Anyone who moves is in danger of being cancelled. Except if your name is Michael Jackson and, fifteen years after death, you are still the best money-making machine. Too big to fall.
Songs that are anthems like Brown Sugar by the Rolling Stones or Take a Walk on the Wild Side by Lou Reed would not be written today because they name or use words that are offensive to the ears of political correctness.
In view of canceling Mary Poppins, which must have done something, from this platform it is proposed to cancel Bambi, a Disney animated film that, many before the existence of social networks, caused so many children to fall into depression at the age of innocence . And they sold it as a “family fantasy.”
In short, numerous academics or writers have been banned. Numerous celebrities (not a few earned it hard for their sexual assaults in the exercise of power), have been expelled from the public arena.
Everything is susceptible to cancellation, except the business. “Don Dinero is a powerful knight,” which the great Quevedo anticipated.
The heirs of literary references such as Mark Twain or Tony Morris have seen them lose readers and sales when they are censored for their language.
Quite a few Golden Hollywood films have been stopped from being scheduled during the 1970s.
But the prodigy that emerged from The Jackson Five has an armored shell, proof against any accusation. This was evident a few days ago when Sony acquired 50% of the recorded music and songwriting catalog of the king of pop, accused of being a persistent pedophile by alleged victims, for a record amount of $600 million.
There is no one to cancel it. His legacy generates at least 80 million annually from beyond, according to Billboard, the bible of the sector, for his music, copyrights for theatrical shows and marketing of products linked to his brand.
The purchase is described as the highest-value transaction ever made for the work of a single musician. The pact includes hits of the caliber of Bad, Beat it or Thriller, in addition to publishing assets in the possession of the family, the so-called Mijac Music catalog that they founded in 1980, which includes songs written by Sly Stone and recordings of legends such as Ray Charles. or Jerry Lee Lewis.
Other very lucrative businesses are left out of the agreement, among them the Broadway musical MJ (curiously a great success among children), the Cirque du Soleil shows about his figure or the hagiographic film in which Jaafar Jackson, son of Jermaine, one of the Jackson brothers. This brings the total assets to a valuation of 1,200 million.
The deal, which speaks loudly of the king of pop’s continued popularity, allows the family to have a certain level of inventory control, something that stands out and contrasts with other recent relevant sales, such as those of Bob Dylan catalogs, Bruce Springsteen or Paul Simon.
The one who did not have so much shielding is Sony. Critics stressed that the multinational, which boasts of its deep ethics, provided itself with a code of commitment to diversity and inclusion. Nothing was mentioned, however, about the abuse of minors. That is the shadow, because he has looked the other way before the 2019 HBO documentary, Leaving Neverland, Michael Jackson’s mansion in which two men report that they suffered rape when they were pre-pubescent. The family replied that this was a lie by those two to enrich themselves at the expense of the myth. The money machine regained its luster after the initial shock.
Nobody can beat MJ.
