“…and indulged fantasies that became his undoing.”
And what would those “fantasies” be??

“A lot of other people are noticeably absent from the Lee film”…
We all know QJ has bad mouthed Michael for years but tries to play if off when cornered. He said he was “too busy” to be interviewed for this film.

…“Man in the Mirror” (which he didn’t write)… Jeez, why so snarky? What MJ fan doesn’t know Michael didn’t write MITM?? And what does it matter?

the kiss, the high voice ~~”These things just hang in the air.”
Maybe when we can see the whole documentary instead of barely half of it and also without constant and frustrating ad interruptions, we’ll better understand those “things” in the air. For me, I don’t care. Just more manufactured speculation looking for dirt.

Spike’s focus was on Michael’s creative genius and well deserved legacy as an unparalled musical prodigy and icon. It was not to dissect his personal life post-Bad. Thank God. I’ve had enough of that to last a life time!!!

as Mr. Friedman wrote: ” If, if, if…If DiLeo had remained, maybe Michael would not have spent money wildly and indulged fantasies that became his undoing. We’ll never know. But after that, no ever said ‘no’ again, and if they did, they were gone.”

first off, MJ worked extremely hard for his own money, so why shouldn’t he be allowed to spend it? who among us wouldn’t, particularly if wealth, isolation (aside from the attacks endured) became a part of your life? and on the subject of “indulged fantasies”? sorry, but do you know of the inner workings of an artist’s mind – most specifically, MJ’s? to offer a simplified perspective, if I may, to an artist, creativity could be defined as life itself, and to follow your heart is freedom in itself – a concept often misunderstood or marginalized. it takes courage to freely express creativity (or as some may deem it, mere “fantasy”), and courage is what MJ quite obviously had a great deal of within him. besides that, let’s not forget that one of MJ’s “indulgences” (loosely filed under the category of “his undoing”) was spending his hard earned money (often times whole concert earnings) on charity – an approximate $300million – $500million went to charity throughout the course of his lifetime (and that doesn’t include the fundraisers that he contributed his time, etc., to)…and like with Mr. Dileo not getting enough recognition as Mr. Friedman may have liked, MJ rarely gets acknowledged for the extent of his charity work. MJ’s initial purchase of his ATV catalog, also a good thing not to say “no” to, as it has turned out. so what’s the intent behind such broad and clearly emotional statements about how MJ spent his money, Mr. Friedman? no one, not even you, knows that full story – but there sure are plenty of bitter assumptions being made and accepted as “fact”. so is it really necessary to get quite so personal? and i get it, Frank Dileo was not as acknowledged as you may have wanted him to be in the BAD25 docu…but please do keep in mind that whatever the personal history between MJ and FD, MJ did, in the end, rehire Frank Dileo for the This Is It tour, remember? so did MJ not recognize Frank Dileo’s worth as friend and manager? looks like he did. it is unfortunate that MJ and FD were just getting (re)started before MJ passed, and that FD passed shortly thereafter (i would have LOVED to have seen the two back in action :). but again, how much BAD era history could be squeezed into one documentary – be it one hour or two+ in length?
oh, and btw, didn’t MJ gift Mr. Dileo a Rolls Royce…you know, the one w/ the license plate: “THANXMJJ”? doesn’t seem like anyone took “no” for an answer in that instance either. lol

I thought the intent of Spike Lee’s work was to focus on the creative process of the people involved, what was achieved, and what was experienced in the making of such an historic recording after the Thriller production. I don’t believe it was merely a sales vehicle for the BAD 25 box set which has been available for several months if I’m not mistaken, nor do I think it was meant to be the 100,000,000th dissection of Michael’s life and character.

The stuff that you say hangs in the air will probably hang there forever, won’t it? Michael is gone, as is Mr. DiLeo. Even three years later, no one has the answers to the things you ask, not his family, not his friends, not his colleagues. We can speculate for the next 100 years but it won’t make a difference. Perhaps it’s because these things aren’t relevant to what is truly important at this point; his creative genius, his philanthropic efforts, and his remarkable musical legacy.

I, too, felt that certain statements were made and then not explained. Michael’s need to change his image with women, the ultimate firing of Tatiana after she unexpectedly kissed Michael on stage … that sort of thing. I have drawn my own conclusions about Michael Jackson and they fall in line with the idea that he was ‘presexual’. I completely ‘get’ my conclusion both from his very early childhood experiences with sex and the way he behaved as he grew up and grew older. Michael said so many things himself too that mesh with the idea of presexuality. It’s all there if people bother to think critically. It doesn’t diminish Michael as the incredible musical contributor that he was and continues to be, but one can’t help but question some of his lifestyle choices. No judgment here but it seems to me that a very large piece of the puzzle is always left out when it comes to MJ.

Anyway, it’s all water under the bridge now. Michael was an amazing showman, a show stopper. There will NEVER be another Michael Jackson and it’s true what Sheryl Crow said: the molecules changed whenever he was around. RIP Michael.