this shit is crazy.

MJ's character was "assassinated" because he got constant plastic surgery, bought a bunch of weird shit including the bones of a deformed man, had his skin changing color (even though we now know that wasn't intentional), dressed like a military commander and made giant statues of himself (that has to be in the pantheon of egomaniacal rock star moves), and most of all had a bunch of sketchy sleepovers with little kids - some of them quite famous - while also having the vocal and physical mannerisms of a guy who might be a bit off the heteronormative track.

I can't speak for what went on behind the scenes at the record labels. I can fully believe that some obstacles were thrown in MJ's path that white artists did not face. (Although I also believe that after "Thriller," their main interest in him was the part where he made them money, not some racist desire to shut down a greenback-generating factory.) I can get on board with that to some extent. But the media frenzy and even the court cases were largely the man's own fault. He was the biggest star in music and a bonafide weirdo; it would have been utterly bizarre if they DIDN'T talk about it; and when a very rich man has little kids sleeping in his bed, even if it's 100% innocent, that man simply should have known better. Or one of his handlers should have.