I have an interview with Bert Stabler about an art project about Michael Jackson which he did with his Chicago high school students. Here’s an excerpt:
What was their take on his child abuse scandal and on his sexuality?
Bert Stabler: Few students seemed positive that he was guilty. Several seemed convinced of his innocence. The overall opinion was uncertainty, though there was a general agreement that, by inviting children to sleep at his house, that he was certainly leaving himself open to accusations, and, equally, that the guardians of those children were so culpable in their permissiveness as to have their motives appear suspicious.
The gay issue was interesting – a few students questioned whether he had fathered his children, but, for the most part, he was assumed to be straight. However, the possibility of his sexual deviance was never dismissed outright, but was frequently contextualized in terms of his traumatic childhood. His overall deviance in appearance and mannerisms was equated with deviant behavior by some, but not everyone– intriguingly, one student did claim that Jackson was a “faggot,” but not homosexual.
Interesting. Thanks.
As an aside, it constantly amazes me that no one really questions the paternity of "his" kids; they look absolutely nothing like he did as a child…
Hey Uland. I think lots and lots of people question their paternity, actually. Bert's kids did, for example, and I actually wasn't even aware that he claims paternity (I just assumed they were adopted.)
In some sense it doesn't matter — I mean, they're his kids no matter what the biology is or isn't. But one does wonder….
I read (or saw) somewhere that he had sperm donated by a friend…
But I think this is far from "official." Fair to say though that genetic paternity has been questioned by many. Still, he's the dad…Paternity is, after all, a "legal fiction" as Joyce once said–and the law is on his side, so to speak.
Yeah, I know they are his kids either way. Not saying that at all.
When he started having them, the story ( if I remember correctly) was that he was the bio father and Debbie Rowe the bio mother. I've heard people mention the possibility that this is not true, but I didn't come across any major tabloid journalism pieces making that claim, even after everyone saw his kids.
Rowe is now claiming she is not the biological mother of any of them.
Yeah, I didn't think you were saying that, actually. I have some good friends who adopted recently, and it's made me a little jumpy about that sort of thing. Sorry about that.
Here's a online story about MJ not being the biological father. They actually seem to feel it's established fact that the kids are not biologically his. According to this he didn't adopt the kids either, which may make things messy.