Michael Jackson

What was the Accusation?

In 2002, legendary pop singer Michael Jackson was in Berlin, Germany to accept an award for his charity work on behalf of children.  However, he demonstrated what some have called “questionable judgment” for his decision to dangle his youngest child Prince Michael II over the edge of the railing outside of his hotel room.  The response from onlookers was a mix between cheers and screams of horror as people were terrified that Jackson might accidentally drop his baby. The British tabloids were especially harsh, publishing stories with headlines reading “Mad Bad Dad” (The Daily MIrror) and “You Lunatic” (The Sun). Jackson would issue a very short statement to the press in which he expressed: “I offer no excuses for what happened. I made a terrible mistake. I got caught up in the excitement of the moment. I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children.”

Key Apologia Strategies:

Defeasibility, Mortification, Good Intentions

Video

N/A

Transcript

N/A

Sources

Jackson: ‘I Made a Terrible Mistake'(2002, November 20). Fox News. Retrieved from: http://www.foxnews.com/story/2002/11/20/jackson-made-terrible-mistake.html

Vineyard, J. (2002, November 20). Michael Jackson calls baby-dangling incident a ‘terrible mistake’. MTV News. Retrieved from: http://www.mtv.com/news/1458799/michael-jackson-calls-baby-dangling-incident-a-terrible-mistake/