Jerry Sandusky vs Michael Jackson

[Eve]

In a death-cage match?

Well, Sandusky’s got the weight and “still being alive” advantage, and is an ex-athlete; but Michael Jackson was a wiry dancer and could bob and weave. I think Jackson would wear out Sandusky after two or three rounds.

[Hippy_Hollow]

@The_Man_In_Black

The only difference I see is that Jackson had the fame and money to get out of it. Sandusky will most likely die in prison. Jackson was taken care of by his Dr.

Do yourself a favor and read the HuffPost article SerenaPerido linked to. I think you’ll see there are huge differences.

[The_Flying_Dutchman]

@Snarky_Kong

Cite?

Google “Michael Jackson”

[Ace309]

Dutchman, I know it’s supposed to be common knowledge that Jackson was a child abuser, but in light of the article posted above I think it would be nice if you made a prima facie case for your position.

[Cara_mel]

@The_Man_In_Black

The only difference I see is that Jackson had the fame and money to get out of it.

It seems like the opposite to me - it was his fame and money that got him into it. Firstly as a money-magnet to any and all types of extortionists and litigants (there was a lot - I’ve seen a list of people lining up to sue him for outrageous reasons, just trying to squeeze out the last buck). And his tremendous fame stoked the fires of the media until it got to the point where most people thought he was guilty. The people who didn’t believe this were the ones who counted - the jury, the fans, and a couple of reporters who went on to write books and articles. This one is great:

first chapter of Michael Jackson Consiracy - Aphrodite Jones

@lavenderviolet

I agree with those who think that Jackson’s death changed people’s perceptions of him a lot.
During the time between when the accusations came out and when he died, it wasn’t really all that cool to like his music and it seemed like the only time people talked about him was to make fun of him as a weirdo pedophile. Do the rest of you really NOT remember that? If not, I am pretty shocked at how short the public’s memory of this stuff really is.

It was only after he died that I noticed people starting to talk about how great his music was again and saying the “Aw, he was just misunderstood” type stuff about him.

This is just a snippet, but there’s more stats on the This Is It o2 concerts on the Wikipedia site. I think he was pretty popular, even before he died.

**Jackson’s official website allowed fans to register early for a “pre-sale” draw. Some fans had difficulty applying, as the website could not deal with the large number of registrations—reportedly up to 16,000 applications a second.[24] In the space of 24 hours, nearly a million people from around the world registered for pre-sale tickets, enough to fill the venue 50 times over.[25][26] Tickets that had not even been printed were selling on auction website eBay for £300.[19] Sales of Jackson’s albums increased following the press conference. Overnight, sales of Off the Wall rose 200%, Bad rose 110%, Dangerous rose 165% and Thriller 25 rose 155%.[27]

The two day pre-sale began on March 11, and 40 extra dates were added to meet high demand—five of these dates were reserved in their entirety for the public sale.[1] More than 1.5  million fans caused two sites offering pre-sale tickets to crash within minutes of going online.[28] In the space of two hours, 190,000 tickets were sold.[29] Two million people tried to buy pre-sale tickets in the space of 18 hours.[30] Veronica Schmidt of The Times stated of the reception, “Michael Jackson has floored his critics”,[31]
**

This Is It (concert residency)

[Hippy_Hollow]

I concur, SerenaPerido. Folks forget that Michael Jackson was the biggest entertainer on the planet and one of the most famous people who ever lived. Maybe his rep in the US and the UK took a hit, but the dude was insanely popular. I wish he had spent more of his time overseas touring. He would have made a mint and stayed out of financial difficulty, and been around a more sympathetic - no, fair - media. Unfortunately I think the trials and accusations, and the media’s behavior, took a toll on MJ so he couldn’t focus on what he was good at doing. It was a vicious cycle that ultimately cost him his health and his life.

[drewtwo99]

@Omega_Glory

Seconded.

Yeah that article was really well done and enlightening. I never followed the case, and I accepted the not guilty verdict, but this was really educational on learning WHY he was acquitted.

[Cara_mel]

@Hippy_Hollow

I concur, SerenaPerido. Folks forget that Michael Jackson was the biggest entertainer on the planet and one of the most famous people who ever lived. Maybe his rep in the US and the UK took a hit, but the dude was insanely popular. I wish he had spent more of his time overseas touring. He would have made a mint and stayed out of financial difficulty, and been around a more sympathetic - no, fair - media. Unfortunately I think the trials and accusations, and the media’s behavior, took a toll on MJ so he couldn’t focus on what he was good at doing. It was a vicious cycle that ultimately cost him his health and his life.

Thanks Hippy. The way I see it is, we all messed up – the media spun way out of control, and we, the sheeples, followed hysterically. And I think Michael Jackson had way too much fame and fortune. The vultures were always there, and I’m talking about friends, business partners, employees, doctors, the odd extortionist – and with the pressure of the concerts, no wonder he couldn’t sleep. The trials and accusations were the death of him, I agree with you there.

[Jim_s_Son]

Michael Jackson grew up in the public eye. I remember seeing one LA district attorney, Gil Garcetti, talk about how difficult it is to get convictions of celebrities such as Todd Bridges who commit crimes l Too many people just say “he couldn’t have done it. I say him every week on my TV in my living room. He is a member of my family”. They confuse the public persona with the real one.

While Penn State football is famous, Sandusky was kept out of public view. I remember thinking a few decades ago that since Penn state was famous for its linebackers, why doesn’t some team hire its linebacker coach as a head coach? But I never really knew who that coach was.