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# Media vultures need to put a break on their Michael Jackson dance
- URL: https://www.smdp.com/media-vultures-need-to-put-a-break-on-their-michael-jackson-dance/
- Published: 2003-11-25T16:00:00.000Z
- Updated: 2026-10-25T01:17:11.000Z
- Author: David Pisarra
- Tags: Opinion, Santa Monica, #archive-import, Homeless

I hope Michael Jackson is guilty. For his sake. This manchild has a life far removed from the world the rest of us live in. It is not fair to categorize him as a man, for his is a world that resembles none like any real adults. He has no responsibilities that the rest of society must confront. And frankly, since he was 9 years old, his life has been that way. As a child he was the show stopper, breadwinner, central star, his world revolved around him, and we as society made it that way. He probably has no equals in the world who could even begin to relate to him. He was a child who commanded adults.

Even the Royals do not have such a warped sense of the world, for at least they are brought up in a system that is designed to place boundaries on conduct and treatment of others. Not Michael’s. His childhood was a world that was manipulated by managers, attorneys, a reportedly horrible father who dominated him and yet was completely dependent on him. How twisted can one life get. We are about to find out.

None of that is to excuse his alleged molestation of a child, and I am not here to be an apologist for him in any way, shape or form should he be guilty. I just want to bring light to a situation that is shrouded in darkness.

He lives in a world of fantasy where he is the central figure and it is in everyone’s interest who serves him to keep him in that fantasy world. He is the living embodiment of the “Emperor’s New Clothes.”

Alternatively, he is the world’s biggest lightening rod, and you need look no further than Beverly Hills to find his second great-est nemesis, attorney Gloria Allred. The first being the Santa Barbara District Attorney.

I think Gloria Allred is contemptible for her rush to judgment. Her personal assault on his parenting is distasteful at best, and an egregious example of publicity hounding in the most horrendous manner possible. She attacks no other parent as she does Michael, mostly because it wouldn’t get her the publicity she so desperately craves.

When Michael held his third child over a balcony, she rushed to social services to file a complaint for child endangerment and garnering major headlines about her concern for the children. That’s hogwash. What he did was no different than what happens every hour of every day, with likely every child ever born. He held his child in exactly the same manner as most parents hold their children. A quick trip to the children’s playground at Ocean Park Boulevard and the boardwalk will reveal that most parents throw an arm around a baby and walk around. How many fathers hold their just learning to stand child in one hand? How many times have I seen a man “fly” a child cradled in the palm of one hand?

Two weeks ago the Santa Monica Observer had an article entitled, “Homeless, pregnant and happy.” The story was about a homeless woman and her “common law husband.” They were proud to be pregnant with her second child, the first was already in foster care. Where was Ms. Allred with her haughty self-righteous indignation screeching for social services to take her away for child endangerment? Nowhere, as she so frequently is, unless there is a camera on her.

Her latest foray into the absurd world that is Michael Jackon’s life, is her contention that Mr. Jackson’s children should be taken away from him. Just to be clear, the man has not been convicted of anything,. He is clearly a capable provider of a safe and secure home, with a huge staff to provide for his children and Ms. Allred is demanding that these children be taken into state care, to be provided for on the public’s dime. Based solely on an allegation and her good intentions. Good intentions my butt. She has figured out where the parade against Michael is headed and is trying, like all good publicity hounds, to jump in front of the conga line.

If Ms. Allred were really all that concerned about “the children” and other people’s parenting skills, why isn’t she calling for social services to take away the children from the parents who let their kids play at Michael’s? Since she is so convinced that Michael is such a bad parent and a danger to children, why aren’t those parents to be punished for their obviously negligent parenting? No publicity on that front either.

Michael’s own statement is that he does-n’t see anything wrong with sharing his bed with someone. At its face value, it is hard to argue with that statement. How many refrigerator doors across this country have pictures of a baby asleep on dad on the couch? Isn’t that one of the cutest things?

Clearly this man, who is one of the world’s most talented individuals, is a decidedly odd duck. He has been described as naïve. He is certainly different from the rest of us. But so far, he has-n’t been convicted of anything.

I started off by saying that I hope Michael is guilty, and my reasons are numerous but most importantly, if he is wrongly accused, this is a hellish thing for anyone to go through, and more so for someone who values their privacy as much as he does. If he is guilty, at least the publicity comes along with the crime. But if he is innocent, then the vultures who have come out to attack him are even more hateful. The fact that they are already skinning him alive before he has been tried and convicted, shows them for the mean, vindictive and self-aggrandizing personas they are.

This is sure to be another “trial of the century,” that seem to be coming with greater frequency these days, but in America we strive to believe that someone is innocent until proven guilty.

We should all remember that, especially the lawyers. (David Pisarra is a partner in the Santa Monica law firm of Pisarra & Grist, he welcomes questions, and (310) 664-9969 or e-mailed at).

*Originally published in the Santa Monica Daily Press print edition on November 25, 2003.* [Read the original PDF.](https://s3.us-east-1.amazonaws.com/smdp%5Fbackissues/112503.pdf?ref=smdp.com)