# Was Michael Jackson always considered weird? **URL:** \ **Category:** In My Humble Opinion\ **Created:** [May 12, 2005, 11:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-michael-jackson-always-considered-weird/303543 "2005-05-12T11:18:23Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 7\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 1:54am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-michael-jackson-always-considered-weird/303543/21 "2005-05-14T01:54:48Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Why does michael Jackson show up for court wearing various-colored armbands? What is he trying to express? > > Also, when he showed up in court wearing pajamas-what was that all about? I’m not sure about the armbands, except maybe that he’s expressing solidarity with all the suffering people in the world, or some crap like that. I do remember that early on in the trial, his family all showed up, all wearing head-to-toe white ensembles, to represent purity. :rolleyes: As for the pajamas, that was the day of one of his two emergency hospital visits. Not the one where he claimed “flu-like symptoms”, but the one where he claimed back problems. He was in the ER instead of in court, so the judge ordered his arrest if he didn’t show up by 9:30 am PST. He showed up at ~9:33, so the judge didn’t enforce the arrest order. MJ apparently didn’t have time to change out of what were either his own jammies or hospital-issue. Of course his back pains didn’t prevent him from turning and waving to the crowd on his way inside. Oh, and the “flu-like symptoms” incident required the ER to be cleared of everyone except Jackson’s crew. A woman died who might not have otherwise; I’m not sure if her family has pursued legal action or not. ---
**Author:** ![Rilchiam](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/2bfe46/32.png) [@Rilchiam](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Rilchiam)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 2:05am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-michael-jackson-always-considered-weird/303543/22 "2005-05-14T02:05:28Z")
> [@Imasquare](#): > > Back in the 70s it was pretty much unheard of for people to keep rats as pets. Is it commonplace now? Re: MJ, Brooke Shields and Emmanuel Lewis (and the kid **spoke-** mentioned, which I hadn’t heard about). In the “Thriller” era, people didn’t know much about pedophilia; the term wasn’t even in common use. Generally, “doing bad things to children” was strictly the province of men in dirty trenchcoats lurking unambigously around playgrounds. So the speculation about MJ, who famously dated the famously virginal (at the time) Brooke Shields, was that he was gay, not a pedophile. Meaning, he must be attracted to other **men** , not boys. And Lewis must have been a prop, not a sexual fixation. Really, a lot of celebrities do photo ops with kids; I remember Morgan Fairchild around the same time showing little girls with cancer how to style their wigs. MJ kind of fell off my radar for a while, so I’m not sure if I ever heard any speculation about boys until the early-90s accusations. The rumblings must have been the result of people noticing that he **only** ever seemed to associate either with kids, or with women who couldn’t have been romantic possibilities. ---
**Author:** ![Imasquare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/i/5f9b8f/32.png) [@Imasquare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Imasquare)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 3:56am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-michael-jackson-always-considered-weird/303543/23 "2005-05-14T03:56:45Z")
[QUOTE=Rilchiam] Is it commonplace now? [QUOTE] Not really commonplace but not outragously weird either. ---
**Author:** ![ralph124c](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/r/8797f3/32.png) [@ralph124c](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ralph124c)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 8:22am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-michael-jackson-always-considered-weird/303543/24 "2005-05-14T08:22:43Z")
The news media seems to be cutting back coverage of this circus. I don’t know anyone whois interested (even remotely) in this…so could this thing please die a merciful, quick death? I just don’t know why the media seems to think that we the public, are interested in every stupid detail of this weirdo’s insane lifestyle. ---
**Author:** ![F.U.Shakespeare](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/f/aca169/32.png) [@F.U.Shakespeare](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/F.U.Shakespeare)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 1:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-michael-jackson-always-considered-weird/303543/25 "2005-05-14T13:11:26Z")
Jackson wrote the theme song for the movie “Ben” (the sequel to “Willard”), but I’ve never heard that Jackson himself had a pet rat named Ben. ---
**Author:** ![PunditLisa](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/p/4af34b/32.png) [@PunditLisa](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/PunditLisa)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 1:34pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-michael-jackson-always-considered-weird/303543/26 "2005-05-14T13:34:54Z")
> [@Rilchiam](#): > > Oh, and the “flu-like symptoms” incident required the ER to be cleared of everyone except Jackson’s crew. A woman died who might not have otherwise; I’m not sure if her family has pursued legal action or not. If this happened, it was the hospital’s choice to do so and I can definitely see how a lawsuit would be in order. Celebrities can demand special treatment, but hospitals, courts, etc. certainly don’t have to comply. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [May 14, 2005, 2:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-michael-jackson-always-considered-weird/303543/27 "2005-05-14T14:49:42Z")
> [@ralph124c](#): > > Why does michael Jackson show up for court wearing various-colored armbands? What is he trying to express? > Also, when he showed up in court wearing pajamas-what was that all about? **Rilchiam** already explained the jammies, but the armbands are supposedly to show solidarity with the suffering children of the world. Yeah, I don’t get it either. **Imasquare** , he didn’t have a pet rat. “Ben” was written for the movie _Willard_, which was about a boy and his trained army of rats who protected him from bullies. “Ben” was the boy’s favorite. As far as Lewis goes, I’m sure that while Jacko may have lusted over the boy, nothing actually happened. Emmanuel Lewis’s mother had a reputation as a Mother Bear type, and if Jacko had so much as looked at her son wrong, she would have had his head on a silver platter. As it was, she banished Michael from ever seeing them again after he checked himself and Emmanuel into a hotel as father and son. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/was-michael-jackson-always-considered-weird/303543.md?page=1)