this post was submitted on 12 Jul 2026
48 points (92.9% liked)

Ask Lemmy

40422 readers
830 users here now

A Fediverse community for open-ended, thought provoking questions


Rules: (interactive)


1) Be nice and; have funDoxxing, trolling, sealioning, racism, toxicity and dog-whistling are not welcomed in AskLemmy. Remember what your mother said: if you can't say something nice, don't say anything at all. In addition, the site-wide Lemmy.world terms of service also apply here. Please familiarize yourself with them


2) All posts must end with a '?'This is sort of like Jeopardy. Please phrase all post titles in the form of a proper question ending with ?


3) No spamPlease do not flood the community with nonsense. Actual suspected spammers will be banned on site. No astroturfing.


4) NSFW is okay, within reasonJust remember to tag posts with either a content warning or a [NSFW] tag. Overtly sexual posts are not allowed, please direct them to either !asklemmyafterdark@lemmy.world or !asklemmynsfw@lemmynsfw.com. NSFW comments should be restricted to posts tagged [NSFW].


5) This is not a support community.
It is not a place for 'how do I?', type questions. If you have any questions regarding the site itself or would like to report a community, please direct them to Lemmy.world Support or email info@lemmy.world. For other questions check our partnered communities list, or use the search function.


6) No US Politics.
Please don't post about current US Politics. If you need to do this, try !politicaldiscussion@lemmy.world or !uspolitics@lemmy.world


7) No Hit-and-Run questions.
Please don't delete your post for no apparent reason. If you plan on deleting a question later, say so in the post, or if you feel that you have a good reason to remove it, message a mod beforehand. It's not fair to the ones who took their time to answer, and it's not in the spirit of the community.


Reminder: The terms of service apply here too.

Partnered Communities:

Tech Support

No Stupid Questions

You Should Know

Reddit

Jokes

Ask Ouija


Logo design credit goes to: tubbadu


founded 3 years ago
MODERATORS
you are viewing a single comment's thread
view the rest of the comments
[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 2 points 2 days ago* (last edited 2 days ago) (3 children)

We're not (i was thinking of madonna), but speaking of MJ:

I'm so annoyed that internet discussion seemed to go back and forth on whether his interactions with kids were wrong, before finally settling on the conclusion they were, in the wake of Epstein + the MJ movie being released. People would make up very elaborate explanations for why he was having kids over and why it was okay, and you'd get absolutely piled on for not supporting that explanation.

For me personally my mom already told me he was bad before i started using the internet, so I've probably gone through more gaslighting with MJ than over any other issue - kids i went to school with were arguing with me over it at like 9 years old. I didn't know the full reason yet.

Just such a clear issue

[–] Strider@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

You seem to have followed that topic far more than me. So I'd like to state what I objectively understood from the mj case and then ask you. Please do not feel offended, I never like people being idolized but also not their image being damaged with accusations.

That being said, from what I understood he had a lot of kids around him which is at least unusual in any case but there was no objective proof for sexual abuse.

So my honest question: had this been proven? This was such a hot topic that it was impossible for me to follow the facts. (of course in a possible connection with Epstein - which I knew nothing about then - it might seem obvious now)

Thanks.

[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago) (1 children)

It's fine, i'm not here to start arguments.

Here are some sources

So to answer your questions:

  • Yes it's proven that MJ invited kids over for sleepovers.
  • It was so well known that he did this that the media was reporting on it frequently and he went to court for it -~~ presumably it wasn't proven that he molested them because AFAIK he never went to jail or anything. ~~
  • But as you said, the issue is that he shouldn't have been creating those situations in the first place, because:
  • 1), it's creepy enough ny default,
    1. kids shouldn't be taken away from trusted adults fo stay over with celebrities,
    1. MJ is aware thst this is wring and puts him in a highkply precarious legal position.

You'd therefore assume that he was doing this in the hopes thst he might one day get away with mokesting a child, or that he wss doing it as the first part of grooming them to become his close friends and from there who knows.

It's a dereliction of "responsibility" as a celebrity and as an adult to essentially provide access to yourself as a visitor attraction for kids. Public meetings with fans (conventions, signings, concerts) and answering fan mail is fine.

I'm surprised it didn't go worse. I do like his music though and i appreciate he had a poor childhood himself which contributes to making these poor judgements.

(I believe MJ comes up in Epsteins Emails, either because epstein celebrates him, or because he's a visitor to the island. Probably the former, there's not much outcry about it. I'll look for a source for that.)

[–] Strider@lemmy.world 3 points 23 hours ago

But still, thst does not sound as if it's proven he molested them. And if he did, he should rot in hell of course.

I'm just still not sure that he wasn't as naive innocent as he seemed. I really hate this.

[–] nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)
[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 2 points 1 day ago (1 children)

No i just made the post about dead celebrities despite thinking about madonna. I already decided not to yap to the pereon in question about madonna being a creep, and the conversation in questiin happened a year or so ago but i remembered it and made a post inspired by it

[–] nylo@lemmy.dbzer0.com 1 points 1 day ago
[–] wcSyndrome@lemmy.zip 6 points 2 days ago (2 children)
[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago* (last edited 1 day ago)

True, haha, i think i added "deceased" because it makes it more clear cut? Asking the same about living celebrities is a different issue because they run cover-up on their misdeeds, so there's usually lots of plausible deniability. I didn't think i'd mention what prompted me to make the post until that guy asked if it was MJ, which was a good guess.

[–] Elextra@literature.cafe 1 points 2 days ago (1 children)

I was trying to look up what the Madonna controversy or allegations are and found this article about allegations of human trafficking and sexual abuse but then I saw this article about Malawi where her previous staff became head of education and this article about her healthy children

If this is the controversy or allegation, I'm not personally convinced as an outsider looking in 🤷‍♀️. Seems to me that people are bothered by her sexual advocacy including lgbt+ rights and though not saying theres 100% chance of this but I don't see any evidence of human trafficking or exploitation so far. The wrongful termination suit as well as Malawi's stance on societal norms just leads me to believe they have agenda against her.

[–] FinjaminPoach@lemmy.world 1 points 1 day ago (1 children)

She had sex with a minor and she continues the pattern in a way by having relationships with men much younger than her today. (Not underage though.)

[–] Elextra@literature.cafe 2 points 3 hours ago

Oh I haven't heard or seen that one re: minor. The younger guys ive known about.