Anyone who moves is in danger of being cancelled. Unless your name is Michael Jackson, and fifteen years after your death, you’re still the ultimate 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 to name or use words offensive to the ears of political correctness.
Set to cancel Mary, which will have done something, from this forum proposes to cancel Bambi, Disney’s animated film which, long before the existence of social networks, caused so many children fall into depression at the age of innocence. And they sold it as “family fantasy”.
Finally, numerous academics or writers have been banned. Plenty of celebrities (not a few earned it in the dust for their sexual assaults in the exercise of power) have been expelled from the public arena.
Everything is subject to cancellation, except for the business. “Poderoso caballero es don Dinero”, which the great Quevedo anticipated.
The heirs of literary figures such as Mark Twain or Tony Morris have lost readers and sales after being censored for their language.
Not a few films from golden Hollywood have stopped being programmed in the era of
But the prodigy who emerged from The Jackson Five has an armored cuirass, proof of any accusation. This was evident a few days ago when Sony acquired for a record 600 million dollars 50% of the catalog of recorded music and songwriting of the king of pop accused of persistent pedophile by alleged victims.
There is no one to cancel it. His legacy generates from the beyond at least 80 million annually, according to Billboard, the bible of the sector, for his music, royalties for theatrical shows and marketing of products linked to his brand.
The purchase is described as the most valuable transaction ever made for the work of a single musician. The deal includes hits from the likes of Bad, as well as publishing assets owned by the family, the so-called Mijac Music catalog they founded in 1980, which includes tracks written by Sly Stone and recordings by legends like Ray Charles or Jerry Lee Lewis.
Other very lucrative businesses are left out of the deal, including the Broadway musical MJ (curiously a huge hit with children), the Cirque du Soleil shows about his figure or the hagiographic film in which he will be brought to life by Jaafar Jackson, son of Jermaine, one of the Jackson brothers. This brings the total assets to a valuation of 1.2 billion.
The deal, which speaks volumes for the King of Pop’s continued popularity, allows the family to have some level of control over the inventory, which marks differences and contrasts with other recent major sales, such as those of BobDylan, Bruce Springsteen or Paul Simon.
Who did not have so much shielding is Sony. Critics pointed out that the multinational, which prides itself on its deep ethics, provided itself with a code of commitment to diversity and inclusion. Nothing was mentioned, however, about child abuse. That’s the shade, because he looked away in view of the 2019 HBO documentary, Leaving Neverland, Michael Jackson’s mansion where two men report that they were raped as pre-pubescent. The family replied that this was a lie by these two to enrich themselves at the expense of the myth. The money machine regained luster after the initial impact.
No one can with MJ.
