Sadly, It's Official
Michael Jackson has died at 50. Two icons from my childhood pass in one day! You were both crazy, but I'm still going to miss you.
From CNN
Entertainer Michael Jackson has died after being taken to a hospital on Thursday after suffering cardiac arrest, according to multiple reports including the Los Angeles Times and the Associated Press. CNN has not confirmed his death.Jackson, 50, had been in a coma at the hospital, sources told CNN.
Brian Oxman, a Jackson family attorney, said he was told by brother Randy Jackson that Michael Jackson collapsed at his home in west Los Angeles, California, Thursday morning.
Family members were told of the situation and were either at the hospital or en route, Oxman said.
Fire Capt. Steve Ruda told CNN a 911 call came in from a west Los Angeles residence at 12:21 p.m.
Ruda said Jackson was treated and transferred to the UCLA Medical Center.
Asked specifics of the patient's condition, he said he could not discuss them because of federal privacy laws.
The music icon from Gary, Indiana, is known as the "King of Pop." Jackson had many No. 1 hits and his "Thriller" is the best-selling album of all time. Video Jackson "as big as it gets" »
Jackson is the seventh of nine children in a well-known musical family. He has three children, Prince Michael I, Paris and Prince Michael II.
At the medical center, every entrance to the emergency room was blocked by security guards. Even hospital staffers were not permitted to enter. A few people stood inside the waiting area, some of them crying.
A large crowd was also gathering outside the hospital, according to video footage.
Outside Jackson's Bel Air home, police arrived on motorcycles. The road in front of the home was closed in an attempt to hold traffic back, but several people were gathered outside the home.
UPDATE: Andrew Sullivan has a nice post that we've included in full after the jump. [via]
There are two things to say about him. He was a musical genius; and he was an abused child. By abuse, I do not mean sexual abuse; I mean he was used brutally and callously for money, and clearly imprisoned by a tyrannical father. He had no real childhood and spent much of his later life struggling to get one. He was spiritually and psychologically raped at a very early age - and never recovered. Watching him change his race, his age, and almost his gender, you saw a tortured soul seeking what the rest of us take for granted: a normal life.But he had no compass to find one; no real friends to support and advise him; and money and fame imprisoned him in the delusions of narcissism and self-indulgence. Of course, he bears responsibility for his bizarre life. But the damage done to him by his own family and then by all those motivated more by money and power than by faith and love was irreparable in the end. He died a while ago. He remained for so long a walking human shell.
I loved his music. His young voice was almost a miracle, his poise in retrospect eery, his joy, tempered by pain, often unbearably uplifting. He made the greatest music video of all time; and he made some of the greatest records of all time. He was everything our culture worships; and yet he was obviously desperately unhappy, tortured, afraid and alone.
I grieve for him; but I also grieve for the culture that created and destroyed him. That culture is ours' and it is a lethal and brutal one: with fame and celebrity as its core values, with money as its sole motive, it chewed this child up and spat him out.
I hope he has the peace now he never had in his life. And I pray that such genius will not be so abused again.
Our friend Bryan of Hipster Foldables fame has a created a nice foldable homage too:
Comments
Yeah - when I saw that in my google reader I was/am pretty much disgusted - then the fact that you removed it was pretty sackless. No wonder people all over make fun of Williamsburg - stuff like that gives it a bad name. You just lost a supporter.
Posted by: Anonymous | June 28, 2009 11:30 PM
Wanted to third comments about David Bernstein's post. Couldn't believe it when I saw it in my reader, and was equally grossed out when I saw you had removed it and replaced it with this. If you're assholes, then stick to it. Blech.
Posted by: brandy | June 26, 2009 06:10 PM
great people, sad days..
Posted by: gigi | June 26, 2009 04:54 PM
Huff Post has a nice retrospective of his vids:
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2009/06/25/michael-jackson-videos-th_n_221139.html
and in bizarre news the House had a moment of silence in the gloved one's honor
The House of Representatives paused during debate on a climate change bill today to rise for a moment of silence in tribute to singer Michael Jackson.
"On behalf of a generation, thank God for letting us live in his generation and era," Rep. Jesse Jackson, Jr., D-Ill, told the House.
"We pay tribute to the culture that he has left behind, his legacy," said Rep. Diane Watson, D-Calif.
Posted by: jack al | June 26, 2009 03:17 PM
I too am disappointed by the previous post. It's still available in Google Reader, written by David Bernstein and was beyond tacky. Totally unnecessary.
Posted by: Anonymous | June 26, 2009 01:42 PM
Aww so you guys took down your fuckstick of a post making fun of him going to the hospital. Way to be journalists, assholes. Really poor showing from you all.
Posted by: Anonymous | June 26, 2009 10:24 AM