The Sunshine Empire

I flipped by Larry King Live last night and they were playing the video of Michael Jackson’s head lighting on fire during the infamous Pepsi commercial accident from 1984. I remember the concern at the time but wondered why in the era of You Tube and such this happened after his death, but just right after. Who would give up the right to sell such a thing to the hungry TMZs of the world? But one of Michael Jackson’s former lawyers made a good point asking Larry why he kept playing it over and over. I flipped back later and he was asking former Minnesota Governor Jesse Ventura about his reaction to the Michael Jackson death and the Governor echoed what many Americans are saying, enough already. But that caused a weird paradox to come to mind. As my good friend Larry put it, “He went from ghoul to cool to get the heck out of here.”

The paradox of Michael Jackson’s death is a wonderful example of the hyperbolic media of our day. Prior to Michael Jackson’s death he was hardly a mention. He was known as an assumed pedophile and a freakish ghoul. When Michael Jackson, who was an admittedly legendary musician and huge draw sales wise in his day, passed it was a shock that caused most who loved him in his day to revisit the singer and dancer that they had know in their youth. Michael Jackson had a rehabilitation of sorts much like Richard Nixon and Gerald Ford when they died. Beat It and Thriller played non-stop on television shows and radio for that week. But then that stretched into another week, and then Joe Jackson and Debbie Rowe showed the worst side of humanity with their cashing in and back and forth. Al Sharpton weaseled his way into the obscene tribute show at the Staples center and then people began to become sick of it. Michael Jackson, after being instantly rehabilitated, was the macarena of our new hyper quick news media cycle. As much as it benefited people like Mark Sanford by distracting the news media, it’s amazing how quick the turn around was from freak, to legend, to afterthought in two weeks. Andy Warhol’s 15 minutes of fame have turned into about 5 and a half.

Related posts:

1. Walter Cronkite Dies And We’re Stuck With Fox News
2. Michael Jackson And The Non-Football Peter King
3. The Death Of Michael Jackson, Part 7 Of 200
4. It’s Cool To Be Angry, Who Can Be The Angriest
5. On Grief In America