http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=tVACUjHn6yU

Puts forward some good points.

While this may be true for a lot of people, it's not for me. I've defended him 4 years ago as well - I'm not even a fan of his, but I still believe that people are innocent until proven guilty.

What annoys me about the whole "MJ is a freak" attitude, is the hypocrisy in today's society. If people know a child is getting beaten by his father, they go "poor child, what will become of him" but once that poor child is grown up and is clearly having psychological issues due to those beatings, people are not going "Oh poor man, he was beaten a lot as a child", oh no. They go "Jesus, what a freak" and point their finger and laugh.

So when I saw MJ, I didn't see a freak, I saw a man who didn't have a childhood and had been pushed and pressured into the showbusiness since he was a small boy with beatings and belt lashings to spur him on. I honestly don't know if MJ ever did anything some people claimed he did but he was the product of his father's obsession and of society on the whole and as such, I never felt it was really his fault. Neverland was a mirror to his lost childhood, trying to recapture that which he never had. He surrounded himself with children so he could feel like a child.

In the end, I think Michael never had a normal life - when he achieved fame, he didn't know what to do with it. After all, his whole life had been about reaching the top and once there, he was lost. But despite all that, he did a lot of good - he was generous to charities and his charity work on the whole is to be commended. And for that I think he deserves respect in death.

EDIT: Oh, and you got to respect his love for his fans. Even when he was feeling completely down and had the whole world against him, he still made time to cheer his fans up (just look on Youtube for the vid where he comes out of the courtroom and jumps on the roof of his car). I think he cared a lot about people were thinking - heck, it may well have caused his death from what I've been reading. Still wanting to do too much and the stress taking its toll.

I'll agree with Red_Avatar- innocent until proven guilty. besides, after hearing the attorney who interviewed over 100 children who stayed with Michael, none of them could verify any alcohol, or any abuse.

Only the two families, that simply used the experience to gain money from Michael.

The boy who said Michael gave him "jesus juice", once he was older, recanted his statement and said he was coerced into saying it.

Think I'll believe the 100 children over the two dishonest ones.

@Kugerfang: Nice graph and most likely fairly close to accurate.

Ummm..... Jesus Juice? Seriously?