September 14, 2009

Madonna: I am Michael Jackson.

Jackson died, and — don't you see? — it's all about Madonna. Her 5-minute speech at the MTV Video Music Awards:
Michael Jackson was born in August 1958. So was I. Michael Jackson grew up in the suburbs of the Midwest. So did I. Michael Jackson had eight brothers and sisters. So do I. When Michael Jackson was six, he became a superstar, and was perhaps the world’s most beloved child. When I was six, my mother died. I think he got the shorter end of the stick. I never had a mother, but he never had a childhood. And when you never get to have something, you become obsessed by it.

I spent my childhood searching for my mother figures. Sometimes I was successful, but how do you recreate your childhood when you are under the magnifying glass of the world?
She tells about the time she tried to befriend the ultra-strange superstar:
I asked him out to dinner, I said “My treat, I’ll drive — just you and me.”
I'll drive. Ha ha.
He agreed and showed up to my house without any bodyguards. We drove to the restaurant in my car. It was dark out, but he was still wearing sunglasses.
Just one more reason why you need to do the driving.
I said, “Michael, I feel like I’m talking to a limousine. Do you think you can take off your glasses so I can see your eyes?”
I feel like I’m talking to a limousine. Ha ha. Brilliant. I wonder if Madonna really does come up with  lines like that in real time or some great comic writer punched up the dialogue. Dead men correct no quotes.
Then he tossed the glasses out the window, looked at me with a wink and a smile and said, “Can you see me now? Is that better?”

[I]n that moment, I could see both his vulnerability and his charm. The rest of the dinner, I was hellbent on getting him to eat French fries, drink wine, have dessert and say bad words. Things he never seemed to allow himself to do. 
What a goody-two-shoes that guy was! Imagine getting lessons in how to be bad from Madonna.
Later we went back to my house to watch a movie and sat on the couch like two kids, and somewhere in the middle of the movie, his hand snuck over and held mine.

It felt like he was looking for more of a friend than a romance, and I was happy to oblige. In that moment, he didn’t feel like a superstar. He felt like a human being.
Who knew the peak moment of Michael Jackson's life was the moment Madonna made him feel — at last! — human?
We went out a few more times together, and then for one reason or another we fell out of touch. 
Dead men tell no anecdotes.

(Here's video of Madonna's speech.)

31 comments:

Fred4Pres said...

He was sad and vulnerable.

Madonna...not so much.

KCFleming said...

ha ha. That was good.

Decades from now, that story will be as famous as when Myrna Loy met Tyrone Power.

traditionalguy said...

Sweet story. I suppose the likely reason they went their separate ways after a few dates was that there was only one center of attention and there were two of them. Jackson's death has solved that problem for Madonna.

Anonymous said...

"Me, me, me." It sounds like an Obama speech. "Let me tell you how the Holocaust/the Depression/the Cuban missile crisis affected ME."

Sloanasaurus said...

Gee, maybe it's as simple as Michael Jackson wanting to be with a child. I would think that having such urges would create problems.

MadisonMan said...

I can't figure out which accent Madonna brought. It sounded vaguely midwestern to me.

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It was Madonna.

I thought overall it was very good. it was appropriate that she should do it, contemporaries in that rarified pre-internet strata.
We shall never see their kind again.

John said...

You mean Madonna is still alive?

Wince said...

Not exactly surprised to hear there's lot of "crotch grabbing going on" in Maddona's house.

Anonymous said...

Madonna is Madonna. No surprise that her tribute to Michael Jackson was as much about herself - maybe even more so - than him.

What rubbed me the wrong way was her assertion that we, the public, was somehow responsible for his death, supposedly by judging him and turning our backs on him.

Requiescat in pace.

The Crack Emcee said...

Madonna coaxed Michael Jackson into acting "bad".

Shit, what else would she have to offer?

The Macho Response

knox said...

I can't figure out which accent Madonna brought. It sounded vaguely midwestern to me.

LOL

A great big "Thank You" to her accent coach for providing years of amusement. I suspect they must have a great sense of humor. Same goes for Barbara Walters'.

Anonymous said...

You do know she hails from Michigan, don't you?

Lem the artificially intelligent said...

It’s telling that Kanye chose not to interrupt Madonna when she was comparing herself to Jackson.

Little untalented bully knows who to pull his stunts with.

Kevin said...

Michael Jackson grew up in the suburbs of the Midwest.

LOL. Somehow, "suburb" doesn't quite capture Gary, Indiana.

MPorcius said...

It is very annoying when people try to convince you to drink or eat something you don't want to, especially when they do it because they think you need to "let your hair down" or "be a little bad." Not surprising that Madonna is one of those people.

Word verification: pulik
"Sometimes looking at Madonna makes me want to pulik."

Fred4Pres said...

This is a great cover.

The Drill SGT said...

OT: ACORN again. another one of a kind incident :)

The scandal surrounding the left-wing activist organization ACORN has spread to New York, with employees at its Brooklyn office caught on video helping supposed ladies of the night get loans for their dream houses of ill repute.

AllenS said...

From the miniseries:

Conversations With The Celebritneys
by
AllenS


Michael Jackson: "Can I hold your hand and pretend you're a teenage boy?"

Madonna: "Ya, you betcha."

Fin

The Drill SGT said...

OT: The NYC ACORN stuff,

http://biggovernment.com/2009/09/14/acorn-video-prostitution-scandal-in-new-york-ny/

victoria said...

I tuned in just to see the opening act and saw Madonna. What was her problem? So self indulgent, is that anything new?

Anonymous said...

I didn't see it. Is it true they did a special presentation to commemorate the 15th anniversary of the last time MTV showed a music video?

ricpic said...

If the woman drives the man will not score. Unless it's a pity fuck.

ricpic said...

It's true. I wanted Michael Jackson dead. So that some little boy somewhere would escape rape.

Methadras said...

Madonna tried to foul and corrupt Michael Jackson? And failed?

former law student said...

I don't know: I don't think a "There but for the grace of God" moment is inappropriate. They were both pop superstars, they were the same age, they both grew up on the Great Lakes. Madonna was careful to show her sympathies were all for Jackson, and not for herself. And trotting out a personal anecdote about the deceased is pretty standard.

If the woman drives the man will not score.

No. One of my classmates in college was so good-looking that women would take him any place he needed to go. Envy is corrosive, so I tried not to let it bother me.

Roman said...

Madonna who?

Irene said...

"Michael Jackson had a lot of work done on his face. And so did I."

jkraft12 said...

I don't like Madonna. But this speech was good.

Anonymous said...

Madonna is Madonna. Knowing that, there's nothing that chick can do to make me stop liking her. I've got a soft spot, what? In that context, I think her speech was very heartfelt and appropriate. She does what she can do with emotion, which admittedly ain't much.

zarichinova said...

Madonna actually had 7 brothers and sisters.