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Ciku Kimeria
Writer, Adventurer, Development Consultant, Travelblogger
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piqer: Ciku Kimeria
Tuesday, 19 March 2019

Michael Jackson, Leaving Neverland And What It Means For Cancel Culture

"What do you do with good art made by bad people?" 

A few weeks back I got into a very heated discussion with some friends about child predators, Michael Jackson and the recent HBO documentary, Leaving Neverland. None of us had watched it at the time, but similar to millions of people the world over, we are fans of Michael Jackson's music, and we each have a Michael Jackson song that makes us nostalgic: It's impossible to have lived in a certain day and age and not have in some way been influenced by his music. We were all of different opinions about the documentary having heard that the evidence against him was damning. I was open to watching the documentary, making up my own mind on the allegations and then deciding at a personal level what to do about his music. One of my friends decided she did not want to watch it as she didn't want to find out anything negative about someone whose work she admires. Others questioned the allegations against him, but likely because they did not want to come to terms with the fact that someone they admired so much might also have done really horrible things to children. 

This podcast covers all these angles very well. Still Processing is a New York Times culture podcast hosted by Times writers Jenna Wortham and Wesley Morris. The saddest thing is that for the collective love of Michael Jackson's music, the world had been willing to overlook a lot, and discredit the stories of children who came forward accusing him of sexual abuse. I have more questions, rather than answers after watching Leaving Neverland. I encourage everyone to watch it and make up their own mind, but the last thing we should do is refuse to believe the allegations simply because he was one of the greatest musicians that ever lived. One thing doesn't take away from the other. You can create amazing art that moves the world and still do the most atrocious things.

Michael Jackson, Leaving Neverland And What It Means For Cancel Culture
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