unlikely that Michael Jackson would have
charged Robinson with such a task if he thought the Arvizo family would ever allege he was a child-molester.

Christian Robinson, who had been documenting Michael’s experiences on the road and at home on video tape for about two years,
sat down with mother and son at a private home to ask questions about the star’s relationship with them. He asked if there
had ever been any inappropriate behaviour on Michael’s part. ‘They [Gavin, his sister Daveline, brother Star and mother Janet]
answered and were very upfront and said “absolutely not”,’ he later maintained. ‘And during this interview, I told them to
speak truthfully probably more than thirty times. I kept reminding them, I want you to tell the truth, tell your story.’

‘They all felt that a miracle had taken place,’ Robinson recalled when speaking of Gavin’s recovery. ‘He says that Gavin and
Star insisted to him that whenever they slept in the same room with Michael, they slept on the bed and he slept on the floor.
They were so resolute in their answers, almost as if they were getting mad at me. “Why are you asking me this? Michael is
innocent.”’ He says that ‘the family was not coached’, and ‘the family was incredibly passionate, talking about Jesus and
God and Michael as the ultimate father figure.’

As mentioned earlier in this text, Michael’s rebuttal was finally broadcast – the awkwardly titled,
The Michael Jackson Interview – The Footage You Were Never Meant to See
– but it didn’t change the way people thought about him. His supporters still believed in him, and his detractors remained
critical of him.

The footage of Michael’s accuser in the documentary is unsettling, especially in light of the new charges. Gavin is bald,
a result of chemotherapy, and, according to the documentary, should have been dead by that time but was alive thanks to his
association with Michael Jackson. There is footage of the youngster in his hospital bed, of him being pushed in a wheelchair
with Michael at his side. There is more footage of him walking with Michael through Neverland, Gavin in a yellow baseball
jersey and the superstar in head-to-toe black and holding an umbrella as a shield from the sun. The two are cocooned within
the pleasant, familiar surroundings of Neverland, lost in conversation, in their own… world.