La Toya Jackson is convinced her brother was murdered by opportunists who were just after his money. "Those people around him didn’t care about Michael the man. They were interested in Michael the cash cow," she says. (Coleman-Rayner)It's always someone else's fault.
La Toya Jackson, one of Michael Jackson's grieving sisters who allegedly was closer to him than anyone else, is telling the world the King of Pop was murdered by an entourage of manipulative leashes.
In an incredible interview with U.K.-based Daily Mail, La Toya says "they" were the reason Michael was cut off from his family and friends; "they" forced him (how?) to sign up for a gruelling--even for a younger, healthier person--50 concerts at London’s O2 arena; "they" fed him addictive drugs; "they" wanted to control his moods; "they" exploited him; "they" all but killed him.
What about Michael? Did he have nothing to do with what happened to him? Did Michael Jackson have no will of his own, even if it was under the influence of an addiction? Did he not knowingly risk his life misusing dangerous drugs?
Listening to La Toya and a medley of media reports focusing on the so-called "enablers," Michael Jackson had nothing to do with anything that happened to him--he was just a victim. "They" should be held accountable for his death, not him. WTF?
Drugs, death and murder
Michael died at 50-years-old on June 25 after going into cardiac arrest. An autopsy revealed no disease or foul play as a cause of death; however, toxicology tests are still in the works, and results won't be ready for weeks.
Michael Jackson's body was taken from UCLA Medical Center to the city's coroner's office by helicopter.
After his death, celebrity-wanna-be Deepak Chopra said (over and over again) years ago Michael had begged him to write him a prescription for the painkiller Demerol. Then, a nurse who treated Michael's kids earlier this year, revealed that the pop star had begged her for Diprivan, a drug administered intravenously in operating rooms to anesthetize patients during surgery, claiming he couldn't sleep without it. Both Chopra and the nurse claim that they did not give in to Michael's demands for the meds and that they urged him not to take them, explaining he could die. This last week, reports surfaced that he was also taking the anti-anxiety drug Xanax, which he allegedly swallowed like M&Ms.
La Toya admits her brother had a prescription drug problem that the family believes began after he hurt his back in an on-stage accident during the Jacksons’ 1984 Victory tour. But she insists cleaned up for the O2 shows. "He had just been to England on a cleanse and he was drinking juices and being pure. He had cleaned everything out of his system ready to do the concerts in London," she said.
I'm sorry, but there's simply no way that a person abusing these drugs as much as Michael reportedly was could "clean up" in a matter of weeks, even months.
After the drug abuse made the news, police went back to Michael's house and removed bagfuls of prescription drugs reportedly filled under various aliases at pharmacies in different U.S. states.
Since then, nearly everyone with access to a medium capable of disseminating information is speculating about his use or abuse of prescription drugs, a possible overdose, the impending crucifixion of the enablers--doctors, employees, friends, etc.--and the huge problem these medications present, neglecting to mention the many lives they save or improve vs. the lives they ruin because of those who abuse them.
The toxicology tests are being anxiously awaited by more people than the second coming of Christ, if you ask me.
Normally, medical examiners are more concerned with excessive levels--that is, anything above normal--of chemicals or drugs present in the body at the time of death. But I think in Michael's case just the detection of any habit-forming or dangerous drug will be enough for the shit to hit the fan.
Meanwhile, La Toya had a private autopsy conducted, and according to the results she received Friday, Michael had four fresh needle marks on his neck and arms."I believe Michael was murdered. I felt that from the start," said La Toya, who at 53 was three years older than Michael.
"Not just one person was involved, rather it was a conspiracy of people. He was surrounded by a bad circle. Michael was a very meek, quiet, loving person. People took advantage of that. People fought to be close to him, people who weren’t always on his side," she told the Daily Mail.
"Less than a month ago, I said I thought Michael was going to die before the London shows because he was surrounded by people who didn’t have his best interests at heart," continued La Toya. "Michael was worth more than a billion dollars. When anyone is worth that much money, there are always greedy people around them. I said to my family a month ago, 'He’s never going to make it to London'." He was worth more dead than alive."
La Toya said that Michael believed he would never live to be an old man and feared he would die in his fifties, echoing what Lisa Marie Presley, Michael's wife from May 1994 to January 1996, said about the King of Pop's fear that he would end up like the King (Elvis Presley)--dying relatively young from a drug overdose.
"By the end, Michael was isolated from his family. He had no real friends. He was the loneliest man in the world," La Toya said. "I knew something terrible was going to happen."
Last week, Los Angeles Police Chief William Bratton confirmed that investigators have not ruled out homicide as a possible cause of death. The investigation is ongoing and will likely culminate in the arrests of some of the enablers, particularly any doctors who wrote illegal prescriptions.
Doctors, nurses, assistants...all toast
La Toya said Michael was not found on his bed but inside the bedroom a personal physician who lived in the house. There was an intravenous drip stand next to the bed and oxygen canisters lining the walls, she said.
La Toya Jackson leaving the UCLA Medical Center following the death of her brother, Michael Jackson, last month. (Ralston/Getty)
Dr. Conrad Murray, whom Michael was paying (a ridiculous) $150,000 a month "disappeared" from the hospital when La Toya began questioning him about what happened. She said he didn't tell anyone who he was until Michael's daughter, 11-year-old Paris, referred to him as "the best cardiologist in the world."
Given the scene at the house and Michael's sudden death, no wonder Murray ran off and did not say a word until days later, after he had retained a team of lawyers who, of course, deny any wrongdoing.
La Toya says Michael walked from his room to Dr. Murray’s room sometime before he died. "What happened in there we don’t know. He ended up alone in the room with the doctor," she said.
Many have questioned the fact that Murray was giving Michael CPR on the bed instead of on a hard surface, as it should be done, until the 911 operator said to put him on the floor. Murray should've known better.
"Why, if this man was a cardiologist, was my brother on the bed?" La Toya says.
Dermatologist Dr. Arnold Klein, who knew Michael well and was his doctor for over 20 years, is trying to put his best foot forward.
He told Larry King last week that as far as he knows (this guy is all about "as far as I know...") Michael wasn't hooked on anything, that he looked good--thin but muscular and in a great mood--just days before he died, that he didn't see any marks on Michael's skin and, most importantly, that he did not help Michael get meds, noting that he wrote prescriptions only a handful of times after the pop star, whom he diagnosed with vitiligo and discoid lupus, underwent procedures in his office.
Klein said he had not been contacted by the LAPD and that "as far as he knows" he's not on the list of doctors being investigated.
The LAPD has subpoenaed Michael's medical records, and Klein's name is on the list of doctors under investigation, most likely right at the top given his long-time friendship with the late star.
Murray is toast. Klein is toast. Burnt toast, if you ask me.
Who's fault it is?
So, at what point is the person taking the meds, drugs, whatever, held accountable for his actions?
It seems to me most people talking about this case are pointing the finger at everyone--doctors, employees, relatives, "friends"--but Michael himself for his drug use. His drug use.
And I'll tell you why: it's a sexier story.
The media and its just-wanna-be-on-TV-and-be-famous "experts" are setting the stage for a much bigger story involving a plethora of characters including entertainers, doctors, nurses, lawyers, addiction experts, psychologists, book authors, junkies, domestic staff, security personnel, show promoters, anyone and everyone who ever came in contact with Michael Jackson.
Yes, there is an element of truth in the fact that someone (likely more than one person) facilitated the drugs or assisted Michael in getting them; however, that's only one side of the story.
Michael was not a minor, regardless of what he looked like and how he acted. He was an adult who exercised his free will. Even when addiction took over his free will, it was still his addiction. That those who fed it must share in the responsibility if in feeding it they broke the law is not what I'm debating.
Those who engaged in criminal activity while enabling Jackson will have to face the consequences of their actions in a court of law. But there are those who just enabled him to do whatever he was determined on doing without breaking the law, trapped like millions of people in a cycle of endless interventions and enabling.
Yes, there are evil bullies who make a living using and abusing the weak and the naive. They harm people, even ruin lives. And I'm 100% in favor of impaling them with wide, hot, spiked metal rods. All I'm saying is that La Toya and others seem to be overlooking the concept of personal responsibility.
"They"--vultures or business as usual?
La Toya insists that Michael never wanted to do 50 shows. I don't doubt it; he didn't look strong enough for that. But why did he agree to do it? She claims he agreed to do 10 and "they" added more and more shows because they were selling out.
"They worked him so hard. There was no breathing room," she said about his schedule. "Every hour was packed with costume fittings, vocal lessons, rehearsals.... When someone is fragile you can’t keep them going like that. A lot of people are responsible for this, directly or indirectly. They told him, 'The shows are booked, the tickets are sold.' And Michael being Michael, he didn’t want to let down his fans."
Michael being Michael...isn't that his problem?
Even if Michael was being pressured by those seeking to profit from him--nothing new in the entertainment business--was he mute? Did Michael Jackson, known for being a pushy perfectionist used to getting his way, suddenly lose the ability to say "no"?
Unless someone had a gun to his head or was blackmailing him about his kids or the drugs, if he was indeed addicted, then I don't see how anyone could literally force him to do something he didn't want to do. Even if he was manipulated, he allowed himself to be manipulated--didn't he?
La Toya said the family wanted to stage an intervention, "but we couldn’t get near Michael," she said, noting that Michael's staff was given strict instructions (by whom?) to block any attempt the family made to contact him. "I knew something terrible was going to happen."
Michael Jackson's body awaits to be buried while the family argues the pros and cons of buring him in his Neverland ranch vs a reknown Los Angeles cemetery. The photo shows his brothers wheeleing the luxurious coffin into the Staples Center July 7 for a massive memorial that was viewed by some 31 million people throughout the world. (EPA)She says "they" got him hooked on drugs. "He was pure and clean and then drugs came back into his system. I think it shocked his system so much it killed him."
Um...is it possible that La Toya, who like Michael overdid it with the plastic surgeries to the point of making a caricature of herself and who had a reputation for being as normal as her brother, was deluded about Michael's character and behavior as her brother?
She alienated her family 20 years ago with a memoir in which she described Michael as a paedophile and her father as abuser, but now describes her role in the family as "the glue that holds it all together." From the scissors that tore the fabric of the family apart, to the glue that now holds it together...that's a big leap--don't you think?
La Toya said the family will file civil lawsuits against "those responsible" and push for criminal charges. Fine, but are they going to sue Michael, too? If drugs were the cause and he took them willingly, then he was as responsible as anyone else, and he broke a bunch of laws as well. I'm just sayin'...you know...to illustrate a point.
"I am not going to stop until I find out who is responsible," she said. "Why did they keep the family away? It’s not about money. I want justice for Michael. I won’t rest until I find out what--and who--killed my brother."
"It will all come out. You will be shocked."
I'm already shocked.
Sources: UK's Daily Mail, US magazine, CNN, The Associated Press
Copyright © 2009, Primetime Oracle
All Rights Reserved
Escambia County Sheriff David Morgan (right) comforts Ashley Markham, 26, daughter of Melanie, 43, and Byrd Billings, 66, after announcing additional arrests in the investigation of her parents' murder. (AP photo)
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