midiscover said:

If I'm gonna stop listening to musicians just because I don't agree with their lifestlyes or think they spit venom out of every hole of their body, or come across as a deranged's DERANGED.

I might as well throw all of my record collections along with my damn Ipod

Mstrustme said:

I know I might get hell for what I'm about to say but I think way more people believe Michael is innocent than R Kelly. I haven't heard one person say that R kelly is innocent . I'm not saying everyone thinks MJ is innocent, there are plenty of people that think he is guilty and got away with it. R Kelly had a tape and married Aaliyah at 15...that's enough evidence for me to believe that he is a pedophile. Besides, Michael has contributed so much to the music industry and is a legend. R Kelly has had some good songs.

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

Booty called it. I've not come across anyone talking about ditching Elvis for his 'Cilla stuff and he was CLEARLY "guilty" of whatever crimes other stars have been. This dude had his 15 year old girlfriend living in his house and chauffered to HIGH SCHOOL. Do you hear a peep against him for it?

The pick and choose part of these witch hunts are what gets to me.
[Edited 6/18/09 11:23am]

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

Everything about the American Culture is laughable, it's nothing new. People of other countries hate us because we care more about the little things in life and not the whole picture. I admit I care about some celebrities like Prince and Jeff Goldblum but other than that 97% of celebrities are silly, imbeciles only wanting money. Of course we can't get are shit together, we had a an idiot as our President for two terms, we're in a reccession, companies are shutting down, no jobs, and yet many people don't seem to care.
[Edited 6/18/09 11:24am]

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

Can you give me a valid reason to why you don't think MJ is a pedophile? and you think that R.Kelly is what?

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

I agree.

brooksie said:

I know! I can remember I was on a blog about MJ and some lady mentioned about how Elvis got a pass by dating priscilla when she was 14 and he was 24. Some lady responded saying that she was a teenager, not a child...excusing his behavior. I was like first of all, he had no right dating her when she was 14 and he was 24...on the another hand, Michael's accusers were teenage boys, not little boys...not condoning it, just pointing out how people will twist things around.

The thing is that so much more is known about someone today than back then. The whole R Kelly shit, or the HOOPZ sex tape or the Rhianna punch, or the Mariah "breakdown" , basically pick your scandal. None of these things would have even been talked about or even known by the fans. But now every jerk in with a computer has a blog and thinks hes an expert, everyone things that they can take someone down. Just look at some of the FAVES of org members and what they did in their day, i mean James Brown beats women, neglects his children, Rick James, pretty much abused most women in his life, and the list goes on. Just imagine every 5 seconds that was on the news, would their music matter, or would they even have continued their careers.

NastradumasKid said:

When it comes to the American obession w/ pop culture, I think most non Yanks find the sex obession most laughable. Frankly I agree w/ them cuz it's always the SEX SCANDAL that gets people riled....drug "meh", wife beating "she deserved it", but SEX Folks always seem SO surprised that people who are famous have sex...AT ALL.

Don't get me wrong, I'm hardly anti celeb or gossip, but people should keep in mind that these folks are human and make the same mistakes as everybody else. Imagine if you were judged in the same way about your job....you cheated on your SO, so no job for you. Sounds crazy, right?

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

Teenages are still child whether or not people agree, if people are going to condemn MJ why not Elvis?

Booty, you're just talking booty
the whole point of this thread is to discuss why people find it so hard to separate an artist's life from their music
MJ is just as guilty as R.Kelly if you ask me....

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

You should have pointed out that if Cilla wasn't a kid, how come the girls Chuck Berry hooked up w/ were? Chuck did time and Elvis didn't, so why was that?

brooksie said:

Some people believe that celebrities are these ultra powerful spirits with no human flaws to diminish them, which is nothing but a facade.

NastradumasKid said:

"Remember The Time" was out in 1993, not 2003. What interview?

brooksie said:

How about this, anyone who thinks being with children as love interest need to be thrown in jail.

lastdecember said:

This is the whole thing really. People knew far less about these folks in the past, so they simply judged by the product instead of the person. I fully understand people NOT wanting to support what they see as crinimal or socially unacceptable behavior w/ their $$$ and I support their right to do so, but that sets up the problem the OP was questioning. If the artist and their personal lives are the same in the public's mind, where does it end? Do you throw away your old product? What end does it all lead to?

Personally, I just don't operate that way, but I too am curious about those who do.

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

**DEAD** @ you saying MJ isn't a pedophile and R.Kelly is

R.Kelly was fooling around with a teen! She wasn't held down against her will do the thing she did with R.Kelly
He was just stupid enough to fall into her trap! Heck there are people over here and in other countries that get married to 15 year olds especailly in Muslim countries.

Now MJ was accused TWICE for child molestation on 13 year old boys!
I'm not saying he actually engaged in the act but there's a possibility

NastradumasKid said:

I don't disagree w/ you at all, but there's definitely a double standard about this. None of the people we've named, except Chuck, went to jail for it. However, some are judged as if they have been and some of those who didn't do time are still lionized. It's the double standard that's the issue here.

brooksie said:

And this is why I hate law in general, because they want to put Mike Vick in jail for two years for dogs, and yet you have people who are serial rapist and murderer who only get a few years and not charged at all.

trueiopian said:

Please don't insult my intelligence
It really is not a laughing matter. There are many people as well as myself that believe he is innocent. People have different opinions...remember to respect them. Just remember not everyone and everyone on this board believes what you believe about michael or janet as matter of fact. There are various reasons why I believe Michael is not a pedophile. There is so much evidence that backs Michael's innocence. I don't think michael is perfect, I think that he got caught up in this save the world mentality. He's made some dumb decisions and had too many..probably still does...yes men around him. He's been too nice( no pun intended) to too many people and this has led too many people to take advantage of him. He's out of touch with reality and as well has irresposibiliy/arrogance/stubborness streak right through him. I've read numerous court transcripts, info on the case...psychoologocal stuff...lets not forget I hav a criminology degree so I have info on that stuff as well. Let's remember that the accuser were teenage boys, not little boys so there is a possibility of lying. People can be falsely accused, even of child molestion. I can remember in my criminal investigation class, our teacher who was a sheriff wastenaw county in michigan told us of a story of a collegue that he worked with was falsely accused of it by his daughter who has something wrong with her mentally...he passed the lie detector test...but is knocking on death's door...lost his wife...job...and is near death. I also had a guy at my church who would have church guys/street guys come over play video games/watch tv/eat food so people could socialize and stay out of trouble. I can remember he abrutly left the church and I heard that some parent accused him of doing something...but I talked to guys who went over there and they said nothing happened. And I believe them. It is possible to be falsely accused any crime.
http://whoismichael.com/index.htm
http://floacist.wordpress...on/page/2/

NastradumasKid said:

good point

trueiopian said:

ok and your point is?

Whatever happened to the Pete Townsend case anyway?

I think it's quite easy to seperate people's personal lives from their music

For example, I'm a fan of George Michael, but George's issues with drugs and his sexual escapades are too much for many people to ignore. Hell, I know people who can't listen to Careless Whisper because him coming out messed the song up for them

midiscover said:

So you are condoning what R Kelly did with that gurl and it was her fault?! That's fucked up. This is not the first time R Kelly was with an underage gurls.....Aaliyah. In fact, he implied that he liked underage gurls on Anderson Cooper. Let's not forget that the parents of the boys were the ones that accused michael...one when michael wouldn't gave the one dad money or a movie script. Funny that most of that money went to the dad of the first accuser and the boy hasn't talked to their parents since 1994 as well the other one who sold their story to a tabloid as well current accuser mother who made her children lie in a previous case about sexual harassment on a JC penny employee. so really I have many reason why I believe michael is innocent....and it;s not because im a fan...it's because the evidence is there. I'm not going to argue about this anyone. I've gotten a lot of info from credible sources. You're gonna believe what you wanna believe as when as I'm gonna believe what i'm gonna believe.

bboy87 said:

yeah

BoOTyLiCioUs said:

I didn't know all this about you, I thought you were kind of a troll until I read this, forgive me I agree with every word you've said and though I'm a fan, I do acknowledge his responsibility in this, and it is true that people lie. I've worked with abuse victims and some of them (not all) are sadly liars like the Arvizzos too time to time, and I have friend who I went to high school with that was accused of child abuse and is still suffering from how much he lost even though he was found not guilty.
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[Edited 6/18/09 12:13pm]