Michael Jackson, dead at age 50

[Eviltaco64X]

The LA Times and TMZ are both saying that he just recently died.

We've just learned Michael Jackson has died. He was 50.

Michael suffered a cardiac arrest earlier this afternoon at his Holmby Hills home and paramedics were unable to revive him. We're told when paramedics arrived Jackson had no pulse and they never got a pulse back. A source tells us Jackson was dead when paramedics arrived. Once at the hospital, the staff tried to resuscitate him but he was completely unresponsive. We're told one of the staff members at Jackson's home called 911. La Toya ran in the hospital sobbing after Jackson was pronounced dead.

Michael is survived by three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince "Blanket" Michael Jackson II.

[melancholy]

I saw this on CNN, but it said they could not confirm the information. Still, it's kinda surprising.

[Stormwatch]

Mourning.

[Specially Cork]

That was unexpected. Oh well.

[mrandyk]

That is a real shocker. An even bigger shock than his comeback that was supposed to start in a couple of weeks. I wanted to know whether or not he was still able to perform well, but now no one will ever know. Or maybe this "death" is a hoax related to his comeback.

[melancholy]

Or maybe this "death" is a hoax related to his comeback.

He might be the next Elvis!

[Luriden]

This was quite heartbreaking for me. He was my childhood idol growing up, and I still listen to his music fairly often. I've learned to separate MJ's music and stage persona with his personal life. I was always hoping he would come out with another groundbreaking album since Invincible wasn't anything spectacular, something that would reinstate his King of Pop title, but that never came. Pretty sad.

He was so easy to make fun of, and whatever he did with the kids was incredibly fucked up if it was all true. But still, he had a HUGE impact on my life. It's a shame he had to go out now while his image has been thrown in shit because of the stupid things he did.

[mrandyk]

I dont think that there was ever any evidence that suggested he molested children, but it is still really weird that he was spending a lot of time with other people's children.

[curt_grymala]

This was quite heartbreaking for me. He was my childhood idol growing up, and I still listen to his music fairly often. I've learned to separate MJ's music and stage persona with his personal life. I was always hoping he would come out with another groundbreaking album since Invincible wasn't anything spectacular, something that would reinstate his King of Pop title, but that never came. Pretty sad.

I am right there with you.

[Specially Cork]

Turns out it was food poisoning from some 5-year old nuts he was eating at the time.

[not just souLLy now]

I dont think that there was ever any evidence that suggested he molested children, but it is still really weird that he was spending a lot of time with other people's children.

Well apart from all those kids that said he did.

[|darc|]

I dont think that there was ever any evidence that suggested he molested children, but it is still really weird that he was spending a lot of time with other people's children.

Well apart from all those kids that said he did.

yeah, they all seemed pretty trustworthy. Just like the women who sent him letters about he was the father of their kids. Woulda been cool if he made a song about that

[DaMadFiddler]

There have been some pretty crazy rumors flying around in the aftermath of this. The most prominent two are that Jeff Goldblum died and the Harrison Ford was killed in a boating accident, but there's also been a healthy dose of "Jackson faked it to get out of his tour dates" and other nuttiness as well.

I think Josh Marshall of TalkingPointsMemo had the best way of putting it:

[...]I found myself more shocked than I usually am by these things.

Not sadder or more upset. I don't think I really felt either of these things more than I have seeing other relatively young people die or seeing their family's and loved ones' grief. And please let me say clearly that is not meant with any disrespect. While I liked Jackson's music and had great respect for his talent, I just didn't have a strong emotional connection to him.

So, not sadder or more upset, but more shocked. And I was thinking last night, what feels different about this?

I think it's because so much of Michael Jackson's life seemed like make believe. Sometimes farcical. But always like play acting, somehow. So much theatrics. So many costumes. And on various levels the desire -- often frighteningly realized -- to deny or defy his physical self, his age and much more. Even the things that seemed terribly serious, perhaps especially those -- the trials for child molestation which could have landed him in jail for years or decades -- never seemed to stick. Whether he was truly guilty of these accusations or not, it always blew over. All together it conditioned me to think of Jackson as someone whose drama was always just drama -- whether it was the threat of prison or vast debts or bizarre physical tribulations -- all of it would pass or blow over, perhaps not even have been real, leaving him more or less in place, as weird or surreal as ever, but basically unchanged.

In the span of time between when news first broke that Jackson had been rushed to the hospital and when it was reported that he'd died, I actually saw some people speculating on the web that the whole thing might be a stunt to get out of his tour dates or perhaps some health emergency that was not quite as serious as it was being described. And even though these speculations turned out to be tragically, embarrassingly off base, I wasn't sure if they might not turn out to be accurate since it seemed somehow more in character, at least more in keeping with the never ending drama.

In the end death just seemed more out of character for Michael Jackson than for most people. Because through most of his life he and reality seemed at best on parallel but seldom overlapping courses. And death is reality, full stop.

[Jeeba Jabba]

Anyone who really loved him would have been more affected at the moment he went from person to ghoul than the moment his exoskeleton failed.

[not just souLLy now]

There have been some pretty crazy rumors flying around in the aftermath of this. The most prominent two are that Jeff Goldblum died and the Harrison Ford was killed in a boating accident, but there's also been a healthy dose of "Jackson faked it to get out of his tour dates" and other nuttiness as well.

Hi you must be new to the internet

[DaMadFiddler]

There have been some pretty crazy rumors flying around in the aftermath of this. The most prominent two are that Jeff Goldblum died and the Harrison Ford was killed in a boating accident, but there's also been a healthy dose of "Jackson faked it to get out of his tour dates" and other nuttiness as well.

Hi you must be new to the internet

Yeah, I heard it was a series of tubes.

[Stormwatch]

yeah, they all seemed pretty trustworthy. Just like the women who sent him letters about he was the father of their kids. Woulda been cool if he made a song about that

Billie Jean was not his lover. She's just a girl who claims that he was the one. But the kid is not his son.

[Stryfe]

Michael Jackson almost crashes Twitter.
http://www.techcrunch.com/2009/06/25/th ... ons-death/

RIP:
Here lies Michael Jackson. Used and abused by fans, family, and friends. A man kept forever a child, for profit and exploitaion.

[Jeeba Jabba]

http://www.theonion.com/content/news/ki ... =a-section