Rabbi's Jackson book raises questions
With the death of Michael Jackson, estranged former confidant Rabbi Shmuley Boteach has revived a long-dormant book project based on 30 hours of interviews with the reclusive pop star, the Associated Press is reporting.
This strikes us as awkward.
The author of such self-help books as “Kosher Sex” and “Shalom in the Home,” the Orthodox Jewish Boteach was introduced to Jackson in 1999 and remained close with him until Jackson’s 2003 arrest on charges of molesting a child.
The interviews date from 2000 and 2001, according to the AP, when Jackson and Boteach agreed a book would help to improve Jackson’s public image. The AP says Boteach soured on the project after Jackson failed to adhere to the recovery programs they had worked out, including waking up at a decent hour and not being alone with children other than Jackson's own three children.
The AP reports that the tapes, on which Jackson talks about being beaten by his father, self-consciousness about his appearance and a desire to disappear rather than grow old, sound at times like therapy sessions.
Their posthumous release by a clergyman doubling as confidant and collaborator seems problematic, or at least potentially so. Jackson apparently submitted to – may have initiated – the interviews in the expectation that they would lead to a book.
But it sounds as if the men dropped the project years before Jackson’s death. Given their fallout, one wonders if Jackson would have wanted the opportunity to invoke clergy-communicant confidentiality before it was picked up again.
Comments
Thank you for posting this. AP seems intent on further scandal.
Posted by: Marina | September 26, 2009 5:53 AM
This is about money. This is about explolitation. This is about the grossest kind of theft possible - the theft of one's thoughts before one has had a chance to clarify, explain, put in context and perhaps alter. Michael was so poorly served in his life - this has not changed in death.
Posted by: Deborah Ffrench | September 26, 2009 10:53 AM
The time Michael would have most needed this information shared with the public was after his arrest in 2003. I find it very ironic that when people 'lost interest' in Michael as the rabbi
states, so did he, as he knew the book would not sell and he would never put his neck out at that time to support Michael. Now that Michael is being praised in death, the Rabbi figures this is the time to 'CASH IN'. A real friend would have stood by Michael and published this book at the time of his deepest anquish and despair so the public could understand why he made some of the choices he did and afforded him the sympathy the world is now finally giving him. This is just one more example of the leeches Michael surrounded himself with,but this one takes the cake, as Rabbi waited until Michael's death to fully exploit him.
Posted by: fan | September 27, 2009 5:02 PM