go on youtube look up MJ and diana ross on the red carpet at the 1981 oscars and Regis Philbin was the outside announcer and anyway

He addressed Diana ROss who at the time was the biggest Black Artist in Black Pop and MJ was her date and Regis said oh, here is Michael Jackson from the Jackson 5 and you outta see the awkwardness reaction on MJ's face from that exchange. lets just say Diana Ross or no Diana Ross MJ would never again play second fiddle to nobody.


you gotta remember despite how big the J5 were, they did Vegas in a time when that wasn't the place to be and a sign you were on the decline.

and though Quincy Jones owns half of hollywood, him and MJ teaming up met with blank stares and Off the wall was loved and worshiped in our hood and other MJ fans, however the industry said he was too black.

so Motown 25 performance who Berry Gordy told him would be huge and important to his career, forever changed the MJ landscape.

you and I came along when there weren't many Black Acts getting that kind of shine and you know all to well how big thriller was and what it meant.

however us in my hood loved MJ regardless, however thriller let that magic fully out of the bottle for the whole world to embrace him even more