Let’s talk about Joe — Jackson, that is. Whenever the Jackson family has a new project to promote, they bring out the family black sheep, Joe.
Janet Jackson is now promoting her new international tour and a book titled “True You: A Journey to Finding and Loving Yourself.” During an NBC interview with Meredith Vieira, Janet said that in her 20s, she was tormented about her body and banged her head against the wall because she felt “unattractive.” That news surely shocked many people about the beautiful 44-year-old pop star, but the eye rolling began, at least in my home, when she pulled Joe out, sharing how her father beat her once.
La Toya pulled Joe out too when she attempted to get her career going without her family in 1989. She told all kinds of stories about how Joe abused his children in every way imaginable. After her career flopped under the management of her own abusive husband, she apparently moved back home with her “abusive” father and mother.
Even Michael pulled Joe out when he was promoting various projects. Thus, you can imagine how shocked we were when we saw Joe and Michael later walking into court together when Michael was accused of child molestation in 2005.
Independent of what his family says about him publicly, Joe is any easy target because he usually makes offhand, inappropriate comments, such as promoting his new hip-hop project during interviews about Michael’s death in June 2009. Still, Joe was the main and most public family member demanding that Michael’s death be investigated for possible foul play. I’ve never met him, but I get the feeling he would fight to defend any of his children.
If it were not for Joe’s insistence and persistence, would the world ever know the Jacksons? More than likely not. If it were not for Joe’s strict discipline of his children both in and out the studio, would the world witness more reckless Jackson children? More than likely so. Was he a bad parent? Perhaps. However, as horrible as Joe Jackson is or may have been, I’d like to thank him and his wife for grooming some of history’s most unforgettable entertainers.
The next time the Jackson children promote their latest projects, maybe they can say just one decent thing about their father or maybe they should say nothing about him at all. I, myself, would prefer the latter. –annette johnson
Annette Johnson is the owner of Allwrite Advertising and Publishing (www.e-allwrite.com), and the author of “What’s Your Motivation?: Identifying and Understanding What Drives You.” She is the host of Allwrite Radio atwww.blogtalkradio.com/allwrite.
