It is very unlikely.

I love Michael Jackson’s music and, with no exaggeration, think he might be the most talented person to live in the 20th century.

However, I’m fascinated with the cognitive dissonance some people have on accepting what is right in front of their eyes. It speaks to the power of Jackson’s stardom.

Now, if you are someone who adamantly defends him, I want you to hear this out. Pause your assumptions.

First, a common defense I’ve seen is that, “There was no evidence.” In molestation trials, there is rarely physical evidence to begin with, unless something was recorded. It is typically circumstantial evidence and eyewitness testimonies.

There’s been a string of molestation cases against MJ over the years. In one, a former accuser, Jordan Chandler, correctly told police where a birthmark and spots were on MJ’s genitals and rear-end. He literally drew a picture that matched it. The case was so damning that MJ paid more than $20 million to avoid trial. I don’t care how rich someone is: you don’t pay that kind of money if you have nothing to hide.

Others have testified to seeing Michael touching boys inappropriately. His housekeeper testified to catching him in the shower nude with a young boy. His security guard, Ralph Chacon, also testified to seeing indecent acts being performed on a boy.

When they raided MJ’s house, they found two magazines with photos of nude boys— but they fell into the grey area enough to be considered “art”. Feel free to see for yourself. These are the titles:

These books were endorsed as recommended reads by NAMBLA (The National Associated of Man-Boy Lovers). They are popular with pedos because they are legal to own and Jackson had them in a locked cupboard.

A huge mob of superfans began running social media campaigns after the Leaving Neverland documentary came out. The testimonies in it were compelling, heartbreaking, and excruciatingly detailed. This is one of the men, James Safechuck, as a kid with MJ:

The other accuser, Wade and MJ:

Notice how all of the boys MJ hung out with were these cutesy boy models. There are countless photos of him walking around holding hands with these boys, which isn’t damning on its own, but looks pretty bad in context to everything

MJ paid off families multiple times. He was accused multiple times over decades. He openly admitted to sharing his bed with boys. Latoya Jackson even warned people that MJ was doing this in the 90s.

And you would think that, after you’ve been accused of child molestation, you would stop sharing your bed with little boys, but MJ didn’t—even after lawsuits. Why? Because he had a problem. He was probably impulsive and didn’t get therapy for his attraction to young boys. Then, he took great steps to cover his tracks and keep doing it.

There are certainly one-off cases of people using false claims against celebrities for payouts. But there is way, way too much smoke here for there not to be a fire.

Just to recap:

He’s had five separate accusers over the years and multiple employees testify against him, multiple payouts, borderline child (boy) erotica found in his home, a boy who drew a picture matching the description of his nether regions, an admission that he shared beds with boys—all of whom were modelesque looking.

We can have a conversation about injustice against black men in the US—because that is a real thing. We can have a conversation about unfair targeting of celebrities. But this is not the hill to die on.

MJ had the most elite lawyers money could buy and was enshrouded in an unrivaled aura of fame. He wouldn’t have made that $20 million payout if his counsel didn’t think he was in serious, serious trouble.