Talk:Michael Jackson

This is the talk page for discussing improvements to the Michael Jackson article.
This is not a forum for general discussion of the article's subject.

Put new text under old text. Click here to start a new topic.
New to Wikipedia? Welcome! Learn to edit; get help.

Article policies

Find sources: Google (books · news · scholar · free images · WP refs) · FENS · JSTOR · TWL

Archives: Index, 1, 2, 3, 4, 5, 6, 7, 8, 9, 10, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15, 16, 17, 18, 19, 20, 21, 22, 23, 24, 25, 26, 27, 28, 29, 30, 31, 32, 33, 34, 35, 36, 37, 38, 39, 40, 41: 45 days

view · edit

Frequently asked questions

Many of these questions arise frequently on the talk page concerning Michael Jackson.

To view an explanation to the answer, click the [show] link to the right of the question.

Q1: Should the article mention reports that Michael Jackson was Muslim? (No.)

A1: No. The article should not mention reports that Michael Jackson was Muslim. Jackson had not publicly spoken about his exact religion in a number of years and only spoke about spirituality in general terms. The specific reports of a conversion ceremony for Jackson have been denied by his New York lawyer Londell McMillan.[1] They were also denied by Yusuf Islam/Cat Stevens [2] and Dawud Wharnsby [3] who were allegedly present at the ceremony. The Michael Jackson memorial service did not involve any Islamic rites. Without further details from his family or representatives, it will not be included in the article.

Q2: Should the "Jacko" name be mentioned in the lead? (No.)

A2: No. The "Jacko" name should not be mentioned in the lead. Past consensus goes against such inclusion. The name is a derogatory term used primarily by US/UK/Australian tabloids. The slogan is discussed in the relevant section of the article.

Q3: Should the article mention that Jackson reportedly had cancer/blindness/liver disease/AIDS, etc.? (No.)

A3: No. The article should not mention that Jackson reportedly had cancer, blindness, liver disease, AIDS, etc. Until such claims are confirmed by a Jackson representative it will not go in the article at all. These claims are largely fabricated by tabloids.

Q4: Should the article mention that Jackson reportedly had a secret child called Omer Bhatti? (No.)

A4: No. This claim was denied by Bhatti [4] and only a DNA test would resolve the matter.

Q5: Isn't Jackson the seventh child of the Jackson family, not the eighth? (No.)

A5: No. Marlon had a twin, Brandon, who died shortly after birth. This makes Michael the eighth child.

This article is written in American English, which has its own spelling conventions (color, defense, traveled) and some terms that are used in it may be different or absent from other varieties of English. According to the relevant style guide, this should not be changed without broad consensus.

Michael Jackson is a featured article; it (or a previous version of it) has been identified as one of the best articles produced by the Wikipedia community. Even so, if you can update or improve it, please do so.

This article appeared on Wikipedia's Main Page as Today's featured article on June 25, 2010.

Article milestones
Date	Process	Result
January 27, 2006	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
January 31, 2006	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
February 1, 2006	Peer review	Reviewed
March 8, 2006	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
September 18, 2006	Good article nominee	Not listed
November 23, 2006	Good article nominee	Listed
May 11, 2007	Good article reassessment	Kept
January 18, 2008	Peer review	Reviewed
January 24, 2008	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
April 18, 2008	Peer review	Reviewed
April 25, 2008	Featured article candidate	Not promoted
July 3, 2008	Peer review	Reviewed
July 28, 2008	Featured article candidate	Promoted
April 23, 2009	Peer review	Reviewed
News items involving this article were featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "In the news" column on April 22, 2004, and June 25, 2009.
A fact from this article was featured on Wikipedia's Main Page in the "On this day..." column on August 29, 2019.
Current status: Featured article

Michael Jackson's religion was nominated for deletion. The discussion was closed on 16 November 2009 with a consensus to merge. Its contents were merged into Michael Jackson. The original page is now a redirect to this page. For the contribution history and old versions of the redirected article, please see its history; for its talk page, see here.

While the biographies of living persons policy does not apply directly to the subject of this article, it may contain material that relates to living persons, such as friends and family of persons no longer living, or living persons involved in the subject matter. Unsourced or poorly sourced contentious material about living persons must be removed immediately. If such material is re-inserted repeatedly, or if there are other concerns related to this policy, please see this noticeboard.

Michael Jackson Top‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Michael Jackson, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Michael Jackson on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Michael JacksonWikipedia:WikiProject Michael JacksonTemplate:WikiProject Michael JacksonMichael Jackson articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Biography: Actors and Filmmakers / Musicians / Core

	Biography portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Biography, a collaborative effort to create, develop and organize Wikipedia's articles about people. All interested editors are invited to join the project and contribute to the discussion. For instructions on how to use this banner, please refer to the documentation.BiographyWikipedia:WikiProject BiographyTemplate:WikiProject Biographybiography articles
	This article is supported by WikiProject Actors and Filmmakers (assessed as Low-importance).
	This article is supported by WikiProject Musicians (assessed as Top-importance).
	This article is listed on the project's core biographies page.

Business Mid‑importance

	Business portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Business, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of business articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.BusinessWikipedia:WikiProject BusinessTemplate:WikiProject BusinessWikiProject Business articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Pop music Top‑importance

	Pop music portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Pop music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles related to pop music on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Pop musicWikipedia:WikiProject Pop musicTemplate:WikiProject Pop musicPop music articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

R&B and Soul Music Top‑importance

	R&B and Soul Music portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject R&B and Soul Music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of R&B and Soul Music articles on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.R&B and Soul MusicWikipedia:WikiProject R&B and Soul MusicTemplate:WikiProject R&B and Soul MusicR&B and Soul Music articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Record Production Mid‑importance

	Record production portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Record Production; a collaborative effort to improve Wikipedia's documentation of Record Production articles. Questions or comments related to record production and related articles are welcome at the project's talk page. Anyone interested may join the project: add your name to the list of project members!Record ProductionWikipedia:WikiProject Record ProductionTemplate:WikiProject Record ProductionRecord Production articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

Rock music Top‑importance

	Rock music portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject Rock music, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Rock music on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Rock musicWikipedia:WikiProject Rock musicTemplate:WikiProject Rock musicRock music articles
Top	This article has been rated as Top-importance on the project's importance scale.

Dance

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Dance, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Dance and Dance-related topics on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.DanceWikipedia:WikiProject DanceTemplate:WikiProject DanceDance articles

WikiProject Dance To-do list:

To nominate at WP:FAC:
To improve to Featured standard:
To nominate as a Good article:
To expand: 18th century dance - 20th century ballet - Bolero - Choreography on Broadway - Dance education - English ballet - Indian classical dance - Italian ballet - List of dance companies - Meg Stuart - Opera ballet - Sasha Waltz - Scotch reel - Set dance - Physically integrated dance
To cleanup: Contra dance - Salsa (dance) - Dandiya - Lead and follow
To unbias:
To check for copyvios:
To merge: List of dancers and List of dance personalities‎ as per AfD discussion
Substubs needing expansion: see /substubs
To destub: Amir Hossain Babu - Canada Dance Festival - Dance etiquette - Flash dance - more
Needing references: Chorus line - specifically verifying that each girl actually started out as a chorine
To create: Broadway dance - Country Western Dance International - Dance and cinema - Dance and society - German folk dancing - Latin swing - Post-structuralist ballet - Push (dance) - Salon dance - Shuffle dance - Swing boogie - World Dance Alliance - Xavier Le Roy - more
Wanted Pics/Graphics: Category:Dance articles needing images

African diaspora High‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject African diaspora, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of African diaspora on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.African diasporaWikipedia:WikiProject African diasporaTemplate:WikiProject African diasporaAfrican diaspora articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.

Janet Jackson Mid‑importance

	This article is within the scope of WikiProject Janet Jackson, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of Janet Jackson and associated groups or individuals on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Janet JacksonWikipedia:WikiProject Janet JacksonTemplate:WikiProject Janet JacksonJanet Jackson articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.

California: Southern California Mid‑importance

	California portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject California, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of the U.S. state of California on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.CaliforniaWikipedia:WikiProject CaliforniaTemplate:WikiProject CaliforniaCalifornia articles
Mid	This article has been rated as Mid-importance on the project's importance scale.
	This article is supported by Southern California task force (assessed as Mid-importance).

United States: Music / Television / Indiana High‑importance

	United States portal This article is within the scope of WikiProject United States, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of topics relating to the United States of America on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the ongoing discussions. Template Usage Articles Requested! Become a Member Project Talk Alerts United StatesWikipedia:WikiProject United StatesTemplate:WikiProject United StatesUnited States articles
High	This article has been rated as High-importance on the project's importance scale.
	Music portal This article is supported by WikiProject American music (assessed as Top-importance).
	Television portal This article is supported by American television task force (assessed as Mid-importance).
	Indiana portal This article is supported by WikiProject Indiana (assessed as Mid-importance).
	This article has been selected for use on the United States portal.

Spoken Wikipedia

This article is within the scope of WikiProject Spoken Wikipedia, a collaborative effort to improve the coverage of articles that are spoken on Wikipedia. If you would like to participate, please visit the project page, where you can join the discussion and see a list of open tasks.Spoken WikipediaWikipedia:WikiProject Spoken WikipediaTemplate:WikiProject Spoken WikipediaSpoken Wikipedia articles

This article has been mentioned by multiple media organizations:

McCullagh, Declan (June 25, 2009). "Michael Jackson's death roils Wikipedia". CNET Networks.
Rawlinson, Linnie (June 25, 2009). "Jackson dies, almost takes Internet with him". CNN.
Boyd, E.B. (June 27, 2009). "Wikipedia Tech Team Learns About King of Pop, Rock, and Soul Death When Their Servers Crash". Mediabistro.com.
Shiels, Maggie (June 28, 2009). "Web slows after Jackson's death". BBC News.
Cohen, Noam (June 26, 2009). "With Jackson Entry, Wikipedia May Have Set a Record". The New York Times.
Cohen, Noam (July 19, 2009). "Wikipedia May Be a Font of Facts, but It's a Desert for Photos". The New York Times.
(none) (August 17, 2009). "The 50 most-viewed Wikipedia articles in 2009 and 2008". The Daily Telegraph.
"Edits on Winehouse, Skrillex and Wile E Coyote: The role of a Wikipedian". Metro. October 12, 2012.
"The most influential person on Wikipedia is someone you've probably never heard of". Washington Post. June 11, 2014.

The use of the contentious topics procedure has been authorised by the community for pages related to Michael Jackson, including this page. Editors who repeatedly or seriously fail to adhere to the purpose of Wikipedia, any expected standards of behaviour, or any normal editorial process may be sanctioned.

Other talk page banners

This article has been viewed enough times to make it onto the all-time Top 100 list. It has had 133 million views since December 2007.

This article has been viewed enough times in a single year to make it into the Top 50 Report annual list. This happened in 2009, 2010, and 2011.

This article has been viewed enough times in a single week to appear in the Top 25 Report 4 times. The weeks in which this happened:

Main image change

File:Michael Jackson Dangerous World Tour 1993 (cropped).jpg

I changed the main image of Michael Jackson to File:Michael Jackson Dangerous World Tour 1993.jpg. This photo is way better then the previous photo, which is low-quality, grainy and black and white. This photo is high-quality and color, along with showing Jackson during his most popular tour. Wcamp9 (talk) 18:38, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Seek consensus first. I have reverted this change. GSK (talk • edits) 19:18, 7 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Well then should we change it Wcamp9 (talk) 19:12, 10 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Your right in my honest opinion! 2600:1002:B1AE:67AE:5D14:770D:7A40:5611 (talk) 00:18, 11 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Infobox Image

Since my last post has not really got a response and is also kind of old, I am making a second comment also requesting that we change the image of Michael Jackson to the one on the right. A high-quality, color image taken during Michael Jackson's most popular tour. I feel this would be a good replacement to the grainy photo that is black-and-white and low quality of Jackson.

File:Michael Jackson Dangerous World Tour 1993 (cropped).jpg

Wcamp9 (talk) 01:16, 16 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Not done the copyright status for that (along with File:Michael Jackson Dangerous World Tour 1993.jpg which it was cropped from) has been contested and could be deleted soon, so find something that's free instead. SNUGGUMS (talk / edits) 02:39, 16 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ok, I feel that this image needs to be replaced soon since it is so low quality and grainy and there is most definitely a better alternative out there since Jackson was probably the most famous person for a few years Wcamp9 (talk) 21:02, 16 September 2024 (UTC)[reply]

We should update the main image

The main image is a grainy, black and white (which I believe makes an image worse when there is color alternatives), and overall low quality. The problem is many images of Jackson on Wikimedia Commons are not really high quality. Any actually high quality ones (including two images below), are being nominated due to copyrighted issues. Here are two examples:

File:Michael Jackson Dangerous World Tour 1993.jpg

So here are the highest quality images I could find, from highest to lowest quality. Please know that I believe that color is better, but other factors like quality (including amount of grain, quality of image scan, and image size) also apply

1
2 (best of other Alan Light photos of Jackson)
3
4
5
6
7
8
9
10

If we are to choose another image, which I strongly believe should be the case since 1-9 are better than 10 (the current main image), which should we do? Wcamp9 (talk) 20:42, 15 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

You're misusing the words "objective" and "objectively" here when whether certain pictures are better than others is an inherently subjective matter, so please don't treat your personal opinions as facts. Regardless, my preference of these would be image#7 for giving a clear front view of his face and isn't black-and-white like some of the other listings. SNUGGUMS (talk / edits) 22:21, 15 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I believe that 2 should be used because of how high quality it is compared to other images Wcamp9 (talk) 22:47, 15 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

4 has been used in the past and is my choice.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 07:09, 16 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

7 is my pick per the SNUGGUMS arguments. I think it is more recent and more recognisable than image #4 TheWikiholic (talk) 14:51, 17 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Ok Wcamp9 (talk) 20:09, 20 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I oppose #7; it doesn't have a clear view of his face due to his sunglasses. #3, #4, and #8 are disqualified for the same reason. #5, #6, and #9 have strange expressions. #10 is good, but not ideal because of a poor view of his face. #1 has good potential if cropped, and #2 is probably the best overall despite his atypical outfit. My favorite of all is File:Michael Jackson 1983.jpg, mentioned above, if it survives copyright challenges. — Goszei (talk) 15:40, 21 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I support #7, and I agree with @SNUGGUMS's statement. Although I don't think it is imperatively necessary to change the current image; but if it were to be done, I think #7 is the only suitable one, and it is a good option for the future considering, among other reasons, that it is in color.

Apart from that, I am going to give my opinion on why I think some of the others are not valid at all. The optimal thing to do in a case like Jackson's, considering that he is one of the most public people the world knew and that it is easy for anyone to recognize him, is to choose a picture that represents what he is known for (i.e. music artist); that's why it is not appropriate to use as the main picture something that is part of his non-artistic life, like the mugshot or #2 (where he is not exercising as an entertainer, and he is not even wearing clothes that represent his artistic persona, just as if it were a picture at home in his pyjamas. It's a picture with close friends where he's wearing a Hilton Hotels cap...). I consider picture #6 to be of very low quality taking into account the other options and I don't find #3 and #8 to be good choices, because they show Jackson in his last years of life, and it is always preferable (as has been done in other cases, such as Queen Elizabeth II) to choose a picture from the "in-between" part of the subject's life. #1, #4, #5, #5, #7 and #10 are valid and appropriate pictures to be used as the main picture in this article, but I consider #7 and #10 (the one currently used) to be the best choices considering that they are better representing Jackson at an in-between time in his life. Salvabl (talk) 02:12, 24 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I disagree, number 10 is the lowest qauality picture of Jackson, and each of the reasons you give make sense, but a side profile of Jackson that is low quality does not make for a better representation of the subject in most cases. I thought we should have done 2, but 4 and 7 are fine too, with all in high quality color Wcamp9 (talk) 18:27, 26 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

How would i go about acquiring the right to use a image of him for this page? Who do i contact? Never17 (talk) 00:58, 1 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

The most famous photo we have is the one set during the Dangerous world tour in his Jam outfit, however there's apparently issues with that one. Of the remaining options, his estate currently uses a image of MJ from the Bad world tour as his profile picture across their social media platforms but the one we got is in black in white and not very high quality. The only other option i think would be suitable is #7 as it's a photo of him receiving the artist of the decade award at the white house in high quality. This was set between the Bad and Dangerous era's of his career when he was at his arguable peak and is fitting for his biographical page. Never17 (talk) 03:52, 29 October 2024 (UTC)[reply]

In my opinion, the press photo from 1983 (Michael Jackson 1983.jpg) should be used, it's well-lit, copyright free and is arguably of the highest quality of all of the images there.PHShanghai | they/them (talk) 00:32, 21 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

That will work Never17 (talk) 01:23, 21 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

@Never17 Please don't change the photo without consensus. Alyo (chat·edits) 01:30, 21 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

I didn't change anything, i just agreed with what the other guy said Never17 (talk) 03:10, 21 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

wrong date

Ghosts was Premiered at 1997 Cannes Film Festival, not 1996 Nomoresambo (talk) 15:38, 4 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Cause of Death

Since a criminal trial was held and the judge came to a decision that Jackson's death wasn't a accident but a result of criminal homicide (murder), should we add a note or something to let people know this wasn't a accidental overdose but a murder? We also have lots of reports stating Jackson was mostly healthy at the time of his death which lead to the decision.

This was “a criminal homicide case” rather than a malpractice case, the judge said.

Michael Jackson's death officially ruled a homicide - The Guardian

Michael Jackson was healthy at the time of death, rules Autospy Report

Never17 (talk) 18:43, 5 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Conrad Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter. This isn't a cause of death, which is correctly stated in the infobox here as acute propofol intoxication. Over at Death of Michael Jackson, the infobox gives the cause of death as "Accidental homicide by acute propofol intoxication". This is perhaps more accurate and could be added to the infobox. Jackson was not murdered, because Murray's actions were considered to be negligent or reckless rather than a deliberate act.--♦IanMacM♦ ^{(talk to me)} 20:08, 5 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Got it, i agree Never17 (talk) 20:30, 5 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

A homicide but not a murder. Any illegal causing of human death is a homicide, which is then divided into categories. All murders are homicides, but not all homicides are murders. This was legally a homicide but was not a murder. 2600:1011:B023:AC6E:19E9:4C7A:2DF4:1A4C (talk) 02:33, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Wrong link to "robot" in the intro

Should be linked to Robot (dance); instead it's linked to the page for actual robots. 2601:188:C801:4FF0:C0E2:D238:FB34:848C (talk) 02:11, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Done thank you for pointing out that error! SNUGGUMS (talk / edits) 02:19, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]

Middle name

I have seen in various sources that his legal middle name was "Joe" rather than "Joseph" (and the Michael-is-alive people point to "Joseph" on the death certificate as evidence he did not really die). But does anyone have a RS for his actual middle name, one way or the other? 2600:1011:B023:AC6E:19E9:4C7A:2DF4:1A4C (talk) 02:38, 14 November 2024 (UTC)[reply]