Jacko, His Rise and Fall: The Social and Sexual History of Michael Jackson (41 page)

"Will there be children?" Michael asked Nancy.

"Yes, some."

At the end of the session, Michael was escorted to a waiting limousine.
Nancy turned to two of her guards. In front of witnesses, she asked, "Is it true?
Did he undergo a sex change? I think he did. And that mysterious young man.
What about him?"

No one ventured an answer.

"I hope the kid is legal," she said, before heading to her bedroom to
change. "We don't want any scandals coming from this White House."

As she was leaving, she turned to address her staff one more time. "The
Duchess of Windsor once said that no one can be too thin. I'm pretty thin. But
that Jackson boy, he must weigh only ninety-five pounds. That's not only dangerous, but makes one look cadaverous."

She was almost right. Michael's weight had dropped to 102 pounds, which
his doctors defined as anorexic. On some days, it was reported that Michael
existed on only one carrot and a dozen snow peas.

The following day, the Kremlin, reacting to Michael's visit to the White
House, banned all of his music, especially the album Thriller, from the Soviet
Union. Michael was attacked as "a singer who sold his black soul for white
profit." In a statement, Soviet authorities claimed that Michael was serving the
Reagan administration by diverting the American public's mind away from its
real problems.

After the glories of Washington, back in Encino trouble was brewing
within America's so-called "most perfect African-American family." Since
1978, Papa Joe had co-managed the Jackson brothers, assisted by the management team of Ron Weisner and Fred DeMann.

But as the months dragged on, the business relationship inevitably soured,
Joe accusing the managers of "stealing from my boys." He made the accusation but offered no proof. Of course, those reckless charges were vehemently
denied by Weisner and DeMann.

Michael's other brothers had always believed, with a definite resentment,
that their managers were devoting most of their time to Michael. So when
Michael became upset with DeMann and Weisner and fired them, his other
brothers dismissed the management team as well. At this point, Michael more
or less had already turned over management of his career to Frank DiLeo and
John Branca.

Before agreeing on new managers, Michael had even had a secret meeting with the flamboyant Colonel Tom Parker, the money collector for Elvis
Presley. The meeting ended badly after Parker looked Jackson up and down
and appeared skeptical about the star's appearance, voice, and manner. Parker
later told some of his cronies, "I don't manage faggot nigger boys."

Michael's heroine, Diana Ross, also pushed to manage his career, hoping
to sign him with her own newly formed company, R.T.C. Management.
Privately, Michael was horrified at the suggestion, feeling that she hadn't been
that brilliant at managing her own career. Too cowardly to turn her down, he
went for weeks refusing her phone calls until she finally gave up.

Joe went public with his charges, crying "leeches" to the press and accusing DeMann and Weisner of "trying to break up the brothers." In a startling
statement, he claimed, "There was a time when I felt I needed white help in
dealing with the brass at CBS."

DeMann claimed that Joe did not enjoy "a good relationship with anyone
whose skin is not black."

Joe countered that he was not a racist. "I wouldn't have hired a lot of people that aren't black to work for me if I was a racist."

Michael was horrified that Joe was raising the race card. He issued a statement claiming, "To hear him talk like that turns my stomach. I don't know
where he gets that from. I happen to be color blind. I don't hire color. I hire
competence. The individual can be of any race or creed as long as I get the
best performance. Racism is not my motto."

During their press war with their white management team, the other brothers met in private and decided not to renew their managerial contract with
Papa Joe as well.

Given the boot by his sons, Joe forged ahead anyway, hoping to interest all his sons, including Michael, in "starring in the largest grossing tour of all
time." Knowing that Michael would be a key to the success of the tour, Joe
wisely asked Katherine to be co-promoter with him. "If anybody can persuade
Michael to tour with his brothers, it's Katherine," Joe was quoted as saying.

Even though he'd been fired, Joe told the press, "I was there when it started, and I'll be there when it ends." To prove to the world that he was still in
charge of his boys, and to make some much-needed money, he recovered
quickly from his disappointment about being booted, and concocted the idea
of another nationwide tour for his sons, including the hard-to-pin-down
Michael.

As Joe could have predicted, Michael was the lone holdout, the other
brothers agreeing to go on the road again with their parents as managers.
Eventually, however, thanks partly to Katherine's careful persuasion, Michael
finally agreed to join his brothers on the road.

The tour would be sponsored by Pepsi Cola. In return, the Jacksons had
agreed to film two commercials, which eventually led to the disastrous hairburning incident and the feud that resulted between Michael and the soft-drink
company. But in spite of that, Pepsi was contractually obligated to sponsor the
"Victory Tour."

Joe startled his entire family, especially Michael, when he announced that
he was negotiating with Don King to manage the tour.

The flamboyant, Don King, who often wore a white fur coat, diamond
rings, and a gold necklace, looked like the biggest pimp in Harlem. The silver-tongued promoter was ridiculed for his hair sticks that stood straight up,
looking as if he'd been electrocuted. But he was even more famous for his
spectacular boxing promotions, including Muhammad Ali's "Thrilla in
Manila" and the Sugar Ray Leonard-Robert Duran fight that seemingly half
the world watched.

Michael was fully aware of King's racy background. The promoter got his
start in the illegal numbers business in Cleveland. In December of 1954, he
shot and killed one of three men trying to rob one of his gambling houses. He
didn't go to jail, as prosecutors determined that the death was a "justifiable
homicide."

Trouble, also in Cleveland, came again for King. He beat a man to death
twelve years later. He told police the victim owed him money. King was convicted of second-degree murder, but the trial judge reduced the conviction to
manslaughter. King served only 3'/z years of the sentence before he received a
pardon from James Rhodes, the governor of Ohio at the time.

On November 30, 1983, King called a press conference in New York at
Tavern on the Green, the highlight of which was a 15-minute documentary
congratulating himself for his achievements. A Washington reporter, Cody Shearer, labeled the event "media history's most abominable press conference."

Michael arrived cuddling Emmanuel Lewis in his arms, to the shock of
some members of the press. "What's going on here?" one of them asked in a
whisper so loud it could be heard throughout the room. "Something queer this
way comes." He was told to shut up.

Even though King referred to Michael as "the golden voice of song,"
Golden Throat refused to take questions, after introducing his mother and his
sisters. After that, he sat glaring at King, not even disguising his hostility.

King did most of the talking, as the brothers followed Michael's example
and concealed part of their faces behind sunglasses. The Victory album was
announced for release on July 2, 1984. Despite its inaugural hype, many fans
were disappointed. The brothers performed songs individually and didn't follow their already proven success of having Michael or even Jermaine sing the
lead vocals. Amazingly, the "Victory" tour would not include one single song
from the album of the same name. For the tour, the errant brother, Jermaine,
rejoined the brood. The tour could have been billed as the "Jackson Six."

Jermaine had sought his release from Motown after his career as a solo
artist had gone bust. "Being the son-in-law of Motown's president was not a
long-range missile launch for Jermaine," Marvin Gaye said. "Berry Gordy Jr.
was glad to see Jermaine go."

Later, in his New York hotel suite, Michael watched the videotape of the
press conference, and he was disgusted. Summoning his brothers to his suite,
he announced, "I'm the biggest star in the world! There's no way I'm gonna
be an opening act for this sleazeball," referring to King of course. "What a
creep!"

After the press conference, Michael became increasingly furious at King,
issuing instructions to Branca to define, as noted below, the terms of their
dealings with King:

A. King may not communicate with anyone on Michael's behalf without
prior permission.

B. All monies will be collected by Michael's representatives and not by
King.

C. King may not approach any promoters, sponsors, or other people on
Michael's behalf.

D. King may not hire any personnel or local promoters, book halls, or, for
that matter, do anything at all without Michael's prior approval.

Later King was fired as the tour promoter and replaced by Chuck Sullivan,
who caused more problems. Because of the terms within his contract, King stayed with the tour but in a figurehead capacity.

In an interview with Playboy in 1988, King discussed his frustrations promoting the "Victory" tour. "The suits went after me," he claimed. "They did
their usual thing. They told Michael, `You know, a black guy can't do this.
And King is a racketeer. Michael, your image is at stake here.' His image?
What Michael's got to understand is that Michael's a nigger! It don't matter
how great he can sing and dance; I don't care that he can prance; he's one of
the greatest mega-stars in the world, but he's still going to be a nigger megastar."

King found it "ludicrous" how Papa Joe was pushed aside, not only by
Michael but by all his sons. "There is no way Michael Jackson should be as
big as he is and treat his family the way that he does. No way! Nothing can
justify that. He feels that his father did him wrong. There can't be so much
wrong his father did him-Michael, after all, is the biggest star there ever was
in the music business. His father may have done some wrong, but he also had
to do a whole lot of right. Whatever it was, Michael could reprimand, chastise, teach-'If you did it wrong, Dad, don't do it wrong no more."'

King concluded his interview by claiming that, "I see that Michael has
nobody black around him-nobody. So therefore, he is, in effect, a pseudowhite."

When Chuck Sullivan, owner of the New England Patriots of the National
Football League, signed on as a promoter, he had harsh demands for Michael's
fans. Each fan would have to order a total of four tickets and would have to
send in a mail order for $120. There would be no guarantee of a specific date,
a certain seat, or even a ticket itself.

This caused an outcry. Even though these high ticket prices had not been
Michael's idea, he was the one accused of "greed."

"We thought you were kind and loving to your fans," wrote Betty Lou
Garghrin of Long Island. "But I think you're just a bloodsucker." Michael was
stunned, even deeply hurt by such criticism, blaming Sullivan for such bad
press and disastrous public relationships.

Sullivan and King were an ill-fated duo at the negotiating table. The bombastic boxing promoter labeled Chuck Sullivan "Charlie the Tuna." Sullivan
lost $20 million as promoter of the tour, and "Victory" was not a victory for
him. His company, Stadium Management Co., was forced into bankruptcy,
and the Sullivans eventually had to sell the New England Patriots.

Even though Michael "fought against it," and in spite of his reservations,
he threw himself into rehearsals and the actual stage appearances, "giving
each performance everything I could." Before setting out, Michael demanded
yet a third rhinoplasty from Dr. Hoefflin. "The first two didn't really do the
job-the nose must be even thinner," were his instructions.

The "Victory" tour by the Jackson brothers was one of the pivotal events
of 1984, a year that saw Vanessa Williams resign as Miss America, the death
of jazz great Count Basic, and the birth of The Cosby Show on NBC.

Between July and December of 1984, The Jacksons bombarded America,
with more drama transpiring off stage than on. Fans suspected that it would be
the last time Michael would ever tour with his brothers. When the tour ended
in Los Angeles, Michael proved them right by proclaiming, "This is our final
farewell tour as a family." In fact, he had wanted to call it "The Farewell
Tour," but he'd been voted down by his brothers.

The "Victory" tour opened in the heart of America: Kansas City. Despite
bouts of depression, Michael found amusements wherever he could. He
laughed hysterically when a fully clothed Frank DiLeo lost his balance and
fell into a hotel's swimming pool in Kansas. In Washington, DC, Michael
grabbed a handful of money from DiLeo's pockets and tossed the hundred-orso bills to screaming fans below, causing a riot. It was well known that DiLeo
usually carried a wad of cash to handle "MJ emergencies," as he put it.

Michael chased DiLeo around a hotel suite with his boa constrictor,
Muscles. Terrified of snakes, DiLeo pulled a gun and threatened to shoot the
monster, even though the reptile was harmless. When boredom set in, Michael
reverted to the old tricks of his childhood. He would take a bucket of water
and run out to the edge of the atrium, tossing the liquid down onto people dining below, especially at Hyatt hotels.

Tensions between the brothers were rampant. Michael always got the best
accommodations and the best transportation. And whereas the brothers flew
commercial airlines, Michael traveled by private jet, including in one instance,
a luxurious craft belonging to Meshulam Riklis, the zillionaire husband of Pia
Zadora.