The Jackson - Bashir Controversy
Michael Jackson and Martin Bashir: The Interviews and Documentaries
Jul 15, 2009
"Show me a hero" said American novelist Francis Scott Fitzgerald, "and I will write you a tragedy." Heroism and tragedy are two words which best describe the life and death of legendary pop star Michael Jackson. Michael's tragedy easily translates into controversy because of the imagined or real mystery surrounding Michael's life. "Mysterious in life as in death" CNN's Larry King observed of Jackson after his death. The controversy surrounding the reclusive celebrity reached new heights with the release of a documentary in February 2003 titled “Living with Michael Jackson” by acclaimed journalist Martin Bashir.
Bashir’s documentary was a collection of interviews which he granted to Michael from May 2002 to January 2003. What initially began as an attempt to reconcile Michael with a world he had feared and shunned for a long time, ended up as another disaster on the pop star’s public image. Jackson and many of his fans considered this documentary as an assault on his personality and it became the center of a counter-documentary by tabloid journalist Maury Povich which he titled “The Michael Jackson interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See,” released in 2003.
Povich's Charges Aganist Bashir
Martin Bashir’s principal error according to Povich, was his ommission of certain parts of the interview he conducted with Michael which had a great effect on the final documentary. Bashir himself would later confess (after Michael's death) that there was a small part of his documentary which contained "a controversy." In Povich’s documentary, he accuses Bashir of manipulating information to misrepresent Michael Jackson. Povich quotes Michael’s reaction to Bashir’s documentary as “a twisted and edited construction of scandal and innuendo, not a true representation of the interviews that actually took place.”
In his documentary, Povich presents the interview as recorded by Bashir’s camera and also that recorded by Jackson’s camera. By comparing these footages, he struggles to blame Bashir for displaying a high level of bias against Michael. Povich makes the following claims against Bashir:
- Failure to tell the complete story about Michael’s children as he heard from Michael himself and also the reasons for their disguises in public. Bashir for example, was told that the children were living with Michael with the consent of their mother. Michael also informed Bashir that the disguises were for the security of the children
- Failure to report objectively about Michael’s skin disease and also the celebrity’s involvement in a fire accident which was the principal cause of Michael’s plastic surgery. Michael insisted that he had had surgery only twice.
- Attempting to drive a wedge between Michael and his father Joseph Jackson by presenting Joe as a cruel and brutal father. Though Michael frowned on his father's (excessive) strictness, he later praised Joe as a genius. Bashir failed to mention this.
- Presenting Michael as a child molester.
- Throwing what Povich calls “glowing praises" at Michael in the face and then stabbing him in the back.
Michael’s own Errors
Perhaps Michael Jackson’s biggest error was his decision to reconcile with the world and embrace it through Bashir. Michael banked his hopes on what he believed to be Bashir’s professionalism which had raised him to celebrity status after his ground-breaking interview with Princess Diana in 1995. “You are a respected journalist,” Michael observed of Bashir in one of their interviews.
It is also true that Michael laid the ground work for the controversy which Bashir later used against him. Michael for example, talked about his father’s brutality which instilled such fright in him that he felt like “vomiting” each time he saw his father. Though Michael later praised his father as “a genius” he had already exposed his father sufficiently enough.
Reacting o Michael’s comments about Joe’s harsh treatment of their children, Michael’s mother Katherine Jackson expressed surprise. “Joseph didn’t beat them or anything like that” she said, “we just disciplined them out of love. And the bible says if you love a child, you will discipline him.” Also, Michael claimed to have had a lonely childhood. But his father remembers him as a baby who was always surrounded by brothers and friends.
Bashir Confession after Michael’s death
At the beginning of his interview with Jackson, Bashir implored the pop star to show himself as he really was. “Show me the real man” he said, “show me everything. Make nothing off limits.” At the end, at the end of Michael’s life, Bashir joined the queue of Jackson’s detractors and avowed enemies who came forward to make peace with the dead man.
Bashir expressed remorse for whatever misunderstanding that might have arisen from his documentary. “Certainly when I made the documentary, there was a small part of that which contained a controversy concerning his relationship with other young people” Bashir apologized. “The truth is that he was never convicted of any crime. I never saw any wrongdoing myself and whilst his lifestyle may have been a bit unorthodox, I don’t believe it was criminal ….”
While Michael is dead and gone, he will not only be remembered for his moonwalk on stage and his ability to thrill and heal the world. He will be remembered also for paying the ultimate price for his greatness. In Michael’s own words, “The bigger the star, the bigger the target. The More popular I became the more rumors that were circulated ….”
Sources:
ABC News. “Bashir Confesses he lied in Living with Michael Jackson,” 2009.
Anderson, Sonia. The Michael Jackson Story Unmasked, 2009.
Bashir, Martin. Living with Michael Jackson, 2003.
Povich, Maury. The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant to See, 2003.
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