As a jury declared Michael Jackson not guilty Monday afternoon, the King of Pop’s fans – and former fans – continued to argue about whether justice was done.
But everyone agreed on one thing: Michael Jackson today is a different entity than the Michael Jackson of two and three decades ago.
“I still love the older Michael Jackson and his music,” said Flower Fowler, a waitress at the Paramount Cafe who watched the announcement of the verdict on TV with a few customers at the bar. “I grew up with him, so how could I not love that music? But now I wouldn’t put any more money in his pockets. … It made me ill that he got off.”
Al Gilbert listened to the verdict live on the radio while working in the Denver offices of his structural engineering firm. He said he felt that the jury “made the right decision.” Gilbert moonlights with his indie pop band The Maybellines and also spins records during Off the Wall, an ’80s night named after the seminal Jackson record from 1979.
“I think, as DJ and fan, that it’s easy for us to separate the Michael Jackson of ‘Thriller’ and ‘Off the Wall’ from today’s surgically enhanced Michael Jackson,” Gilbert said.
To celebrate, he might play even more Jackson hits than normal at his Hi-Dive gig this Wednesday in homage to the Jackson of old. “We already play a lot, but I’m sure we’ll play even more this week.”
Brian Emphlet is a regular at the Paramount Cafe’s bar, where he knows the staff by name and found himself watching the reading of Monday’s verdict.
“I’m just really disappointed right now,” Emphlet said. “Money is such a major influence on the judicial system these days, especially in these high-profile cases that have been swayed the wrong way because of the sheer amount of money involved.”
Emphlet’s passion about Jackson’s acquittal isn’t relative to his knowledge about the case. He didn’t follow the proceedings carefully, he said, but “the past cases where he paid settlements and everything else that I heard about this case leads me to believe he was definitely guilty.”
“After all, this is a man who adamantly chooses to sleep in the same bed with minors. And that’s disturbing to me.”
Record executive Big Jon Platt, a Denver native who lives in Los Angeles, is close friends with Janet Jackson, with whom he worked on her last record. He has also met Michael Jackson.
“I met him a few different times, and the Michael Jackson I met is no way capable of committing those acts,” Platt said in a telephone interview Monday. “I’m very happy for Michael and his whole family. The court system is set up where the truth is supposed to come out, and this is one of those times where it actually worked.”
But can Jackson salvage any sort of a music career after such a traumatic trial?
“In the United States, no he can’t,” said branding expert Morris Reid. “It’s so vitally important for his legacy that he rehabilitates himself as a person and gets himself right in the eyes of children before he does anything else.”
Pop music critic Ricardo Baca can be reached at 303-820-1394 or rbaca@denverpost.com.
