Popnography
CONTACTStaffCAREER OPPORTUNITIESADVERTISE WITH USPRIVACY POLICYPRIVACY PREFERENCESTERMS OF USELEGAL NOTICE
© 2024 Pride Publishing Inc.
All Rights reserved
All Rights reserved
By continuing to use our site, you agree to our Private Policy and Terms of Use.
Getty Images
In his unauthorized (and fortunately timed) Michael Jackson biography, Ian Halperin reports that Jackson was gay and had a taste for young (albeit adult) men. Unmasked: The Final Years of Michael Jackson alleges that Jackson would dress up as a woman (which frankly, seems hardly more unusual than his daily wardrobe) to go meet a construction-worker lover at a "grungy, rat-infested" Vegas hotel, and that he also had a relationship with an aspiring actor/Hollywood waiter. (What Jackson wasn't, Halperin attests, was a pedophile, though his proclivity for sharing a bed with teenage boys "bordered on criminal stupidity.")
Halperin is a journalist who spent nearly five years embedded in Jackson's world, even predicting in December 2008 that Jackson had just six months to live. Whether it's investigative reporting or tabloid sensationalism, one thing is clear: It's going to be a long, loooong time before we stop hearing strange and sordid secrets about the strange and sordid life of Michael Jackson. (Did you know, for instance, that he was fond of spending days at a time in a drug-induced pseudo-coma state a nurse likened to being a "living corpse"?) So it's tempting to treat this as just another one of those. It would come as no surprise if a man as psychically tortured as Jackson struggled with his sexuality, whatever it was. It might also explain something we wondered about recently. But given how steeped in rumor and speculation everything we know about Jackson's last few years are, the question is not "OMG, was he really gay?" but: Would it change his legacy if he was?
One thing the last few weeks have shown is how accommodating Jackson's public is, at least in death. The mourning masses have been willing to forgive and forget everything from abuse allegations and serious substance abuse to straight-up kookiness and near cultural irrelevance. If the hours and hours of airtime "Billie Jean" has received on car stereos and in spinning classes around the globe are any indication, humanity, as it puzzles out its complicated feelings about an extraordinarily complicated icon, seems intent on remembering Jackson for what he was first--a masterful musician. Compared to the freak flags Jackson flew these last few decades, it couldn't have been all that shocking, or off-putting, if he'd also flown a rainbow one. It may have even made him more human.
--JESSANNE COLLINS
Previously > About those scantily clad construction workers...
Want more breaking equality news & trending entertainment stories?
Check out our NEW 24/7 streaming service: the Advocate Channel!
Download the Advocate Channel App for your mobile phone and your favorite streaming device!
From our Sponsors
Most Popular
38 Male Celebs Who Did Full Frontal Scenes
November 17 2023 5:18 PM
These are all the celebrities Who came out as LGBTQ+ in 2023
December 31 2023 12:19 PM
26 actors who showed bare ass in movies & TV shows
February 28 2024 1:50 PM
16 times male celebrities had to say they weren't gay
April 17 2024 11:57 AM
21 LGBTQ+ reality dating shows & where to watch them
April 03 2024 4:01 PM
15 Unforgettable Gay Kissing Scenes From TV & Movies
February 14 2024 10:20 AM
14 queens who quit or retired from drag after 'RuPaul's Drag Race'
April 04 2024 12:56 PM
40 steamy celebrity Calvin Klein ads we'll always be thirsty for
January 04 2024 10:54 AM
The 15 Best LGBTQ+ Movies of 2023
December 04 2023 10:32 AM
Watch Now: Advocate Channel
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Trending Stories & News
For more news and videos on advocatechannel.com, click here.
Latest Stories
How Todrick Hall is giving back to the community
April 17 2024 8:35 PM
Here's who 'Drag Race' fans on social media want to see win season 16
April 17 2024 5:05 PM
Andy Cohen responds to all the recent Bravo & 'Housewives' chaos as more ensues
April 17 2024 3:56 PM
Not just JoJo Siwa: 30 songs made for an artist & released by another
April 17 2024 3:16 PM
How The Pride Store celebrates National Tea Day: A tale of two brews
April 17 2024 2:14 PM
Here's why Netflix's 'Baby Reindeer' is our new twisted queer obsession
April 17 2024 12:17 PM
April 17, 2024
April 17 2024 11:50 AM
Troye Sivan & Charli XCX are teaming up for the gayest tour ever
April 17 2024 11:43 AM
Kennedy Davenport finally explains the rumored 'All Stars 3' drama with Trixie Mattel
April 16 2024 4:16 PM
Watch the queens from 'Drag Race Live' hilariously reveal Out's RuPaul cover
April 16 2024 4:10 PM
Noah Beck claps back at people who assumed he's gay for hugging a male friend
April 16 2024 4:03 PM