Crime writer Aphrodite Jones on Michael Jackson's death
Posted: 04:26 PM ET
Best-selling true crime writer Aphrodite Jones has been covering Michael Jackson for years. On her TV program, True Crime with Aphrodite Jones, she has set out to prove that the allegations of child abuse and the fallout from his criminal trial were as responsible for his death last year as the drugs he was taking.
True Crime with Aphrodite Jones: Michael Jackson airs Thursday, April 29th on Investigation Discovery. Jones spoke to the LKL Blog about her thoughts on the Jackson case. The interview has been edited for clarity and content.
LKL Blog: You've spent years looking at Michael Jackson, his legal troubles and the man that he was. In terms of connecting the dots for your program, tell me a little about what you learned.
Aphrodite Jones: I think what I learned is that we really forgot, while Michael Jackson was alive, that he was a human being. We made him into a caricature. The interesting for me is that nobody after the acquittal of Michael Jackson turned around and said, "gee, wait a minute, we reported only what we could to dig up dirt and never considered that this man has no place to turn now." Frankly, the media ran after him harder after the acquittal.
It all got turned around on Jackson, in a big way. I think people don't realize -- when Mihcael Jackson did anything, like the baby-dangling incident, it was blown out of such proportion because everybody made him out to be a freak.
LKL Blog: There's no denying his talent but he was such a polarizing person. People just wanted to know every detail -- why do you think people had that kind of reaction to him?
Jones: First of all, Michael Jackson broke the color barrier. And he did it in such a way, with his music, with his friendships and later with his vitiligo. Here's someone whose life was dedicated to not looking at races, being of only one color. His music united the world. He went to every country in the world with his music. If his music landed there, he usually went. And he embraced people of every culture. Not many entertainers when you think about that really have that kind of stronghold or embrace of people in China, people in Singapore, people in Thailand. My book [Michael Jackson Conspiracy] has been translated around the world. In Japan, China, Taiwan, France, Italy, all over Europe.
LKL Blog: The theory that you're operating on in the show -- that Jackson never recovered from the allegatio