I think many of us knew that it would not take long for folks to suddenly act as if they have been ardent Michael Jackson supporters for years. Jackson was hammered repeatedly by critics for allegedly being ashamed of being Black due to all the plastic surgery and the mysterious lightening of his skin. Black folks slammed him on this and White folks were given full and complete license to also question his racial identity and joke about it. Then I remember what Jamie Foxx said the other day at the BET Awards show: “Michael Jackson was a black man. He was ours and we shared him with the world”.
Sean Combs continued the flake fest.
But unlike the BET dinner, Diddy became irate when party guests at L.A. hot spot MyHouse seemed to be having too much of a good time while celebrating Jacko’s life.
Toward the end of the evening, the rapper abruptly stopped playing a remixed version of “Man in the Mirror” to dedicate a moment of silence to the singer and then told guests like Queen Latifah, Taraji P. Henson, Wesley Snipes and Hill Harper, “While you guys are talking and laughing, you’re not hearing his words. You’re not listening to his words. I need you to hear what he’s saying! Listen to the message that he is telling us.”
He then resumed his lecture while blasting “Mirror” at full volume, shouting over the music, “Michael, I hear your words — I hear what you’re saying!
Then he added this little gem during a quick interview on the red carpet.
“You know, my man is the greatest,” hip-hop mogul Sean “Diddy Combs” told CNN. “He’s one of the reasons why Barack Obama’s president… He started the change in the world about how African-Americans are perceived.” (source)
While Michael Jackson has always been hailed as one of the greatest entertainers of all time in most circles, many of these people who are now telling us that we should respect Jackson had NOTHING to say when he was being joked about on the regular. Now that the man is dead, let’s respect this “Black brutha”.
Suddenly, Michael Jackson is Black again.
To further prove their sudden loyalty to Jackson, numbers of people have been slamming CNN and other networks for bringing up some of the not so pleasant moments of his life. They took their fake criticism further by making made up comparisons of how Elivs was supposedly treated like some sort of saint (a reach to inject race). Never mind the fact that beyond Elvis’ loyal fan base, his life was also scrutinized, talked about, joked about for decades. The details of his personal history of alcoholism, womanizing, drug addiction, etc. has been out there for the world to see for a very long time. But I completely get it. As Black people, we do not like being scrutinized by the media thanks in part to how the media has negatively portrayed us for decades. With that in mind, we still must understand that scrutiny comes with fame.
Respecting the dead should also mean not lying about your true feelings about them.
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Flake fest
by Duane on July 2nd, 2009 at 12:32 pmI think many of us knew that it would not take long for folks to suddenly act as if they have been ardent Michael Jackson supporters for years. Jackson was hammered repeatedly by critics for allegedly being ashamed of being Black due to all the plastic surgery and the mysterious lightening of his skin. Black folks slammed him on this and White folks were given full and complete license to also question his racial identity and joke about it. Then I remember what Jamie Foxx said the other day at the BET Awards show: “Michael Jackson was a black man. He was ours and we shared him with the world”.
Sean Combs continued the flake fest.
Then he added this little gem during a quick interview on the red carpet.
While Michael Jackson has always been hailed as one of the greatest entertainers of all time in most circles, many of these people who are now telling us that we should respect Jackson had NOTHING to say when he was being joked about on the regular. Now that the man is dead, let’s respect this “Black brutha”.
Suddenly, Michael Jackson is Black again.
To further prove their sudden loyalty to Jackson, numbers of people have been slamming CNN and other networks for bringing up some of the not so pleasant moments of his life. They took their fake criticism further by making made up comparisons of how Elivs was supposedly treated like some sort of saint (a reach to inject race). Never mind the fact that beyond Elvis’ loyal fan base, his life was also scrutinized, talked about, joked about for decades. The details of his personal history of alcoholism, womanizing, drug addiction, etc. has been out there for the world to see for a very long time. But I completely get it. As Black people, we do not like being scrutinized by the media thanks in part to how the media has negatively portrayed us for decades. With that in mind, we still must understand that scrutiny comes with fame.
Respecting the dead should also mean not lying about your true feelings about them.
Sphere: Related Content