Semi Truths A highly irregular weblog dedicated to Truth, Justice, and American Cheese…!

TRUE: Shocking onlookers with his candor, singer Michael Jackson appeared at Rev. Al Sharpton’s National Action Network and lambasted the press and the music industry for what he termed a decades-long conspiracy to denigrate black artists and co-opt  their music and dance forms.

According to MTV.COM, Jackson railed “Once I started breaking sales records, I broke Elvis Presley’s record, I broke the Beatles’ record — once I started doing that, overnight, they called me a freak, a homosexual, a child molester. They said I bleached my skin. They did everything they could to turn the public against me. It’s a conspiracy.”

Jackson concluded, “I know my race. I look in the mirror, and I know that I’m black.”

SEMITRUE: Immediately afterward, the Rev. Al Sharpton grabbed the microphone and added. “I look in that same mirror every day. And I know that I’m thin, I have great hair, and doggone it, people like me!”

TRUE:

Producer’s Porn Ties Said to Derail Jackson’s Song
story © July 12, 2002, The Los Angeles Times

A Michael Jackson charity single to benefit victims of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was abandoned by the pop star’s advisors after they discovered that the song’s executive producer had ties to the gay pornography business, according to documents obtained Thursday by The Times and sources close to the charity effort. The pulling of the single came after McDonald’s Corp. backed out of a multimillion-dollar agreement to sell the single in its restaurants, said sources involved in the deal.

SEMITRUE: Standing next to a statue of Ronald McDonald, the corporate mascot of the fast-food chain, a spokesperson for McDonald’s attempted to belie the rumors, pointing out that “our company has always supported pasty-faced clowns”.