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Michael Jackson · S7 E7
Living with Michael Jackson
Martin Bashir, a documentary, and the beginning of the end
February 2003. A documentary called "Living with Michael Jackson" airs across the US and UK, and the footage of Michael holding hands with a thirteen-year-old boy sets off a chain of events that will end at a courthouse.
One More Chance, Michael Jackson (2003). The last music video Michael Jackson ever made. Released on the Number Ones compilation in November 2003, just two days before his arrest. The video was filmed before everything fell apart.
One More Chance, Michael Jackson (2003)
Written and produced by R. Kelly, "One More Chance" is a mid-tempo R&B ballad that sounds like it belongs on a different timeline. The production is polished and commercial, with none of the darkness or paranoia that defined most of Michael's post-1993 work. It was released on the Number Ones compilation on November 18, 2003. Two days later, Michael Jackson was arrested.
Sources
Number Ones album credits, Epic/Sony Records, 2003
The Documentary
British journalist Martin Bashir spent eight months filming with Michael at Neverland and on the road. The resulting documentary showed Michael shopping extravagantly, discussing plastic surgery, and most devastatingly, holding hands with a thirteen-year-old cancer survivor named Gavin Arvizo. Michael told Bashir on camera that sharing his bed with children was loving and innocent. The footage was edited in a way that Michael's team said was deliberately misleading.
Sources
Living with Michael Jackson, ITV/ABC, February 2003
Michael Jackson: The Magic, the Madness, the Whole Story, J. Randy Taraborrelli, 2009
TAP TO REVEAL: What was Martin Bashir's track record?
The Catalyst
The Arvizo family, who appeared in the documentary, later filed allegations of child molestation against Michael. Tom Sneddon, the same Santa Barbara DA from 1993, built a criminal case. Michael was arrested on November 20, 2003, and charged with multiple counts. For the first time in his life, he would face a full criminal trial.
Sources
People v. Jackson, Santa Barbara County Superior Court, 2005
Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson, Randall Sullivan, 2012
Living with Michael Jackson: The Facts
Privacy, Michael Jackson (2001)
From the Invincible album, "Privacy" is Michael's most direct song about media invasion. The production by Rodney Jerkins is aggressive and claustrophobic, with pounding drums and distorted samples that mirror the feeling of being watched constantly. The lyrics describe cameras following him everywhere and reporters invading every corner of his life. In light of the Bashir documentary, the song sounds less like paranoia and more like a warning that came true.
Privacy, Michael Jackson (2001)
The lyrics name specific violations: hidden cameras, photographers in trees, reporters posing as something they are not. Michael's delivery shifts between anger and exhaustion, as if he has been fighting this battle so long the rage is starting to flatten into resignation. Never a single, it may be the most autobiographical track on Invincible.
What was the name of Martin Bashir's documentary about Michael Jackson?
The documentary leads to an arrest, the arrest leads to a trial, and the trial leads to exile. Neverland Ranch, the private world Michael built from scratch, will never feel safe again.
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