What began as a ripple has quickly become an unstoppable wave. With less than a week after HBO aired the explosive documentary “Leaving Neverland,” people are scrambling to decide exactly what should become of Michael Jackson’s legacy. Some have elected to let the public decide, while others are choosing to fully blacklist the singer from the culture — dethroning him once and for all as the “King of Pop.”
According to Mashable, “The Simpsons” executive James L. Brooks has decided to pull a 1991 episode that featured Michael Jackson, saying that he and the show’s creators were of “one mind” about the choice.
“This was a treasured episode. There are a lot of great memories we have wrapped up in that one, and this certainly doesn’t allow them to remain,” Brooks told The Wall Street Journal.
The 1991 episode, “Stark Raving Dad,” had Jackson provide the voice for a mentally ill character named Leon Kompowsky. A song featured in the episode, “Happy Birthday Lisa,” was also written by Jackson, though he was credited in the episode as “W A Mozart.”
Purging Jackson from the legacy of “The Simpsons” will take some time — for example, there are DVDs and streaming services — and will not happen immediately, though the process has begun. James L. Brooks admitted to feeling uncomfortable about the process, while acknowledging it was the proper course of action.
“I’m against book burning of any kind. But this is our book, and we’re allowed to take out a chapter,” said Brooks.
Simultaneously, the National Football Museum in Britain has decided to remove a statue dedicated to Michael Jackson, as a result of the documentary.
“A statue of Michael Jackson has been removed from the National Football Museum amid fresh sexual abuse allegations against the late singer,” reports Sky News. “The museum in Manchester said the decision was part of ‘ongoing plans to better represent the stories we want to tell’ and the sculpture will be put into storage.”
The widely mocked statue was placed outside Fulham’s soccer ground, Craven Cottage, in 2011 due to Jackson’s past support of the club. A spokeswoman told Sky News that it will now be put into storage.
“As part of our ongoing plans to better represent the stories we want to tell, we have made a decision to remove the Michael Jackson statue from display,” she said. “It will be put into storage.”
CNBC also reports that some radio stations around the world are now either outright banning Jackson’s music from being played on the air, or are at least considering the blacklist option.
“Radio stations in Canada, New Zealand and Australia are removing Michael Jackson songs from their playlists after two men alleged in a new documentary that the late singer abused them,” reports CNBC. “Several French language stations owned by the Canadian company Cogeco Media removed Jackson’s tracks, the company confirmed to CNBC, while the Australian Nova Entertainment Group also removed his tracks from stations including Smooth.”
As reported by The Daily Wire’s Hank Berrien on Monday, the two-part documentary “Leaving Neverland” accuses the “Thriller” singer of sexually abusing young boys, often in his own home. The documentary sent a shockwave across social media, dividing people into two camps: Fierce defenders of Jackson and ex-fans too sickened by the allegations to hear him sing again.
“He is properly dead to me now,” said Suzanne Moore of The Guardian.