Not another ‘Pepsi Moment’ comment! Oh no, this time it’s by Aussies…

Today, 23^rd April 2011, I was watching a repeat of the results show for ‘American Idol’ on FOX8 when a promo ran for ‘The Celebrity Apprentice’.

I wasn’t really watching avidly as I was working on a posting for my blog but I like having the TV on in the background. Sort of killing two birds with one stone – I wanted to know the outcome without needing to pay close attention to the whole show.  My MJ antenna kicked in when I heard this though:

“And…another Jackson who can’t stay away from a naked flame.” Accompanying these words was footage of Latoya Jackson in a kitchen backing away from an oven top which had flared up.

Now my American friends may have already seen this episode. We seem to be a week or two behind here in Australia.

But what angered me was this was yet another instance of Michael being blamed for something bad that happened to him. The Pepsi incident on January 27, 1984 is what they were referring to of course. How can a pyrotechnic accident be his fault I wondered? We should blame Michael for being a perfectionist and doing that fateful take, when in all likelihood he got it down pat in the earlier takes?

Michael handled the whole situation magnificently. Whilst in hospital receiving treatment for the painful burns he suffered, he took the time to visit with other patients, providing them with comfort and a little relief. 

According to the www.mjjtimeline.blogspot.com Michael only spent one day in hospital. He could easily have chosen to stay in his own room but he cared more for others. He knew his presence would bring joy and brighten what would otherwise have been only an ordeal.

And you just know he couldn’t resist a trip to the maternity ward to check out all the babies when he went back a few months later in April for follow up reconstructive surgery!

Later that year, he settled with Pepsi and donated the $1.5 million in damages he received to the Center that was named in his honor ‘The Michael Jackson Burn Center for Children’.

Michael turned a traumatic experience into something that has touched the lives of who knows how many people. But what do the media do? They use it as an opportunity to mock him. Now some will say us MJ fans are too sensitive. Certainly that was what some were saying after a comment made by a contestant on American Idol a few weeks ago. 

James Durbin was asked by the host Ryan Seacrest if he had any concerns about any aspects of his just completed performance to which James replied: “I have a lot of hairspray in my hair to keep it from jumping around, so much so that the one thing I was worried about was having a ‘Pepsi Moment.’”

I was watching that – and distinctly remember it made me intake my breath sharply. Then I realised, and was grateful for, the fact that James had described it as a ‘Pepsi Moment’ as opposed to a ‘Michael Jackson Moment’. I can not be mad at James. But I am furious with the FOX8 crew for the comment I heard today.

How dare they suggest Michael brought the pyrotechnic mishap on himself? Why is someone else’s pain and suffering fodder for their pathetic jokes?

It distresses me to write this because I am forced to admit that the Australian media are really no better than the Americans or British when it comes to Michael Jackson.

Up until recently, I had been quietly smug; thinking that the main culprits were in the USA or the UK. That’s true – both have acted abominably. Unfortunately though, their Australian counterparts have followed their lead.

To borrow Diana Ross’s phrase, Michael is a personal love of mine, one I didn’t really share with my family and friends until after he died. I assumed that the negative media coverage of him had probably influenced my loved ones perception of him. So I was pleasantly surprised when one by one they each told me that they believed the media were wrong and that Michael is the good person us fans know him to be.

Compounding that is the ridiculous satisfaction I get that our Aussie boys (Wade Robson & Brett Barnes) all vehemently denied any wrongdoing by Michael Jackson. The fact that they didn’t succumb to the temptations of the monies offered by the lurid media for any false allegations make me inordinately proud of my fellow countrymen.  

So I had been lulled into a false sense of security – that our media wasn’t as bad because obviously all my friends and family had a more balanced and fair view of Michael’s character. The recent natural disasters changed all that though. One particularly offensive member of the media pulled the ‘Broadcast News’ stunt. That is a movie from the 80’s where William Hurt plays a reporter who manipulates a piece – editing it afterwards so that it appears that he cries as the interviewee tells him her emotionally laden story.

On the promo for the interview with a mother who had her toddler ripped from her arms, the ‘Sunday Night’ reporter does exactly the same as the William Hurt character and they include a shot, just of him, welling up with tears! I was so disgusted that I vowed then and there to never watch that show.

And then I was watching some live coverage of the Japan earthquake. This insensitive female reporter was talking to an Australian who was in a Japanese subway and she said something like “I’ll let you go so you can evacuate.” That infuriated me, she thought her report was so important – she was begrudgingly letting the person go, seemingly indifferent to that person’s safety.

In conclusion, the worldwide media sucks!