[Marsh.]

Originally Posted by Jake.

The “he missed his childhood” excuse people always use it completely bogus to me. My grandad didn’t have a childhood, he was beaten senseless by his father for the majority of his childhood life. Yet, he knew how to function as an adult and didn’t allow kids to share his bed.

If MJ was a regular member of society, living down your road, and had the bleached skin, ever-thinning nose and publicly stated that he saw no issues with hanging around with children on their own/having sleepovers in the same bed (and that’s before even going into the actual child molestation accusations), he’d be absolutely lambasted. The fact is, people don’t want to let go of the legacy he brought with his music.

No one's used it as an excuse though? It's only ever been used to provide context to the type of person MJ was. Some people who experience trauma as children don't become functioning adults, whether that leads to abuse of others or self destruction. Not an excuse for their behaviour, an explanation as to their warped minds.

As for "If MJ was a regular member of society" I would say 80% of the things you list, especially his surgery and bleached skin most likely wouldn't have been the case if he'd lived an ordinary life. He can't be viewed as an average person, because he wasn't regardless of if he was a pedophile or not.