Commentary

Protests Planned at Screening of Michael Jackson Documentary

NNPA NEWSWIRE — “…in the era of #MeToo and #TimesUp, America’s embrace of “I believe the victims” has intensified. However, Michael Jackson’s family and ultra-loyal fan base, are having none of it.”

Published

5 years ago

January 20, 2019

Oakland Post

By Stacy M. Brown, NNPA Newswire Correspondent
@StacyBrownMedia

Kelly’s accusers are having their say and so are those who accused Bill Cosby.

And, in the era of #MeToo and #TimesUp, America’s embrace of “I believe the victims” has intensified. However, Michael Jackson’s family and ultra-loyal fan base, are having none of it.

TMZ reports that police are gearing up for a mob of angry protestors who plan to let their feelings be known during a new blistering documentary about the late King of Pop that’s set to premiere Friday, Jan. 25th at the Sundance Film Festival.

Police are also gearing up for possible confrontations.

Law enforcement sources said the Park City Police Department is aware of an anti-documentary protest being organized on social media, so cops are going to beef up their presence both inside and outside the premiere with uniformed and undercover officers.

The website reported that law enforcement is most concerned about disruptions taking place during the Q&A portion of the screening of “Leaving Neverland,” a six-hour film that features two men who say they were sexually assaulted by Jackson when they were children.

The Q&A portion is when protesters may cause the biggest disturbances, TMZ reported.

The controversial documentary explores the alleged sexual abuse by Jackson, who died in 2009 at the age of 50.

Famous choreographer to the stars Wade Robson and another man, James Safechuck, are reportedly featured in the documentary and both tell stories of lurid behavior by Jackson.

Robson claims that when he was as young as 7, Jackson sexually assaulted him and the attacks continued for several years. Safechuck, who traveled with Jackson when Safechuck was a young boy, said the singer repeatedly molested him.

Jackson was found not guilty of 13 counts involving the molestation of a 13-year-old cancer patient in 2005 and has always maintained his innocence despite acknowledging paying tens of millions of dollars in civil settlements to the family of at least three boys who claimed the singer molested them.

Jackson’s family has slammed the documentary and his fans have bombarded Twitter and other social media pages with protests.

One of Jackson’s nephews even tweeted that he could consider crowd funding to finance a counter-documentary.

Jackson’s estate executors have blasted the documentary, Robson and Safechuck, calling them “liars.” They point out that both gave sworn testimony when Jackson was alive that the King of Pop never touched them.

The estate’s executors, John Branca and John McClain have also lashed out at HBO for planning to show the documentary in the spring. They claim Jackson’s 1992 concert that aired exclusive on HBO, made the network millions and “this is how they show their gratitude.”

HBO officials said they still plan to air the documentary.

Baton Rouge rap star Lil’ Boosie recently gave his thoughts on the Jackson documentary.

The “Ghetto Stories” rapper took to Instagram for the “Surviving R. Kelly” controversy, in which Lifetime’s tell-all documentary on the life, times and sexually deviant crimes of the Chicago crooner were thrusted to the forefront of pop culture at the top of 2019.

Now that a new Sundance film is in the works to spotlight Jackson’s alleged abuse against children, Boosie said believe the victims. “Let’s see what the world has to say this time,” Boosie said.

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The printed Weekly Edition of the Oakland Post: Week of April 24 – 30, 2024

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Commentary

Opinion: Surviving the Earthquake, an Eclipse and “Emil Amok.”

Last Friday, a 4.8 magnitude earthquake shook New York City, reported as the “biggest earthquake with an epicenter in the NYC area since 1884” when a 5.2 quake hit. A bit bigger. The last quake similar to Friday’s was a 4.9 in 1783.Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago. That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

Published

2 weeks ago

April 17, 2024

Oakland Post

In New York City, the eclipse was about 90 percent visible. Good enough for me. Though a full solar eclipse is a celestial rarity, blockages of any sort aren’t generally celebrated. My one-man play is about growing up with the eclipsed history of American Filipinos and how I struggle to unblock all that.

By Emil Guillermo

I’m a Northern Californian in New York City for the next few weeks, doing my one-man show, “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host, Wiley Filipino, Vegan Transdad.”

I must like performing in the wake of Mother Nature.

Alexander Hamilton felt it — 241 years ago.

That’s why New Yorkers were freaking out on Friday. They were in the room where it happens.

And it just doesn’t happen that often.

Beyonce singing country music happens more frequently.

When I felt New York shake last week, it reminded me of a time in a San Francisco TV newsroom when editors fretted about a lack of news an hour before showtime.

Then the office carpeting moved for a good ten seconds, and the news gods gave us our lead story.

On Friday when it happened in NYC, I noticed the lines in the carpeting in my room wiggling. But I thought it was from a raucous hotel worker vacuuming nearby.

I didn’t even think earthquake. In New York?

I just went about my business as if nothing had happened. After living near fault lines all my life, I was taking things for granted.

Considering the age of structures in New York, I should have been even more concerned about falling objects inside (shelves, stuff on walls) and outside buildings (signs, scaffolding), fire hazards from possible gas leaks, and then I should have looked for others on my floor and in the hotel lobby to confirm or aid or tell stories.

Of course, as a Californian who has lived through and covered quakes in the 4 to 6 magnitude range, I tried to calm down any traumatized New Yorker I encountered by taking full responsibility for bringing in the quake from the Bay Area.

I reassured them things would be all right, and then let them know that 4.8s are nothing.

And then I invited them to my consoling post-Earthquake performance of “Emil Amok, Lost NPR Host…”

It was the night of the eclipse.

ECLIPSING THE ECLIPSE

For example, did you know the first Filipinos actually arrived to what is now California in 1587? That’s 33 years before the Pilgrims arrived in America on the other coast, but few know the Filipino history which has been totally eclipsed.

I was in Battery Park sitting on a bench and there was a sense of community as people all came to look up. A young woman sitting next to me had a filter for a cell phone camera. We began talking and she let me use it. That filter enabled me to take a picture of the main event with my iPhone.

For helping me see, I invited her and her boyfriend to come see my show.

Coincidentally, she was from Plymouth, Massachusetts, near the rock that says the year the Pilgrims landed in 1620.

In my show she learned the truth. The Pilgrims were second.

History unblocked. But it took a solar eclipse.

Next one in 2044? We have a lot more unblocking to do.

If you’re in New York come see my show, Sat. April 13th, 5:20 pm Eastern; Fri. April 19, 8:10 pm Eastern; and Sun. April 21st 5:20 pm Eastern.

You can also livestream the show. Get tickets at www.amok.com/tickets

About the Author

Emil Guillermo is a journalist and commentator. He does a mini-talk show on YouTube.com/@emilamok1. He wishes all his readers a Happy Easter!