One more thing...Michael Jackson also showed that lasting power and influence could be obtained through love and understanding, through art and generosity, and that this power and influence was something meant to return to those who graciously granted him it in the first place. In a world ruled by powerful men who maintain power through intimidation, violence, and authoritarian rule, Michael's access to that same, if not higher, power was catastrophically dangerous due to the fact it showed just how fragile their grasp on the masses is. It is no fucking coincidence that every ruler wanted to meet with Michael Jackson, to place themselves next to him, to associate themselves with one of the most beloved men in the world at the time. And it wasn't because they loved him, but because they feared him and anyone who could model themselves after him.

white europeans love to pretend like the united states and europe aren’t two cheeks of the same ass

When Mini Max makes that “what’s your minor?” joke during the Bad short film, it’s easy to dismiss it as a throwaway joke for the sake of empty laughs, because it makes zero sense on the surface. However, in combination of the fact that Darryl went to an all-boys prep school (and that white boy lowkey shooting his shot at the beginning), the not-so-subtle big ass Luther Vandross poster in Darryl’s room, and Darryl calling his friends “sick” for laughing along with the joke, I argue that this scene is meant to be a “squint or you’ll miss it” disclosure as a really bad gay sex joke. This reading tells us three things: 1) The film is signaling to us that Darryl is a gay boy from the hood 2) Darryl is out to his friends and 3) His friends are okay-ish enough about his gayness to the point of making sex jokes at his expense and Darryl laughing along, knowing it’s not made in malice. With this in mind, the Bad short film is not only an analysis of Darryl code-switching between the white upstate NY world of academia and his Black upbringings in the NYC hood, it’s also Darryl navigating the worlds between Blackness and gayness, struggling to define himself as being Black enough and man enough for his community. This is a radical decision for a heterosexual Black male superstar to depict gay black boy joy and resistance at the height of the AIDS epidemic. In this essay I will

Me: wow… i really have been so unplugged today… [sees that I posted every hour on the hour] well. Okay

there's this weird way where people view black musicians as uniquely sexual in comparison to their often equally as sexual white counterparts