Martin Bashir = Jerk

[WilmaBud]

I have to disagree that an "innocent" person won't pay $$$ to settle on molestation charges. In our country, once someone brings charges of sexual abuse, you're instantly presumed guilty. The accuser doesn't need any proof. It's up to the accused to "prove" his or her innocence. I've seen it happen in the teaching profession all too many times. All anyone has to do is make an accusation, and the life and career of the accused is ruined. Most people will settle just to make the charges go away and to try to get on with their lives. It does NOT mean they're guilty. Ask any lawyer. Also, Michael Jackson never pled guilty and was never proven guilty. If they had any real proof, they would have convicted him. I don't particularly care for M.J., but I don't presume that he's a child molester just because one person made the accusation. Look how many children he's been involved with. Why haven't any more come forward? I find it sad that so many people are willing to assume a person's guilty just because of on accusation, made with no proof. My guess is that the accuser's family wanted the money. If I truly thought someone molested my kid, I wouldn't just "settle" for the cash. I'd want him in jail!

 

[aahmom1]

You people that keep using his children's race as a way to bash Michael

WHO used his race to bash him? You sure seem to have a lot of conspiracy theories. The only person who has brought the race of his kids into this arguement has been you.

it saved him from having to go through the tedious and painful court proceedings.

You keep believing that, innocent men try to prove they are innocent, wouldn't you? The charges were molestation, not that he stole a pack of gum at the 7/11.

Michael hates sex, did you see the look on his face when talking about it?

So that part proved to you that he was 'normal'. That part just proved that he is seriously odd/ick. Most 44 yeaar old men don't get all weird when they talk about sex and cover their eyes like they are a 13 year old girl.

His relationship with children is about innocent love.

I may be sick.

BTW who was he talking about that unbuttoned his shirt, I missed that.

 

[Mermaid02]

I don't know if he is a child molester or not- but he did appear deeply disturbed to me. Pathetic really. I believe everything he said about Joe Jackson- he ought to be shot. I feel very badly for his children. No NORMAL person names (or calls) their child "Blanket" HELLO! It's almost like- "Well we have to call him something, how about naming him after the blanket we always cover his face with."

I think Bashir was very disturbed by MJ's behavior. Michael shouldn't have given the guy so much access if he didn't want everyone to know what a WHACK JOB he is. All you have to do is WATCH him (not even listen to him) just WATCH him and you know he has some big time problems.

 

[ennazus]

You people that keep using his children's race as a way to bash Michael, it is disgraceful, you are judging based on race, this should have NOTHING to do with ANYTHING.

I see it as just a piece of a lie.... I find it hard to believe that all 3 children are white and they supposed to be half HIS?

 

[ripleysmom]

Actually I agree that the interview was extremely one sided. The whole time that the journalist was talking, everything was mentioned as a menacing item. There was absolutely no sign of journalistic intregrity in what I watched last night. The Enquirer would have been fairer than what was done last night.

I really really feel sorry for Michael Jackson. He was rich and famous beyond comprehension and yet his psyche is so tortured that he has destroyed his face.

I do not feel as though he molested anyone. I believe that the parents wanted money and I believe that MJ paid them to make it go away. Considering all of the children he has spent time with and all of the investigation and scrutiny he was under, don't you think that someone else would have come forward if the allegations were true?

As one of the posters on the thread pointed out, if it were your child would you have been satisfied with cash if someone molested your child? Or would you have told him to take his money and shove it and not rested until the person who molested your kid was locked up.

 

[airhead]

Bashir does a documentary showing the odd innocence of a
44 year old man( bythe way,how pitiful was Jackson saying his favorite thing to do in the world was climbing trees,and throwing water balloons...) and then exploits that very thing!!! How low
is that!! Is Jackson strange? Yup,he is. Why wouldn't he be
considering his upbringing with a father that insisted his children call him by his name instead of daddy. Not to mention
the beatings and the humiliations.
Bashir IS a big jerk. I just wish we could all have seen a documentary of Bashir "workin' his magic" getting Jackson to
trust him. Now,that would be worth watching!

airhead

 

[Spinning]

AAHamon1 it was Tatum O'neil
If MJ was so afraid to go through a trail why did he go through that last one? Granted it was two different issues but he could have just paid it off like he did the kid.
Even if he isn't sexually abusing these kids it is still messing with their heads. It is wrong to bring children into his bedroom. I might feel differently if he had his slumber parties in the living room with other adults present but it is wrong and looking at that boy...more is going on even if it is just a mental game. I don't think MJ even realizes what he is doing or the harm he is inflicting. He sees it as just sharing the love, but do most sex abusers of children think they are inflicting harm or that it is wrong? Many who have abused children has provided them with things, taken them places showed lots of love but then in their sick and twisted world sexually abuse them. Blurring the lines of what is acceptable and what isn't.
I would never let a child of mine in his home alone. And I am surprised you said you "problably would" and not absolutely. Why is that?

 

[cardaway]

Actually I agree that the interview was extremely one sided. The whole time that the journalist was talking, everything was mentioned as a menacing item. There was absolutely no sign of journalistic intregrity in what I watched last night. The Enquirer would have been fairer than what was done last night.

What could they have done differently that would have made it more fair and full of integrity?

Interview his family? (would have been just as damaging)
Interview his friends? (unless oyu just let them say how wonderful he is and then stop the interview, that would be just as damaging)
Interview the people that work for him? (big mistake)

The way I see it, the only way they could have shown him in a good light would have been to show him performing 10 YEARS AGO (when he was still a great performer) or giving away the some of money he made performing. Michael has always been a person who craves attention like this interview. He is also shoots himself in the foot everytime because the only thing he does well is write songs, sing, and dance. He damages his performing reputation everytime he opens his mouth off the stage. I think what we saw on 20/20 was the real Michael, they just turned on the camera and let him be himself.

 

[aahmom1]

I think what we saw on 20/20 was the real Michael, they just turned on the camera and let him be himself.

I totally agree.

 

[ChefBilly]

Originally posted by JoeThaNo1Stunna
You people that keep using his children's race as a way to bash Michael, it is disgraceful, you are judging based on race, this should have NOTHING to do with ANYTHING.

 

[Jeafl]

I have to agree with Cardaway. Michael hung himself (in my eyes anyway). What bothers me more than anything else is the fact that these kids' PARENTS are so star-struck by Michael that they don't see how psychologically damaging this situation could be.

I also think that Michael Jackson is delusional. How can he swear that he only had 2 surgeries on his nose? He out and out LIED about that. That's what makes me think he is not so truthful in other areas as well. The scary thing is that I really think that he thinks he IS Peter Pan. He needs a lot of psychological help.

 

[goofygirl]

Michael Jackson does not have a sexual bone in his body, he loves children, and he would do anything to help them. If he sleeps with kids it's not as if he's having sex with them. What's wrong with Michael not growing up, he's not hurting Bashir by climbing a tree, but every innocent action that Michael did, Bashir turned it into a way to bash him

Wow. DE-NIAL aint just a river in Egypt!


Come on, the guy is WEIRD. He ws HOLDING HANDS with a 12 year old boy!

Would YOU send your little boy off with a 44 yr old man who has been known to sleep alongside boys, and has been accussed of sexual abuse?

Bashir was giving his honest feelings- that he was disturbed by Michael's behavior. I think he is a good journalist, I liked him from when he interviewed Princess Diana. She trusted him, and she didnt trust too many people in the press, so that says a lot.

 

[kdibattista]

can you honestly say that the words coming out of his mouth were "misconstrued" or "taken out of context"? I guess I just don't see how you can blame the the interviewer for Michael making HIMSELF look like a FREAK!!!!!! And Joe, I really, really feel bad for your children if you would actually allow them to sleep in Michael's bed - no disrespect intended.

 

[Disney-Kim]

I felt bad for MJ after the interview. He is a very sad person with some serious issues. He can't accept that he is not the 20 yr old superstar he once was. He has a lot of problems and I don't think he knows how bad he makes himself look. He seemed very unaware of a lot of things, like how detrimental to your children's pysche it would be to cover their faces every time people are around. anyway....
the interview made me feel sorry for him and I don't believe him to be a "child molester" in any way what so ever. I just don't think he understands how wrong the things he does are and he needs some serious counseling on his insecurities and inability to accept the fact he is 44 not 14.

also.....to the poster who said that his children looked too white to be his......you have not met too many black/white mixed children. that was not the smartest statement. sorry...jmho.

 

[minniepumpernickel]

I haven't read any of the other posts on here yet, but ugh!

I think that Michael needs therapy. It was disturbing, he seems abnormal. I think Bashir didn't act as annoyed as I would of, had I been the interviewer!

 

[aahmom1]

Wow. DE-NIAL aint just a river in Egypt!

Definitely something we agree on.

Would YOU send your little boy off with a 44 yr old man who has been known to sleep alongside boys, and has been accussed of sexual abuse?

God NO!!! Those parents need to be looked in on too. What are they handing their kids to him in exchange for?

 

[Tina]

I am surprised that so many believe the children are not really his. Didn't anyone else notice Prince's eyes? They are very large and very dark, just like Michael's. For me, that was a sure sign that they were "fathered" by him. I'm sure he would only want it that way - to ensure they can't be taken away from him. I'm sure adoption was out of the question for him with his weird lifestyle.

As for his behavior with children being innocent and "charming," as they called in on television. MJ pointed out that he was only concerned for the health of Gavin when he was sick. Meaning well and knowing better are 2 very different things. Regardless of his intentions, as an adult, MJ should KNOW BETTER. As much as he wants to remain a child, no amount of money will help him accomplish that. There's no problem with having a child-like nature (as most of us DIS nuts do) but we all have to be adults, too.

 

[CookieGVB]

I have never been very impressed with most of the British press/media - they make Geraldo look like Walter Cronkite.

I haven't seen the interview, so I can't comment on it.

At times I feel sorry for MJ, because I think he's trying to live his childhood now, much the same way many of us do when going to WDW, etc. At the same time, I don't think there's enough therapy in the world that can help him at this point - he's gone past the point of being strange or odd, to just plain FREAK. A 44 year old man should KNOW BETTER, as another poster pointed out, than to sleep with a child in his bed, and so should the families who have sent their children to be with him.

I feel sorry for the children of many celebrities, but what chance do his poor kids have of being normal? Did he have them so that he'd have someone to play with, where the parents wouldn't sue him? Ugh! Poor things.

 

[addicted_to_WDW]

The whole interview disturbed me. Not in a Michael is a pervert way (though I believe he probably is), but in an, "OMG how can someone be over 40 years old with the mentality of a 10 year old and not be getting some kind of psychiatric care," way.

I wouldn't leave my son alone with him. I also believe that Michael believes he has only an innocent interest in children.

Why does he dye his son's hair? Why does he have surgery after surgery and then deny it? Why does he prefer to have companions 30 or 35 years younger than he is? Why is he damaging his children for life by making them parade around like circus freaks in public? How can these things not disturb a rational adult?

 

[minniecarousel]

See - the fact that he lies about his surgeries makes me think that he is being untruthful about his innocense with children. But I do believe that he is an asexual person. But he needs to heed to social propriety. That is the price we all pay for being members of a particular society. He definitely missed something in his puberty. Stunted social growth.

For all his statements about his love for children, he treats his own children very poorly. Covering their faces - bouncing the baby so much while trying to feed him (he looked like he doesn't usually do the feeding.) His lack of concern for his children in the Berlin Zoo was appalling! He was ecstactic about the attention but didn't seem too concerned about who was hanging onto his 2 children.

As far as the biased interview. I think I'm intelligent enough to see that Bashir & ABC were going for sensationalism. But Michael provides it without them having to stoop low for it!