Clearing Up More Nonsense

After discovering yesterday that one individual was impersonating me on TMZ, I discovered that another was writing inaccurate articles about me for consumption by thousands of vulnerable and impressionable fans.

Bonnie Cox, author of the 'Michael's Guardian' blog, has recently published two inaccurate and defamatory articles about me and has alluded on her twitter page to the fact that she's planning a third.

Cox, a supporter of the Tea Party movement who last year wrote on her facebook page that she hoped President Obama would get on a plane with one of his 'muslim buddies' and crash, insists on her blog that Michael Jackson was murdered by Sony, 'This Is It' is full of body doubles and Jackson's friends are being murdered to disguise the truth about his death.

Among the brainless witterings on her blog, she baselessly accuses me of authoring 'false' blogs about Michael Jackson, suggests that I am only covering him positively for my own financial gain and implies that my friendship with J Randy Taraborrelli is part of a Sony conspiracy to destroy Michael Jackson.

Cox claimed J Randy Taraborrelli's biography 'Michael Jackson: The Magic and the Madness' was sponsored by Sony as part of a campaign to smear Michael Jackson. Not only this, but Cox went on to insinuate that because I am friends with Randy Taraborrelli, I could be in on it.

She later sent me a message via twitter implying that there was something shady about my friendship with Taraborrelli, saying, "I have a photo of you and Taraborrelli together. How am I supposed to deal with that?"

The notion that a photograph of myself and J Randy Taraborrelli is evidence of a conspiracy is laughable. I have made no secret of my friendship with Randy Taraborrelli and nor has he. We had dinner together in LA several weeks ago and both posted the pictures on our facebook pages. I'm not ashamed of our friendship and nor should I be. Taraborrelli is a kind, warm, funny and generous man, and any implication that he's part of a conspiracy to destroy Michael Jackson is beyond absurd. The idea that a photograph of us together would evidence any shady conspiracy or subterfuge, or would be of any interest to Cox's readers, is insane.

Randy Taraborrelli and I in Los Angeles.

Cox has since threatened me indirectly via twitter, writing a message that I'm 'not going to like tomorrow's blog', so apparently her next entry will be filled with even more deluded nonsense.
Cox, by her own admission, only began writing about Jackson after his death. I, meanwhile, have a documented history of Jackson-related journalism stretching back at least as far as 2008. Ironic, then, that Cox should accuse me of being the bandwagon jumper.

Her inexperience shows, too. Among her 'evidence' of Randy Taraborrelli's anti-Jackson agenda she cites Bob Jones's tell-all book about Michael Jackson. That would be Bob Jones who admitted on the stand during Jackson's trial that his book contained fabricated information, such as false claims that he witnessed Jackson licking the head of a young boy.

Cox also neglects to mention that in a series of tape-recorded telephone conversations between Jackson and a female friend, known as the 'Glenda Tapes', Jackson name-checks Taraborrelli's book and confirms its accuracy.

A final word: The idea that I have only started writing in Jackson's defence since he died and it became profitable is easily disproven by this 2008 interview I conducted with Aphrodite Jones about her book 'Michael Jackson Conspiracy'.

As for the idea that I am benefitting financially from my articles about Jackson's media treatment, my work on the Michael Jackson case has been conducted largely at my own expense. My most recent Huffington Post article, 'One of the Most Shameful Episodes in Journalistic History', took a month to research and is over 5000 words long. I was not paid for any of my research or writing on that piece. I wrote it because I am passionate about the cause and believe the injustice needs to be highlighted.
Quite how my willingness to spend one month doing unpaid research and writing on a pro-Michael Jackson article ties in with the theory that I'm part of a Sony-controlled anti-Michael Jackson conspiracy, I'm not sure. You'll have to direct that question to Bonnie Cox.

KPFA interview now on YouTube

My hour-long interview with Jane Heaven on KPFA radio is now available on YouTube.

Here is part one. Parts 2-6 are available from the same user.

Radio Interview Now Online

The bulk of my KPFA radio interview with Jane Heaven is now available to stream online.

CLICK HERE to listen.

I come in at 2hrs 06mins. The interview cuts off abruptly as we went over time but I may be able to upload my own MP3 version at a later date.

FBI File Reveals Attempt to Convict Jackson with Racist Law

Documents contained in Michael Jackson's FBI file show that the LAPD tried to prosecute the star under the same legislation used in the past to smear black luminaries such as Jack Johnson and Chuck Berry.

Records show that the LAPD contacted the FBI on 7th September 1993 to ask whether the bureau would assist in the prosecution of Michael Jackson under the Mann Act.






The Mann Act, also known as the 'White Slavery Act', was introduced in 1910. Allowing officers to make arrests on the vague premise of 'immoral behaviour', the law was frequently used to smear black men, particularly those who consorted with white women.

Jack Johnson, the world's first black Heavyweight Boxing Champion, was the first person to be prosecuted under the act. In fact, Geoffrey C Ward writes in his book 'Unforgivable Blackness' that the potential to smear Johnson had been one of the primary motivating factors behind the introduction of the law.

Johnson was viewed by the press and the establishment as a black man who didn't know his place. Not only was Johnson a black world champion more than 50 years before segregation was lifted, but he flaunted his success in a society which demanded that he be humble. He wore expensive clothes and jewellery and invested his money in a fleet of luxurious automobiles, a hobby for which he was repeatedly punished by white policemen who issued him with undeserved speeding tickets.

But what riled the establishment more than anything was that Johnson consorted with white women. Johnson was often accompanied on his travels by prostitutes, but so were the majority of his white contemporaries.
In 1913 Johnson was prosecuted under the Mann Act for 'transporting a female across the state line for immoral purposes'. None of his white contemporaries who also travelled with prostitutes were arrested or charged with similar crimes.

Johnson's alleged victims had travelled with him willingly and admitted it under oath. Moreover, the trips in question had taken place long before the Mann Act was even introduced. However, an all white jury convicted him regardless.

Years later the Mann Act was also used to sabotage the career of black musician Chuck Berry.
In 1959 Berry met a 14 year old waitress in El Paso and asked her to work as a hat-check girl in his restaurant. The girl agreed and he drove her from El Paso to St Louis on his way back from a concert.

On this flimsy premise Berry was arrested for 'transporting an underage girl for immoral purposes'. He was convicted under the Mann Act and sentenced to three years in prison.

In the same year Berry's white copycat Elvis Presley began openly dating Priscilla Beaulieu, a 14 year old girl. Furthermore, Scotty Moore's biography of Presley asserts that prior to his involvement with Beaulieu, the star had been dating an even younger girl.

Ergo, in 1913 the Mann Act was used to convict a black boxer whose only 'crime' was to indulge in the same behaviour as his white contemporaries. Later, In 1959, the Mann Act was used to prosecute a black musician for giving a job to an underage girl, while his white contemporary repeatedly slept with underage girls and went unpunished.

The Mann Act is an inherently racist law. Whilst it has not been used solely to prosecute African-Americans, the potential imprisonment of Jack Johnson was a primary motivating factor behind its introduction and since then it has been repeatedly used to convict black men of crimes that they didn't commit.

That Jackson was also targeted under the Mann Act is certainly intriguing and could be seen to strengthen the argument that he was targeted by a malicious prosecution on account of his race. Devastatingly, it suggests that for all America's superficial changes, little has changed since the days of Jack Johnson. Of course, the US Attorney's decision not to prosecute Jackson under the Mann Act could be seen as a sign of progress, but the LAPD's decision to pursue Jackson in the first place - given the sheer abundance of evidence suggesting his innocence - remains disturbing.

That Jackson wasn't railroaded when he eventually entered the courtroom indicates at least some progress. That said, the fact that the 2003 allegations against Jackson even made it into a courtroom was proof in itself that Jackson was given a bum rap - the allegations were nonsensical and his accusers were proven con artists. But while Johnson and Berry were convicted, Jackson's jury at least made the right decision.

In Jackson's case it was only the media which tarred him as guilty.