Yokopilled (for real)

Black male bodies have always been a site of white supremacist control. During the era of chattel slavery, white men asserted dominance over black men’s flesh to dehumanize/emasculate them by violating and owning their bodies. Sexual and physical violence was forced on them, along with their bodies being used as property for labor. Every form of human degradation and domination was enacted to strip them of their autonomy and manhood. Black bodies were treated as a commodity meant only for white consumption.

There is also a caricature created by white supremacy, called the “black brute,” that was forced onto Black men to keep them controlled after the Civil War. Black men were painted to be hypermasculine “animals” with large genitalia who couldn’t control their sexual appetite. Eurocentric standards defined Black men very rigidly, leaving no space for their full range of humanness- physically and emotionally.

Black men have also been lynched throughout American history for white ritualistic entertainment, over made-up offenses and false social “violations.” They were violently mutilated as part of these lynchings. Removing their genitalia symbolized the white fixation on their bodies and the fear of white women becoming their “prey.” There were even medical articles written with ways to "cure" Black men of their “barbaric” sexual urges through castration. This racial violence stems from white supremacist insecurity, wanting control over Black men, while creating terror around their sexuality. These dehumanizing fixations and biased stereotypes are present in many areas of Michael’s life.

Michael’s existence as a Black man under the world’s spotlight made him the target of racist, intrusive attacks. His soft voice and sensitive nature attracted media speculation about his body and masculinity. Rumors about faking his voice, taking hormones, and childhood castration were just some of the speculations around his biology. There was also the intense social pressure for him to remain a cute child, making his puberty experience under white beauty standards (and a self-hating father) exceptionally traumatic.

While white conservative media initially praised him for being a "safe" Black idol, this endearing perception shifted over time. As he aged, Michael was criticized heavily for not conforming to the media’s idea of Black hypermasculinity. This conditional acceptance demanded conformity for white comfort, yet also denied his autonomy as a man outside of entertainment. The infamous New York Post headline, "Peter Pan or Pervert?," shows that the mainstream media would eventually only accept Michael as either a stunted adult or a sex criminal.

Throughout adulthood, he was infantilized by media outlets for not being traditionally masculine or “sexual” enough based on their racial standards. This attitude allowed audiences to consume his talent while denying his maturity, intelligence, and reality as an adult Black man. Interviewers would pry about his sex life and appearance, rather than his art and humanitarian work, framing him as an odd specimen. The public’s failure to understand Michael created room for biased suspicion. This was evident when Bashir weaponized Michael's childhood trauma and emotional vulnerability to portray him as a strange, unstable pedophile.

Once media couldn't paint him as a child prodigy or an untouchable pop god, it became lucrative to market him as eccentric and disturbed. Michael was not given the space to express his quirks, emotions, or inner child freely without biased opinions. Michael was forced to constantly defend his psychological maturity and personal life choices on camera, more than his white peers.

His interests, hobbies, and demeanor were sensationalized and used to portray him as a “weird" spectacle. The media felt entitled to deconstruct every aspect of his private life, turning interviews into interrogations. A well known instance of this is when Michael uncomfortably closed his jacket after Barbara Walters claimed he was eccentric and invited attention...a human reaction to being on display. His existence was pathologized as a strange anomaly. Headlines scrutinized Michael’s clothing, makeup, and hair choices that would be praised as “androgynous” or “groundbreaking” on a white performer.

His skin condition added to the prejudice against him. This phenomenon has historical parallels: Black individuals with vitiligo or albinism were often used as attractions in sideshows or by white scientists for racist theories. The English term “white negro” viewed them as a medical oddity and a different human species. For example, Henry Moss, a 17th century enslaved man with vitiligo, became a paid exhibition for white amusement, and the subject of research experiments. The stigma that treated Michael’s body as bizarre and contaminated with sin was already embedded into our culture.

The social panic around Michael also shows in the hysteria around his dancing. It reflects the colonial white gaze towards Black culture. It treats hip movements as something inherently hypersexual or “vulgar.” Pelvic, bottom, and hip movements are major parts of Afro-diasporic cultures, using the entire body as an instrument rather than confining dance to feet and a rigid, straight spine. Black dance throughout many genres (jazz, blues, soul, modern hip hop, etc.) represents liberation and autonomy. Dance has been an ancestral outlet for the soul throughout centuries of racist oppression.

However, Michael’s dancing was criticized by white media platforms for being too promiscuous and corrupting the youth. While dance does express Black sensuality, Western culture has historically viewed it as abnormally provocative and strange. This racist view traces back to minstrel shows mocking Black dance, as well as when enslaved individuals had to dance for white entertainment. Black dance has socially been seen as lewd and sinful when compared to Eurocentric dance standards.

The judgement Michael received shows the discomfort around Black sexuality, especially as a former child star facing racial double standards. White popstars and rockstars did not face the same systemic anxieties that Michael did, regarding bodily expression. While Oprah wanted to imply a sexually deviant reason for his crotch grabbing, Michael stated it came from the power of the music. Michael’s eroticism was subconsciously intertwined with the rhythm; his sharp pelvic and fluid hip movements became a physical embodiment of the drum itself. His creative, musical energy went hand-in-hand with his sensuality. These movements were always central to his choreography in the 1970s, yet outrage developed as his vitiligo progressed and he drifted from his commercialized “safe” Black superstar image.

His deliberate pelvic touch, zipper closeup, and slow hip grinding in the Black Panther dance was such a powerful way to reject the endless puritanical criticisms against him. The raw emotion in the video was also an animalistic, unfiltered reaction to racism, but was interpreted as promoting mindless public destruction. Consequently, the video faced immediate mainstream backlash and network censorship for alleged sexual and physical “aggression.” The public felt compelled to sanitize Michael’s image, viewing Black sexuality and emotion as dangerous. The objectification of Michael’s body was not exclusive to the stage and music videos; it bled into the dehumanizing legal battles he faced as well.

The world’s most famous and powerful figure being a Black man, loved by women of all races, challenged the racial hierarchies that America is founded on. It was a recipe for racial injustice and a curated enemy for the public. The 2005 trial was a modern-day lynching that degraded his image for the sake of greed and manufactured panic. The 1993 allegations were the calculated result of a vengeful extortionist seeking to humiliate him through the caricature of the sexually dangerous Black man. Tabloid malpractice profited off this moral hysteria, circulating baseless speculations and buying out fictional stories that portrayed Michael as a monster.

The 2005 trial was a dehumanizing witch hunt, at the hands of the white DA Thomas Sneddon who had a vendetta to prosecute Michael, even if it meant falsifying evidence. Michael's incarceration would have been a trophy for Sneddon, making an example of a beloved icon and supporting his professional reputation. That trial violated Michael on every level: subjecting him to an invasive strip search, documenting intrusive images of his private areas, forced court appearances while injured, raiding his safe space, and the destruction of his overall health. This public spectacle and media frenzy created an ignorant stigma around his legacy that still stands. The violent arrest and intrusive body search echo the centuries-old pattern of authorities robbing black bodies of basic human dignity.

I don’t believe it’s a mere coincidence that the first worldwide Black heartthrob was falsely accused of sex crimes, with white men leading the attack. Belittling a Black man through abusive media and mob mentality heavily mirrored the painful past of legal and physical violence inflicted on Black bodies. A racist, narrow cultural framework created the media circus of fascination and fear around Michael’s anatomy.

These themes are obvious in the media slur “Wacko Jacko” (which Michael was very aware of), reducing a complex, brilliant human being to an eccentric animal. Even immediately after passing, that name continued to follow him in the tabloids, alongside invasive images of his body. There was also an instant, hypocritical switch to falsified sympathy and celebrating his legacy once he passed, but it was superficially done just for the nostalgic bandwagon. The media economy exploited Michael to no end, by destroying him and then capitalizing on his memory.

But Michael's spirit and strength always proved to be Invincible, refusing to be victimized by bigoted judgement or compromise his art. This is why I view Threatened as an autobiographical anthem that plays on the narrative of Michael being a savage “monster.” It flips that haunting dynamic to intimidate the biased media systems, while recognizing Michael’s mass appeal and inescapable status. It tells the white patriarchal establishment, “Every time your lady speaks, she speaks of me. Threatened.” It directly targets the fragile egos of Michael’s critics and how institutions felt threatened by his refusal to submit to any boxes. “Half of me you'll never be, so you should feel threatened by me.” The song counterattacks anyone who has tried to take away Michael’s pride and manhood. It reclaims his power, despite the social campaign to label him as a “freak.”

Michael was catapulted into a world eager to shame his body and capitalize on racist, gendered panic. Abusive journalism demonized his sexuality and skin condition, portraying him as a “weird” criminal for tabloid profit. Additionally, Thomas Sneddon relentlessly pursued Michael for over a decade to prosecute him as a sexual predator. Tabloid Junkie strongly exposes how the obsessive press wanted to, “speculate to break the one you hate" and "circulate the lie" they confiscate. Michael was vividly aware of the systemic goal to "assassinate and mutilate" his character and legacy. The media manhunt around Michael mirrored the publicized, coordinated pursuits of black men for public spectacle in American history.

The historical fixation on Black biology and autonomy laid the foundation for the media attacks and weaponized sexuality used against Michael. His private, complex humanity was treated as a freakish anomaly that the media sought to brutally deconstruct. There was a permanent racialized lens observing his expression of Black masculinity, turning nonconformity and difference into a tabloid minstrel caricature. Deeply rooted social phobias and fabricated narratives stripped Michael of his presumption of innocence from the general public. The historical biases fabricated around Black men and their sexuality were triggered in hopes of his publicized downfall.