Michael Jackson (88 page)

‘I ask all of you to wait and hear the truth before you condemn me,’ he said, holding back tears. ‘Don’t treat me like a criminal,
because I am innocent.’

Dressed in a red shirt with red lipstick, false eyelashes and long strands of hair framing his heavily made-up face, Michael
had harsh words for the media which, he charged, ‘has dissected and manipulated these allegations to reach their own conclusions.’
He grew more emotional when describing the examination and subsequent photo session of his body: ‘I have been forced to submit
to a dehumanizing and humiliating examination by the Santa Barbara County Sheriff’s Department and the Los Angeles Police
Department earlier this week. They served a search warrant on me which allowed them to view and photograph my body, including
my penis, my buttocks, my lower torso, thighs and any other areas they wanted. They were supposedly looking for any discoloration,
spotting blotches or other evidence of a skin colour disorder called Vitiligo, which I have previously spoken about.

‘It was the most humiliating ordeal of my life, one that no person should ever have to suffer. And even after experiencing
the indignity of this search, the parties involved were still not satisfied and wanted to take even more pictures. It was
a nightmare, a horrifying nightmare. But if this is what I have to endure to prove my innocence, my complete innocence, so
be it.’

‘Don’t treat me like a criminal,’ Michael insisted, ‘because I am innocent.’

As LaToya stared at the TV screen, tears sprung from her large, expressive eyes. She seemed lost in thought until Jack Gordon
burst into the room and laid waste to her reverie. ‘The show is off,’ he said. ‘I’m not allowing LaToya to be hooked up to
any damn lie detector.’

‘Why?’ LaToya wanted to know.

‘We agreed on fifty thousand dollars,’ Jack explained. ‘But with Michael crying his eyes out on TV, I’m doubling her fee to
a hundred thousand. I just told the producers, and they said to go to hell. So, we’re out of here. The hell with
them
.’

Jack grabbed LaToya by the arm.

‘I’m sorry you came all the way to Spain for nothing,’ she told me, looking victimized. ‘What a waste of time for you. You
must think I’m a terrible person, now. But, really, I’m not.’ She was then hustled from the room by her husband. ‘Tell Michael
I’m sorry,’ she said, while being whisked away.

Years later, LaToya would insist that the allegations she’d made against Michael were all Jack’s fabrications, which she was
made to repeat against her will. Though it would take a few years, by 2003 she and Michael had cleared the air between them
and were, again, close. LaToya also apologized to the rest of her family members; they then all accepted her back into the
fold.

By 1 January 1994, nearly two million dollars had been spent by prosecutors and police departments in California jurisdictions
on the investigation of Michael Jackson. Two Grand Juries had questioned more than two hundred witnesses, including thirty
children who had been friends of Michael’s over the years. Not one witness could be found who could corroborate Jordie Chandler’s
story, and without other witnesses the authorities’ case against Michael was weak. Perhaps Michael had the undying loyalty
of the youngsters with whom he’d had sex? Or, maybe all of those who had investigated the singer were inept? Or was it possible
that he was innocent?

11 January marked Jordie’s fourteenth birthday, but he had no party. He wasn’t in the mood to celebrate, he said. When he
blew out the candles on his cake, Evan asked him to make a wish. ‘I wish this nightmare would end,’ he said. As a gift, Evan
gave him a bottle of mace, for his protection.

On that same day, more damage was done to Michael’s image when transcripts of depositions in the Jackson – Chandler civil suit
were filed in Los Angeles Superior Court as part of a motion brought by attorney Larry Feldman. Arguing that he should be
allowed access to Michael’s financial records since, as he put it, ‘there is substantial probability’ that his client would
prevail in the suit, Feldman filed the transcripts as a demonstration of the evidence against Jackson. Also included was a
new declaration from Jordie, who had repeated the original allegations he had made about Michael to police and social workers.

Transcripts filed by Larry Feldman included sworn depositions from Michael Jackson’s former chauffeur, former maids and secretaries.
Truth or fiction, it didn’t matter; all of it was now a part of the public record. Composed mostly of hearsay, speculation
and innuendo, and much of it from people who’d already been paid handsomely by tabloid television programmes and newspapers
to ‘reveal all’ about their boss, it was difficult to imagine that such statements would have been given much credence by
a jury.

No doubt, Jordie Chandler’s detailed testimony would have been the most damaging to Michael. One wondered, though, how a jury
would have reacted to the fact that the original allegation, that Michael had touched his penis, was given while under a mind-altering
drug? And what of the question of Michael’s being circumcised or not? In the end, it would be Michael’s word against Jordie’s,
because there were no witnesses to any episodes of molestation (but, then again, there are rarely witnesses to such events).

Due to his celebrity status, it was possible that Michael could prevail at the civil trial. A mountain of circumstantial evidence
(not to mention the impact that might be made on a jury by his wrong-minded determination to continually flaunt young boys
in public) was probably not enough to secure a verdict against him. However, the question then was: was it worth it for him
to find out? His attorneys didn’t think so, feeling that more harm than good would occur by having so many disclosures made
public. Plus, what if he really
was
guilty? What would such a trial do to the already-victimized Jordie Chandler? Though Jordie certainly wasn’t the primary
concern of Michael’s attorneys, they empathized with him and felt a sense of responsibility to him simply because of his youth.
They probably didn’t care much about his father, though, not after all that had occurred.

When Larry Feldman began nosing into Michael’s finances, he had crossed a line. ‘A lot of terrible business had gone down
for Michael, but once Feldman started demanding information about his bank accounts, we knew the game was over,’ said one
of Michael’s advisers. ‘You can take pictures of Michael’s dick, and he’s not gonna like it. But once you start trying to
figure out how much money he has, that’s where he stops playing around.’

Unbeknownst to even Michael’s attorneys, Lisa Marie Presley had also tried to influence his decision to settle. A seasoned
survivor of many publicity wars, she had long thought that Michael should end the matter with a cash pay-out. She was finally
able to convince him that, as she later put it, ‘some things, like a good night’s sleep, are more important than public opinion.’

He wanted to get on with his life, Michael said, so that he could finally marry Lisa. Not much movement had occurred in their
relationship since his odd proposal to her on the telephone, and he was afraid that she was becoming impatient with him. ‘The
only thing I got out of therapy is that it’s my responsibility to have a good life,’ he said, ‘and maybe I can have that with
Lisa. I don’t want to lose her, now.’

Indeed, Michael Jackson was finally leaning toward paying Evan Chandler the money Jordie’s father had originally sought. ‘They’ve
worn me down, I admit it,’ he told one of his attorneys. He wondered what more ‘they can do to humiliate me, to ruin me? I
don’t know what else to do but pay the guy.’

The attorney suggested that, perhaps, they should have done as much at the beginning of the debacle.

‘It’s not like we didn’t try, now is it?’ Michael observed, wryly. ‘What a nightmare this has been, to now only end up back
at square one.’ He concluded that he was so unhappy about all of it, he wished he could ‘just crawl into a hole.’

Another thing had also changed for Michael: he no longer wanted to think about Jordie Chandler. No one could mention the youngster’s
name to him. If, as they say, a thin line exists between love a hate, Michael seemed to cross it after he was forced to pose
naked for the police. The subject of Jordie was off limits from that day onward.

On 16 January, Michael hosted a party for two hundred underprivileged children at Neverland. There he was, on news broadcasts
all over the world, cavorting with children and gaily leading them in their fun day, like a Pied Piper. Some observers wondered
if he had any sense, at all. His advisers were more frustrated than they were angry. (‘I give up,’ said one. ‘I
fucking give up
.’)

Michael’s behaviour would never change, that much was clear. True to form, he was going to continue doing what he wanted to
do, and that would have to be the end of it.

On 25 January 1994, Michael Jackson agreed to pay twenty-two million dollars to Jordie Chandler, Evan Chandler, June Chandler-Schwartz
and attorney Larry Feldman. Twenty million of it was earmarked for Jordie. One million each went to Evan and June. Larry Feldman
then got about five million from all three of them in contingency fees. Jordie’s money would be held in a trust for him, to
be paid out over the intervening years under the supervision of a court-appointed trustee.

‘He had sex with Jordie, and he paid a price,’ said a member of Jordie’s family of Michael. ‘He ruined the kid’s life. I hope
he learned a lesson, the pervert. But I doubt it. He should be in jail. But he’s not, so good for him.’

In the end, no criminal charges would be brought against Michael by the police or the Grand Juries, citing a lack of evidence.
They had many witnesses, said the police, but no victims who actually wanted to testify against Michael Jackson.

‘All’s well that ends well,’ said Anthony Pellicano, bitterly. ‘From the beginning, this case was always about how much money
the father could get out of Michael Jackson. So he got what he wanted, I guess.’

Attorney Michael Freeman, who had represented June Chandler-Schwartz, says that, in his opinion, Michael was innocent of any
wrong-doing. ‘I think he was wrongly accused,’ said the attorney. ‘I think that Evan Chandler and Barry Rothman saw an opportunity
and went for it. That’s my personally held opinion. I believe it was all about money, and their strategy, obviously, worked.’

Elizabeth Taylor’s comment about the end of the investigation and litigation was classic spin-doctor Liz. ‘Thank God this
case is being dismissed,’ she said. ‘Michael’s love of children is one of the purest things I have ever seen, it shines like
an extra sun, despite the media’s distorted lens. I always knew this would be thrown out of court, and I am so grateful.’

When I conducted a telephone interview with Michael in August 1994, after the allegations were settled, he told me, ‘Too much
damage had already been done to everyone involved. I don’t care what people think. I know the truth. If anyone has ever gone
through something like this, they’d know you’ll do anything to end it.’

Of the case, Michael suggested extortion, but without actually saying as much since he was not supposed to speak about the
case by legal agreement (which didn’t stop him, though, in other instances). ‘Lots of people are always trying stuff like
this, trying to hurt me, embarrass me. I thought this was just another one of those things. I never dreamed it would blow
up to be the mess it became. I’d never hurt a child, and any child who has ever been my friend knows that. I’d never, ever,
ever hurt any child on this planet.

‘I want to go on with my life,’ he said, passionately. ‘I want to make records. I want to sing. I want to perform again. Tell
my fans I have supreme confidence that they’ll judge me on stage and in the recording studio, just as they always have. I
don’t believe this nightmare will interfere with my career,’ he added, ‘because I’ve spent too many years developing my relationship
with the fans. They should just know that, yes, I paid some money. So what? But no, I’m not guilty. I did nothing wrong.’