http://tvtropes.org/pmwiki/pub/images/jacko.png
[[caption-width:330:Now that he's actually dead, this video is now a textbook FunnyAneurysmMoment]]
''[[{{Catchphrase}} "HEE HEE!"]]''

-->"''Mike? Mike is...''diff'rent."
-->--'''Steve Harvey'''

Originally a member of the Jackson 5, Michael Joseph Jackson debuted as a solo artist in 1971 (the year he turned 13), but began a full-fledged solo career in the late 1970s. Though songs from his first serious solo effort, ''Off The Wall'', were popular, he eventually reached full-fledged superstardom in 1982 with his album ''Thriller'', currently the only album in history to have sold more than 100 million copies. Known as the King of Pop, he is the most successful recording artists in history, with his music influencing much of the genre in the 1980s and early 1990s, his music videos breaking the color barrier on {{MTV}} (not to mention essentially defining them as an art form), and even having a video game based on him by {{Sega}}. All of this resulted in a total of 13 Grammy Awards. Oh, and then he released his next album, ''Bad'', which was also a big hit.

As the definitive celebrity of TheEighties, he cultivated a ReclusiveArtist persona and a reputation for high eccentricity. In particular, he created the Neverland Ranch, a grand estate where he could finally live the childhood he never had, since he and his siblings had spent most of their childhood and teen years performing under the heavy, often [[AbusiveParents abusive hand of father Joe]]. It featured a zoo and an amusement park, and frequently hosted visits from ill and/or underprivileged children.

In 1993, in the wake of his fourth solo album ''Dangerous'', Jackson was accused of molesting a young boy. Because this both contradicted his image as [[FriendToAllChildren a friend to children]] ''and'' was not implausible in light of the various rumors of his extreme eccentricity -- in particular, his alarming changes in appearance over the past 15 years, chalked up to plastic surgery and the skin disorder [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Vitiligo vitiligo]] -- it made international headlines. Evidence was too slim to actually prosecute, considering the questionable circumstances of the allegations, and Jackson settled a civil suit out-of-court over the matter. Since then, he was less known for his artistic output (''[=HIS=]tory'' [1995], ''Blood on the Dance Floor'' [1997], and ''Invincible'' [2001] - which still all went platinum several times) than his ever-strange personal behavior: a brief marriage to Elvis Presley's daughter, dangling one of his children (an infant at the time) over a Berlin hotel railing to show him to fans, and a second round of molestation allegations which unfolded over 2003-05 resulting in a not guilty verdict. The media's selective portrayal of him as a complete freak for the rest of his life served to further-tarnish his already downtrodden reputation.

Jackson died due to a cardiac arrest on June 25, 2009 at the age of 50, a few weeks before the start of a long-awaited series of shows in London that were to serve as a comeback. In late August 2009, his death was ruled a homicide.

His death occurred during an almost surreal two-week period between June 21 and July 4, 2009 which was densely populated by celebrity deaths including those of [[TheTonightShow Ed McMahon]], [[CharliesAngels Farrah Fawcett]], Sky Saxon, BillyMays, [[AreYouBeingServed Mollie Sugden]], [[{{Fargo}} Harve Presnell]], Karl Malden and Steve [=McNair=], in what has been dubbed the "Summer of Death".

Somewhat ironically, in the wake of his death, general public opinion seems to have begun taking a full circle, and to regard him as, even if still ''extremely '''weird''''' in his later personal life, '''one of the [[VindicatedByHistory unassailably greatest]] performing artists of all time'''; as in, '''all human history'''. For now anyway, and there is of course some inevitable HypeBacklash of people starting to hate him because of all the mindless praise he's been getting of late.

[[CrowningMomentOfAwesome And]] [[CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming his]] [[TearJerker memorial]] [[CrowningMusicOfAwesome service]] on July 7 2009 at the Staples Center in Los Angeles was broadcast live around the world, watched by up to one billion people, more than the likes of Princess Diana or Elvis Presley. (Then again, was Elvis' funeral broadcast at all? Standards change.)

[[http://www.reelzchannel.com/movie-news/4146/its-official-the-michael-jackson-movie-is-a-go There is a movie featuring footage of his rehearsals]] for his London live shows.

!!Studio album discography:
* ''Got To Be There'' (1972)
* ''Ben'' (1972)
* ''Music & Me'' (1973)
* ''Forever, Michael'' (1975)
** These four albums above are [[{{Discontinuity}} often not considered apart of his official solo catalog]] as they were made before he started his solo career proper.
* ''Off the Wall'' (1979)
* ''Thriller'' (1982)
* ''Bad'' (1987)
* ''Dangerous'' (1991)
* ''[=HIStory: Past, Present and Future, Book I=]'' (1995, one disc was a greatest hits album, the other was an album of new studio material)
* ''Blood on the Dancefloor'' (1997, a dance remix album interspersed with new material)
* ''Invincible'' (2001)

!!Michael Jackson music videos:
* [[http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/15223/don_t_stop_til_you_get_enough.jhtml Don't Stop 'Til You Get Enough]]
* [[http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/207127/rock_with_you.jhtml Rock With You]]
* [[http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/26708/billie_jean.jhtml Billie Jean]]
* [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Uqxo1SKB0z8 Beat It]]
* [[http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/26726/thriller_long_vers_.jhtml Thriller (Long Version)]]
* [[http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/111954/bad.jhtml Bad]]
* [[http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/8895/smooth_criminal.jhtml Smooth Criminal]]
* [[http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/206759/man_in_the_mirror.jhtml Man in the Mirror]]
* [[http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/18164/black_or_white_long_version_.jhtml Black Or White (Long Version)]]

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!!Provides examples of:
* AbusiveParents - Joseph Jackson abused all of his children, physically and emotionally. Michael seems to have gotten the worst of it, as he was the fan favourite. He supposedly had a great relationship with his mother Katherine if you overlook the fact that she controlled several aspects of his life (including who he dated/married).
* AdultChild - He identified very strongly with PeterPan. Neverland Ranch was designed to give other kids the dream childhood Joe Jackson denied him. It was, many argue, this childlike behavior and thought patterns which led to the molestation charges due to [[NotWhatItLooksLike it not being what it looked like]].
* AmbiguouslyBrown - How he looked like after his first surgeries.
* AuthorExistenceFailure - Just as he was about to put on ''[[UnFunnyAneurysmMoment This Is It]]'', a massively hyped series of London concert tours and his first significant concert event in 10 years.
* BetterThanItSounds - If you were introduced to his music/performances after the allegations alluded to below.
* BodyHorror - He had had so much plastic surgery, the media speculated his nose was in danger of ''falling off'' if he got one more nose job.
* BrokenAesop - His film ''Moonwalker'' starts with a long, long, ''lonnnnnng'' montage about the wonder that is Michael Jackson, then transitions into a song called "Leave Me Alone", about how Michael is sick of attracting so much attention from people. As the Onion [=AV=] Club's review of ''Invincible'' quipped, "[L]eave Michael Jackson alone" is a reoccuring message in his work. Yet he keeps undermining it!
** Also, for all the talk about peace and brotherhood in the opening "Man in the Mirror" segment, his "Smooth Criminal" character has no problem violently killing the bad guy and his minions in the climax.
*** If you paid attention to the story, they were selling drugs to kids and the cops were controlled by him. What should he have done, bought them kittens?
* BrokenBase - Bad rep aside, there are fans that prefer his pre-''Thriller'' work and some like his work up until ''[=HIS=]tory'', the first post-allegations album.
* BunnyEarsLawyer - He was '''weird'''. But he was '''one of the BEST DAMN ENTERTAINERS EVER KNOWN!'''
* ButNotTooBlack - But sometimes, not too much can get too much!
* TheCameo - There is nothing to say here besides, well... ''SpaceChannel5''. Especially Part 2. Yes, that really is his voice.
** He also appeared as himself in ''[[MenInBlack Men In Black 2]]'', and as a hidden boxer in ''Ready 2 Rumble Boxing: Round 2''.
* CelebrityStar - ''TheSimpsons'' episode [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Stark_Raving_Dad "Stark Raving Dad"]] has Homer meeting a man named "Leon Kompowsky" who thinks he's Michael Jackson. The voice actor credited with the role was "John Jay Smith," but aside (ironically) from his singing it is Jackson's actual voice -- he was a huge fan of the show who also co-wrote [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Do_the_bartman "Do the Bartman"]] under a pseudonym.
** And even though he didn't sing it, the episode also gave us one of the show's Crowning Moments of Everything in [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=alTfC-L2W1c "Lisa, It's Your Birthday".]]
* CloudCuckoolander - And how!
* ConceptVideo - He is not only the King Of Pop, he is the King Of Awesome Music Videos.
* CrowningMomentOfAwesome - Let's face it, all his concerts are AWESOME (as well as his 30th Anniversary Special). Even his dress rehearsal for his [[strike:upcoming]] [[AuthorExistenceFailure presumably non-extistant]] final tour is AWESOME.
** An emailer to ESPN's Bill Simmons named Rick from New York commented, [[WhatCouldHaveBeen "If Michael Jackson's memorial had ended with him jumping out of the casket and performing 'Thriller,' would that have been the best moment in television history? I think so."]]
* CrowningMomentOfHeartwarming / TearJerker - His memorial. Especially the part where [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6xd-bUZXxNU his daughter Paris Michael speaks for him]]. She clearly misses him, you can hear it in her voice. That's what got this troper especially. *sob*
**That part got me too, along with Rev. Al Sharpton's message said almost directly to Michael's kids in the front row: "And I want his three children to know: there wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was ''strange'' what your daddy had to ''deal with''. But he ''dealt with it!''". While I was just watching the TV at home by myself, I stood up and applauded this ([[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=_MAKLq865bk as did the entire Staples Center]]).
* CrowningMusicOfAwesome - Most of his songs. Even his last album, ''Invincible'' - while easily his worst album - has several superb songs on it.
** ...that we only ''wish'' others could adequately perform, let alone his larger than life 1980s songs.
*** Jackson's music pretty much WAS the music of the 80s if you weren't a metalhead, and most likely helped inspire or kickstart a few new musical genres on its own.
* CueCullen - ''This Is It'', the documentary. That is all.
* DanceBattler - In ''Moonwalker''.
* DarkAndTroubledPast - Take a good hard look, ladies and gentlemen. This is what being abused as a child can do to a person.
* DeadArtistsAreBetter - His private life was, well, ''controversial''. But at least in the immediate aftermath of his death, the discussion of that has been tempered by remembering his past glories, [[TooSoon at least for a time]].
* TheDeadCanDance - Made famous by his ''Thriller'' video.
* DudeNotFunny - The MemeticMolester jokes, at least during the year or three TooSoon grace period.
* EarWorm - If you're listening to a Michael Jackson song, chances are it's very, ''very'' catchy.
* TheEighties - Jackson was THE 80's pop star.
** ''[[BackToTheFuture Back to the Future, Part II]]'' goes so far as to imply that he and President Ronald Reagan ''were'' the 1980s.
* EstrogenBrigadeBait- Or at least he was, during the 80's. (Even if your mileage may vary, there are still people that find him so even after all those years. Point is, the audience loves him in more ways than one). Can sort of blend into Fetish Fuel(s): Hell Bent For Leather in many of his videos, opening his shirt in the Dirty Diana [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=7Hg-IRZk4D0 video]]. Some,er, suggestive-ness in his cover of the Beatles's [[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=w_Z8k5ChsX8&feature=related "Come Together"]], it goes on...
** In his later years, [[BodyHorror not]] [[NightmareFuel so]] [[BodyHorror much]].
* EverythingsBetterWithMonkeys - Bubbles, his pet chimp.
* EverythingsBetterWithSparkles - In the beginning of the ''Moonwalker'' film and the video games based on it, Jackson's shoes do a lot of sparkling (and it is used as a weapon in the games).
* EverythingsBetterWithSpinning - He employed this often in his music videos and dance routines.
* EverythingsCuterWithKittens - On the extended ''Thriller'' CD cover, Jackson is holding a tiger cub.
* FallenCreator - Okay, the vitiligo skin disease itself might not have hurt his image too much. However, the rather excessive plastic surgeries Michael had over the years took a toll; he looked almost nothing like he used to by the end. Worse was being charged with repellent crimes, which, combined with bad press, wrecked his [[IncrediblyLamePun image]].
** The accusations of repellant crimes were themselves symptomatic of his bizarre (yet understandable, given his childhood) behavior. He was simply too ''strange'' for many people to wrap their minds around, and thus be able to trust.
* FanNickname - "Wacko Jacko", due to Michael's increasingly bizarre and erratic antics and appearance. A name he hated.
* FormerChildStar - It looked like he was on his way to avoiding this until the whole "Wacko Jacko" thing. He was also close friends with a number of ex-child stars such as [[HomeAlone Macaulay "Mac" Culkin]] and Elizabeth Taylor.
* FriendToAllChildren - That's the image he used to be known for but unfortunately, many began fearing (mistakenly? BrokenBase says both yes and no) that he was getting a little ''too'' "[[IfYouKnowWhatIMean friendly]]".
* FunnyAneurysmMoment - The ''Thriller'' video became scarier by the mid-2000's when the real appareance of Michael mimicked his zombie makeup.
** And of course, there's the fact that now he's actually ''dead'', which has just launched roughly a billion or so of these moments, from the amount of parodies and jokes at his expense over the years.
*** There are t-shirts originally printed for his upcoming tour featuring ''Thriller'' zombie Jackson with the words "This is It" (the name of the tour) emblazoned across them. They didn't go on sale until after his death.
** There's also another UnfunnyAneurysmMoment if you watch ''Ghosts'', which is about Michael's character's house being raided by an angry mob of people who hate him because he's strange. At the end, he asks them if they still want him to go and the mob leader says yes. He says something "Fine, I'll go" and pounds himself into dust on the floor. It was just a ruse on Michael's character's part, but it's still creepy as hell now that the guy is actually dead, especially considering how much of his poor mental state and isolation was due (from his perspective) to people treating him like this.
** Then there's the fact that his never-performed 2009 comeback tour was to be called ''This Is It''.
* GermansLoveDavidHasselhoff - As popular as he was in the United States, he was more popular in other countries (including Germany) due to the negative press being not as bad there. In the end, while he had tours for ''Dangerous'' and ''[=HIS=]tory'' mounted, they did not include stops in the continental U.S.; he was planning for the ''Dangerous'' tour to reach the U.S., but then the first round of abuse allegations arrived. His ''This Is It'' tour was planned to be exclusively held at a single stadium in London.
**Speaking of which, ''This Is It'' (the movie) grossed over $127.3 million worldwide (and counting), with 45.4% of the amount belonging to America.
* HaveIMentionedIAmHeterosexualToday - His marriage with Lisa Mary Presley was regarded as a transparent attempt of trying to look like a "normal" heterosexual person after the child molestation cases.
* HeAlsoDid - Played the Scarecrow in the 1970s urban ''WizardOfOz'' update ''TheWiz'' starring alongside Diana Ross, Nipsey Russel, Lena Horne and Richard Pryor. Also co-starred with Paul [=McCartney=] in the notable flop ''Give My Regards To Broad Street''.
* HighOctaneNightmareFuel - What he looked like in his latter years, nevermind what the large number of oxygen tanks found in his apartment after his death might've been used for.
* ItGotWorse - From 1993 onwards. This may continue beyond his death: Apparently Joe Jackson wants to put Michael's kids into show business too ("Blanket is a great dancer").
* MemeticMutation - '''HEE HEE!'''
* MommasBoy - Michael adored his mother Katherine, and if the memorial is any indication everyone else did too ("Mrs. Jackson... and Joe"). If I recall correctly, one of the first things Michael did after becoming a successful solo artist was to throw a huge birthday party for her to show how much he loved her, but it almost backfired due to them being Jehovah's Witnesses (they managed a compromise by having the gifts "wrapped" in plain brown bags).
* MemeticMolester - Though the jury couldn't prove beyond a reasonable doubt that he was guilty of such crimes, the popular public opinion is that he was- in part due to the extreme coverage, in part due to his increasingly UncannyValley appearance and erratic behavior.
* {{MTV}} - ''[[http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/26708/billie_jean.jhtml Billie Jean]]'', contrary to popular belief, was ''not'' the first video by an African-American artist shown on MTV, but its success helped bring down the channel's color barrier, and from there Jackson became one of the biggest video stars in the early '80's. The "[[http://www.mtvmusic.com/jackson_michael/videos/26726/thriller_long_vers_.jhtml Thriller]]" clip, in particular, was the most elaborate music video made up to that point (1983) and was regarded as a genuine event.
** After the cancellation of TRL, his death is, so far, the only thing that has actually coaxed the channel into [[NetworkDecay playing music videos at peak hours.]]
*NeverSpeakIllOfTheDead - Played straight, but also subverted. His death triggered many respectful, even worshipful tributes. But with so many people of all ages who strongly disliked Jackson in life and were sickened by his all-but-canonization by rabid fans, it didn't stop the MemeticMolester jokes and other snarky comments. The fact that he did so little of ''artistic'' note in his final decade didn't help.
** He had a trial of child molestation charges! It was enough to give him a CreatorBreakdown, which wore him down mentally as well physically. His friends noticed how ''horrifyingly'' thin he had become.
* NightmareFuel - The famous Thriller video, a send-up of 1950's horror films, which features him transforming into both a were-cat and a zombie (the former on-screen and [[TransformationTrauma quite detailed]], what with the video being directed by [[AnAmericanWerewolfInLondon John Landis]]), and ends with Jackson turning to face the camera with yellow cat eyes and a SlasherSmile. And if those examples don't creep you out, then VincentPrice's [[EvilLaugh cackling at the very end]] certainly will!
* OvershadowedByAwesome - With the exception of [[http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Janet_jackson Janet]], who launched her career in 1982 but didn't hit it big until '86, no one seemed to care about Michael's siblings once he became a megastar.
* PaleSkinnedBrunette - Well, not at first, but....
** Really, he hit most of the appearance tropes on the dark-light spectrum at some point.
* PetTheDog - Or rat, anyway. ("[[http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=aSqo17o2a1w&feature=player_embedded Ben]]")
* RaceLift - He has been accused of attemting a real life version of this. Spoofed by TheOnion's Our Dumb Century, which refers to his "blackendectomy".
* RedemptionEqualsDeath - Subverted, as he was never convicted of molesting anyone.
** Played straight in that nobody had anything positive to say about him until he died, at which point public opinion did a 180.
* RealLifeWritesThePlot - Jackson's famous glove was reportedly to cover up his patchy skin.
* ReclusiveArtist
* {{Retirony}} - He died only 18 days before the first of the ''This is It'' series of concerts; which he had implied would be the last of his career.
* RippedFromTheHeadlines - The molestation charges and the baby-dangling incident were prime fodder for PoliceProcedural shows.
* SeriousBusiness - Hooo, boy...
* ShoutOut - Django from ''OnePiece'', a CaptainErsatz of Jackson with [[MemeticMolester mind control powers, usually used against the largely teenage Straw Hat crew.]]
** In the German dub he was even named ''Jacko''!
** Does Kaio's monkey Bubbles from ''DragonBall'' count?
* SmallNameBigEgo: Jackson appeared to believe his own hype about being the "King Of Pop" even in his later years, when he was doing little of actual note as an artist. Not to mention that a recurring theme in a lot of the music and related media he did put out in his later years seemed to be how great Michael Jackson is.
* SureWhyNot - Jackson would often ''confirm'' the more ludicrous (and false) rumors about him. He would later stop this when he realized just how damaging it was to his image. There are even some reports that ''he'' started some of the rumors (particularly the ones about him buying the Elephant Man's bones and sleeping in a hyperbaric oxygen chamber) as gleeful pranks on the media, and created the "Wacko Jacko" nickname.
** He also approved WeirdAl's parodies and Alien Ant Farm's cover of ''Smooth Criminal'', among other things, because he did have a healthy sense of humor about his work. Yankovic and Jackson got along rather well -- not only did he allow Yankovic to parody his songs, but also to use the set for the "Bad" video for "Fat". To return the favor, Yankovic made a cameo in Jackson's "Liberian Girl" music video. This troper read an interview with WeirdAl in the early nineties where Al said that Jackson liked his work and tried to get him to tour with him once (which Al didn't do because he was filming [[{{UHF}} a movie]]).
*** This Troper actually remembers hearing that after he heard the first of Weird Al's parodies of his songs, he gave Yankovic full permission, in perpetuity, to parody any of his songs any time he wished.
**** MJ only denied an Al parody once, one of ''Black Or White'', and that wasn't even a full refusal, he just asked Al not to put it on an album(he was fine with Al singing it at live shows instead.) as Jackson thought the message of the original song was too important to be parodied.
* TakeThat - The song ''D.S.'', from the ''History'' album. The lyrics say that someone named "Dom Sheldon" is a cold man, but if you listen to the song, he's clearly saying "Tom Sneddon", the Santa Barbara DA who went after him for child molestation back in the '90s (and again in 2005--in fact, some people believed that Sneddon had a vendetta against Jackson because of this song, and it was at least part of the reason he took him to trial.)
* TalkyBookends - Popularized this trope with the ''Thriller'' clip.
* TheTropeSong - ''Earth Song''.
* TooCoolToLive - Arguably. YourMilageMayVary, as some think he disqualified himself for this a decade more ago.
* TooGoodForThisSinfulEarth - According to the more enthusiastic of his fans.
* TheWoobie - Although largely brought on by his own actions, you've got to feel bad for the guy.
** Own actions or the fact that he never had a normal life, had an abusive dad, and had his public image ruined forever as a side bonus due to things he probably never did, depending on your perspective.
*** The worst part is the reason why he had bad press. Why was Michael Jackson in Berlin dangling his kid? He was there for charity, and he was showing off his kid to Berlin fans who begged for it. Why did Michael Jackson have those kids in his house? They were sickly/lucky kids that he shared his AMUSEMENT PARK and MANSION with. The bed the kids were in? Considering how rich he is, the bed was most likely as big as a large couch. The parents decided they wanted money so they tried to pull off the charges, and luckily, failed. The skin change and the taking of prescription drugs? He had a skin disease AND Lupus; the Lupus gives need to medicine obviously.
* ThemeNaming - Jackson's children are named Michael Joseph Jackson Jr. (AKA Prince), Paris Katherine (after his [[MommasBoy beloved mother]]) Michael Jackson, and Prince Michael Jackson II (AKA Blanket).
** That last one's going to have issues. Not as many as his father, but issues.
* TragicHero- according to some. YourMilageMayVary.
* TropeCodifier - For the modern, plot-driven type of music video (ones previous to him were mostly just shots of the band playing), for the modern style of pop performances (one of the first to have synchronized choreographed dance while singing), and for the modern pop artist image and persona.
* UncannyValley - Michael's plastic surgeries steadily pushed him [[strike:towards]] into this.
* UnderminedByReality
* UnfunnyAneurysmMoment - The song "Morphine". Made in 1997, it was about his addiction to prescription drugs. Even when he was alive it was pretty chilling. But now that it is ''suspected'' his death may have been linked to use of prescription drugs, and that's when it became downright scary.
* VerbalTic - "HEE HEE!"
** "I don't know!", "CHAMONE!", "WOOH!" and his fairly unique vocal "hiccup" style also qualify.
* VindicatedByHistory - Somewhat. Although many of his detractors still think some of the things he allegedly did were wrong, they admit his past work was still cool.
* VocalMinority - His U.S. fanbase from 1994 onward, best summed up by the throngs that hung out around the courthouse during his 2005 trial and the small, stunned crowd which gathered outside the hospital where he died shortly after it was reported that he was there (and before it was announced he had a heart attack, was in a coma or dead).
* WhatCouldHaveBeen - ''This is It'' in spades, some of the more elaborate things that would have been in the final show are only talked about. In particular, a scene is shown of Michael's outfit for ''Billie Jean'' being designed is shown, and the designers promise that it will be the most epic rendition of the outfit the world has ever seen. The final outfit isn't shown or worn by Michael at all. As well as the entire show.
* WhiteGloves - Famously worn by Michael (especially the glittery version, or just one), earning him another nickname: "The Gloved One".
* WorstNewsJudgmentEver - His death overshadowed everything from voter protests in Iran to the beginning of U.S. troop withdrawals in Iraq, as well as the above mentioned other celebrity deaths (with the exception of BillyMays, whose death caused a ''second'' crash of several news sites within a week). He ''was'' a big star, but given what became of him in his final years...
**Also, there is no way in hell Michael would have wanted all this media coverage.
***Which is obvious, because he avoided media and the spotlight his entire life.
****Like all the times he had his handlers tip off the media about where he'd be to make sure it would turn into a media circus with him at the center. OhWait...
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