Well, okay, not exactly. But this eyebrow-raising item just popped up on the AP newswire:
BERLIN (AP) - Michael Jackson rewarded fans outside his Berlin hotel with a brief appearance and a glimpse of his youngest child - dangling the toddler over a fourth-floor balcony. The boy, his legs kicking, had what appeared to be a white cloth over his head as Jackson, briefly holding the child with one arm, displayed him Tuesday to dozens of fans waiting below the window of the luxurious Adlon Hotel. The child was the reclusive singer’s third and youngest, Prince Michael II, said Antje Sigesmund, a spokeswoman for the Bambi entertainment award ceremony, which Jackson is in Berlin to attend.
Good lord. You know, shouldn’t this prompt the local Child Welfare Services to rethink his parental capabilities?
The first thing I thought of upon reading the thread title was, “won’t someone think of the children?!” In this case, I hope someone does.
The first thought I had after seeing the picture was, “my god, did he find some unscrupulous plastic surgeon to “fix” his child, therefore necessitating the towel?” I’m sure it was a “privacy thing”, but the guy’s such a nutball that I wouldn’t doubt it at this point.
After seeing the picture, I’m not very shocked. If someone thinks he has a good grip on his kid he probably wouldn’t think twice about holding him over a ledge. Shows poor judgment, perhaps, but then I’ve seen parents throw tiny kids up in the air and then catch them. I could easily imagine some immature parents holding a baby in a scary position and saying “Oooh, scary”.
Of course, since it’s Michael Jackson, it makes front page news.
Side issue: would you prefer to be raised by impoverished, yet normal parents, or by an eccentric super-millionaire?
I dearly love my parents (who were the epitome of devoted caretakers), but if I had enough money that I could sit on a beach in Tahiti all day, I wouldn’t be complaining.
Well, Arnold, I think I’d rather be raised by poor, normal parents rather than someone like Michael Jackson. There’s just something about him that screams “years of therapy ahead”!
I have mixed emotions about Wacko Jacko. On the one hand, his face is melting, and he shrouds his children in towels while giving them a bowel-shedding scare. On the other hand, Thriller has a bass line that just gets me dancin’.
On the plus side, he’s a celebrity. How much time could he possibly be spending with his kids? Hopefully there’s a nanny somewhere who is their primary care taker.
Playing Devil’s advocate - yes, with the eccentric millionaire as a father, you may have years of therapy, but you know you’ll be able to afford it. And any physical ailments you have in childhood will be immediately treated. The poor but honest parents might not be able to help you if you need a liver transplant.
How do you define ‘eccentric’. There’s the Millionaire Dad who eats the same meal everyday, has hundreds of the same suit ‘eccentric’ and then there’s Michael Jackson.
With Jackson you can afford the therapy, and good thing, because, you’ll probably be needin’ it.
Let me take an example from fiction: Diane Keaton’s (as director) movie Unstrung Heroes. A young boy is raised by his two uncles who are mentally ill, yet the young boy is happy. Who’s to say what happens in the privacy of Michael Jackson’s home?
Now, if Michael Jackson is, in fact, a pedophile, then I agree that he should not have children under his care. But if he is only mentally ill? What about the parents who suffer from depression, bipolar syndrome, alcoholism? Should their children be taken away from them, and the parents institutionalized?
I wonder how much contact MJ’s offspring have with other children. For some reason, I envisage them growing up in a rarified, cloistered atmosphere will no exposure to the real world - kind of like the royal family, except 100 times worse.
A lot of parents with the conditions listed above can be fit parents and some cannot . That’s where DSS comes in, usually.
If Michael isn’t a pedophile, then maybe there isn’t too much to worry about. I believe he settled out of court on those accusations, so who knows what really happened.
I’m shocked that someone would think that money could make up for bad parenting.
I was agreeing with Arnold about it not necessarily being a big deal, but I just saw a clip on TV of MJ, and it did not look like he had a good grip on the baby.