TV and Movies

[Pearlee]

I watched Part I of the doc on HBO last night and will watch the other part and the Oprah show about it tonight.  I found both young men completely credible.  

And I found the mothers, esp.  Safecheck's mother (the American one), appalling.  She laughed and smiled and was at no point seemingly distressed about what happened to her son.    

Both mothers were seduced (pardon the word) by celebrity, fame, fortune, and all the perks they got.  Shame on them for allowing her son (and in the Australian mother's case, her son and daughter) to stay with Michael in his bedroom.

According to TMZ. Oprah is getting attacked., by Jackson defenders,  for her interview even before it's seen!

[VaBelle35]

Some famous people are calling Oprah out for doing this interview and supporting the alleged victims.

[VaBelle35]

If R Kelly has devout fans, Michael's fans are even louder and in greater numbers.

[Jannygaz]

I watched it last night.  As they showed the actual news clips of MJ arriving at various hotels with one young boy in tow or another, The clips showing him playing around with whoever was his "special" friend at the moment.  I thought "how could I have not seen what was so obvious?"  It's extremely disturbing.  The young men are very credible.  The parents claim they were seduced by the celebrity and money. But still, they certainly turned a blind eye to a lot of questionable behavior.  

[Pearlee]

I was just reading about the Oprah interview after tonight's show.  This should be interesting....I had noticed both men were wearing wedding rings and I wondered about their spouses (whether they were men or women, how they think the men were affected by the alleged abuse, etc.).  About Oprah's interview:

"The mothers, wives and siblings of the accusers were also interviewed, which seeks to paint "a portrait of sustained abuse, exploring the complicated feelings that led both men to confront their experiences after both had a young son of his own."

[LoriLori]

I watched even though I wasn't going to and it was immeasurably worse than any of us could have imagined.

We've heard, even seen in fiction, tv, movies, the behavior known as "grooming."  Every minute of Michael's time with these children was devoted to grooming and he groomed their parents as well.  I fault the parents but not as much as I fault Michael Jackson.

The wedding ring he gave one of them was chilling.

The descriptions of the behavior leave no doubt these two are not just telling the truth but they are being courageous.  They want people to learn -- and didn't we learn so very much that maybe only psychologists know -- about the grooming behavior.  The pattern.  How it happens.  With the parents too, though that doesn't excuse them.

All of the skeptics and people making snide remarks about a lack of evidence, watch it, hear these people and decide for yourself.

It is sickening.  And a pattern he repeated over and over.  Dazzling the parents, starting slowly with the boy, going further and further and further, playing the long game until they were doing things some adults wouldn't do let alone a 7-year-old.

Sickening.  

[ULY]

WOW! I'm perplexed because accusations are made w/o the man in question being able to defend himself. With that said though, some of the claims were outrageous, mind boggling, odd, disturbing, etc.., The way he was faxing the Australian kid was strange. Between using the names Doo Doo Head, Apple Head, etc.., I couldn't believe that was an ADULT typing such things.

[LoriLori]

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@ULY wrote:

WOW! I'm perplexed because accusations are made w/o the man in question being able to defend himself. With that said though, some of the claims were outrageous, mind boggling, odd, disturbing, etc.., The way he was faxing the Australian kid was strange. Between using the names Doo Doo Head, Apple Head, etc.., I couldn't believe that was an ADULT typing such things.

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I didn't want to watch it but I did and I will tonight. IMO the detailed descriptions and extremely credible descriptions go beyond accusations.  No 7-year-old could make that up, no adult could make up experiencing that as a 7-year-old.

The faxes, the jewelry, the deliberately juvenile way of communicaitng, the gifts, the families.  I remember at the time finding it creepy that he often had a kid with him dressed just like him.   It was so much more creepy than any of us could imagine.

They trusted him.  They should never have but they did.  He was an adult.  All pedophiles are adults.  He was as successful a pedophile as he was a singer and dancer.  All the behaviors and sickening how he manipulated the families.  The escalation of the sexual activity.  More and more and more.  The letting them go after a time for a younger one.

I want to cry.  "Mind boggling" is a great description.  I will make myself watch tonight.

[Pearlee]

@LoriLori   I too kept thinking it was grooming to the max, throughout the whole show.  And yes, grooming the parents too who were sucked in by the perks they were given.  And the mother who thinks she had a separate relationship with Michael is deluding herself.  She was a means to his end - her son!  I couldn't believe it when the rest of the family went off to the Rocky Mts. and left their son with Michael --- who would do that?  (She said she missed her son).   My parents in a million years wouldn't have allowed that.

And the mother who kept getting her hotel room put farther and farther away from Michael's, and not questioning that, just accepting it.  Red flags were flying high and being ignored!

Thank you for bringing up the "wedding ring."  The man then saying, "I don't like to look at this jewelry" made him completely credible, as was his talking about how he and Michael would go into jewelry stores and Michael would tell the clerk the young boy's hand was about the same as the woman the ring was being bought for.

Yes, these boys were credible.  And I'm thinking Oprah is going to come across as thinking so too in tonight's show.

[Angels&Ladybugs]

But anyone with an open mind can see the screaming evidence that he did these things.  He never slept with a woman or adult male in his life.  Only boys.  He only wanted boys and when they grew older he threw them away and replaced them.  Classic.

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Not true. Many people with "open minds" find the supposed facts presented suspect. And how on earth does anyone know if/whom he slept with in his life?