Michael Jackson - The Philanthropist

After almost a little over a decade later, Michael Jackson’s legacy is as strong as ever, showing no signs of diminishing. His career as a musician, dancer and showman, which glistened for almost 5 decades, had transformed the world of pop music with his signature fashion, his innovative music videos and his dancing prowess. His personality, from his hair to his clothes to his dance moves, remains much-imitated to this day.

However, on the downside, his life was fodder to the press, which constantly invaded his personal space with abhorrent speculations. Rumours were plentiful scrutinizing his sleeping habits to his cosmetic surgery & after the stories arose of possible child molestation(later he got acquitted of all the charges) he never got back in the media’s good graces; he was treated as a travelling circus.

But there was another side of his personality that got completely overshadowed by the nonsensical brouhaha generated by the media & opportunists. Michael dedicated himself lifelong to the betterment of society & humanity at large by donating loads of money & spreading the message of global unity, healing and love through his music. For Jackson, the idea extended to life in all forms: nature, animals, and people across countries, cultures and races (especially children) - for him the whole planet was connected and intrinsically valuable. He even got featured in the 2000 edition of the Guinness Book Of World Records for breaking the world record for the “Most Charities Supported By a Pop Star”.

“Politics can’t save the world, so the music people should at least try,” he said in an interview. “I could never just make records for people to buy and just get rich from. That’s no good to me. There has to be more than that.” 

On May 1, 1999, at the Bollywood awards in New York, he was presented with an award for his humanitarian activities. In his speech, he spoke of his admiration for Mahatma Gandhi and non-violence, and later mentioned his admiration for Hindi films along with thanking Manish Malhotra for his Sherwani.

Long live the King of Pop!

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