Quincy Jones once said that when he used to go to Michael Jackson’s house, the only pictures of children to be found were of white and usually blond children, and that it was obvious that Jackson just didn’t want to be black. Jackson also strove to a ridiculous degree to remain or appear boyish.
So I’m thinking that it’s entirely possible that he didn’t want his children to have black genes and therefore he had their mothers impregnated by artificial insemination from sperm donors who weren’t black, or that perhaps he’d even gone so far in his attempts to remain boyish that he had himself chemically castrated.
All in all I would be very surprised if Jackson is the biological father of those three kids.
I love how I’ve been in two MJ threads in the past two days.
First - as others have said, in any way that matters MJ was their dad. He loved them and they obviously loved him. Any aspersions about their parentage is really the stuff of tabloids, and I have to admit I would love to see one of these kids moonwalking or singing like their dad. Kinda like how Jakob Dylan is a better looking, better sounding version of his dad.
SerenaPerido’s link is worth checking out. Those kids look a lot like Michael, especially Blanket. It’s his brow and eyes. As far as skin tone goes, I live in Texas and we are right next to Louisiana. I know tons of 100% black folk who are as yellow as they come. So that matters not a whit to me that the kids are so bright. I mean, this guy is 100% Black. I know his grandson, and he is the Whitest Black person I’ve ever met - nothing about him except his voice seems Black, which is amazing because he’s an amazing civil rights and diversity champion.
monstro, you’re my homey and all, but I think Quincy had some jilted partner issues with Michael for a bit, and his comments about not wanting to be Black - I think that’s nonsense. His vitiligo started back in the 1970s, and he tried to camouflage it with makeup - over the years the patches became larger, and it was easier to apply makeup matching the lighter skin rather than the darker. I agree that he had body dysmorphic disorder, but that might have been exacerbated by the vitiligo, don’t you think?
MJ made trips to Africa and proclaimed his Black pride, so I don’t buy that he was ashamed of his Blackness. It must have been incredibly frustrating to have people regularly call you out for not wanting to be Black when fate was working against your (phenotypical) Blackness.
I think someone can like being black–or rather, not mind being black–but not like the facial features that come with being black. Like wanting a thinner nose, thinner lips, lighter skin, etc. We all know people who are colorstruck and insecure about the things that make them “different”. He simply had the means and the eccentricity to fulfill the desire that many people secretly harbor.
If MJ had left something about his appearance that indicated he was a black post-pubscent man, I’d agree with you that it was just diffuse body dysmorphic disorder. But he didn’t just change his nose, didn’t just change his mouth, didn’t just change his hair or skin. He went the whole enchilada. There is more evidence suggesting he had more personal issues with his blackness than not. The huge wall portrait of him being carried by white cherubs shown in that Martin Bashir interview does not make me think “BLACK PRIDE!!!”
I never bought the vitiligo excuse. Not saying he didn’t have it–I’ve seen the pics that show he had something weird going on. But I’ve never heard of someone covering up their vitiligo by bleaching their skin. Make-up, yes. But not going white…and whiter with every album release. I was blinded by the whiteness in that “You Are Not Alone” video; I cannot watch it because it’s so unnatural to me. He bared that pale flesh so much that it’s hard not to think he was flaunting it.
The look-alike pictures of Blanket don’t sway me. I admit this might be a silly reason, but here goes: Katherine and Joe had some strong-ass genes. All the Jackson kids look alike. And most of their kids look Jacksonish. But MJ’s kids do not have those signature Jackson features. Not even Blanket. Yes, he does resemble MJ in those pics. But I’m not convinced you couldn’t find other little kids and angle them in the right way to get the same effects. All little kids tend to have similar features, IMHO.
It’s not keeping me up at night, and I usually come out swinging in defense of MJ on all other fronts. But until there’s DNA evidence, I am skeptical those are his kids.
Those are his kids, but like others have said, until there’s DNA proof, I’m not going to be convinced that the kids are his biological children. I know all about dark skinned people having lighter kids and light skinned people having darker children, but it seems very convenient to me that the dark skinned guy who appeared to have issues with strong black features ended up with not just one, but several children who didn’t have any of those features.
Both of those women have racial make ups similar to the one Michael’s kids are supposed to have (both women have a white parent and a black one), yet they don’t look anything like Michael’s children. It’s their *children *who do.
Yea, we all know this, but there is a reason why situations where, for example, two dark people have a child who looks white often literally makes the news.
Of course and while there are many blacks who have two black parents, by US standards, but enough white genes to make them functionally 50% or more white, the Jacksons don’t appear to be among them.
The average degree of admixture for African Americans is about 80% African and 20% European. The Jacksons seem about average.
That means your average biracial American person (one white parent and one black parent) is about 60% European and 40% African. The Jackson’s don’t seem to fall into that category. Phenotypically, older MJ looked the part, but that was do to non-genetic factors.
Again, if only one of them looked white, I wouldn’t be suspicious. But all three of 'em? That rarely happens. I know it can happen–everything can happen–but the likelihood of it happening to MJ, a man who had ceased looking like a black dude a long time ago, a guy who–for all his love of black people–did not select black egg donors…it just seems mighty convenient, as Omega says.
Now why was Prince Michael tow-headed? I am remembering that correctly, yes? Either that was his natural hair or it was dyed–neither make a good argument in support of MJ being the bio dad. I’ve seen blond biracial kids before–my biracial brother (adopted) had red hair as a kid. And my father had light hair too as a boy. But that child was blonder than those “Children of the Damned” kids! How in the hell does that happen to the child of a black dude? So maybe it was a dye job. OK, but then WHY?! MJ was eccentric, but out of all the hair colors he could have selected, why the one associated with the Nordic race? Especially given all the accusations about him rejecting his race? And if he could do something as crazy as that–in addition to lying about how many surgeries he has had–then he could falsely claim to be the biological father of some white-looking kids.
Recessive genes can do some interesting stuff, and her face IMHO looks pretty close to Michael’s. Anyway, I bet if she had a different haircut and accessories, she would look a lot more “black.” These are pretty fluid categories we are talking about.
Sure that happens. It’s a pretty classic Pulaarlook. In the US, we don’t really differentiate a lot of different African facial features, but there is a huge amount of variety out there, including quite a few classic noses that we’d consider to lookpretty white.
Paris’ nose doesn’t look like Michael’s post surgery nose, it looks like her mother’s nose. Paris and Debbie Rowe. Michael’s nose never had that slight hook to it at the end. Here’s another side by side of Debbie and Paris. Paris definitely takes after her mother, but she has some identifiable Jackson features. Mainly, her mouth/ smile.
And all this discussion about Michael hating his race and trying to “turn himself white” (which is a ridiculous assertion in itself) forgets one important fact: his eldest son has vitiligo. So, why- if Michael were creating test tube white babies-- would he not screen for the disease he says ruined his life? That makes absolutely no sense. Photo of Prince’s vitiligo.
Oh, and I finally found some of the original split screen pictures I was searching for.
Vitiligo isn’t like sickle cell anemia or Tay Sachs where we can say “it’s caused by mutations in this specific gene” then screen it out. It’s thought to be caused by both genetic and non genetic factors. They’re just starting to narrow down the genes that make you susceptible to it.
I’m not one to threadshit, but I can’t believe the intelligent folks of the Straight Dope have spent almost a 100 posts on this. What could it possibly matter if these are his true biological kids or not?
Unless some sort of genetic tests are made public, we will NEVER know. Arguing whether they are or not is pure speculation.
And I find slightly troubling that they people are so concerned whether people look ‘black’ enough. That sort of thinking leads down some very dark alleys.
It can’t be easy losing your father when you are so young and being part of such a dysfunctional family must be challenging. I wish his kids all the best.
That said, what are the odds that either his donor would carry that or that the kid would randomly develop the same disease as his (hypothetically) non biological dad?
IIRC, around 1% of the population has vitiligo. However, of course the odds would depend on who the donor was (such as say, a Jackson relative, vs. a stranger or unrelated friend).
Ultimately, this conversation doesn’t matter and we’ll probably never get any definitive answers, but what can I say, I’m okay with not devoting every hour of my life to meaningful pursuits.
