Michael Jackson’s legacy is being polluted at the hands of suspect corporations with shady intentions; at least that’s what his estate believes.
The Associated Press has reported that his estate has slammed the airing of an ABC TV special on the end of MJ’s life, calling it a “crass attempt” to exploit the King of Pop, with no regard for his legacy or children.
The estate claims that the show, called The Last Days of Michael Jackson, has not been sponsored or approved by any of Jackson’s heirs, and will probably violate their intellectual property rights.
“ABC was using a copyrighted photo and silhouette image owned by the Estate in the trailers and promotional material for the special. Only after notice from our attorneys to ABC News indicating they were infringing on our IP rights were the materials removed.” The estate said in a statement. “We are told ABC intends to use music and other intellectual property owned by the Estate such as photos, logos, artwork, and more in the program itself, without having licensed the rights to any such material. Imagine if this was done with any of ABC’s intellectual property. We believe the special to be another crass and unauthorized attempt to exploit the life, music and image of Michael Jackson without respect for Michael’s legacy, intellectual property rights or his children.”
The network of special, ABC, denies this and shot back with their own statement, saying “ABC News’ documentary explores the life, career and legacy of Michael Jackson, who remains of great interest to people worldwide.” Adding that the “program does not infringe on his estate’s rights, but as a courtesy, we removed a specific image from the promotional material.”
Obviously unfazed by it all, the network is pushing ahead with their plans. They plan to promote the two-hour documentary starting tonight. And apparently, the special will reveal new information on Jackson, which includes his decline, and tragic death at 50 on June 25, 2009.
There have already been countless depictions – biopics, documentaries et al - of Michael Jackson, including the MJ-approved Michael Jackson’s This Is It, 2017 TV movie Michael Jackson: Searching for Neverland which was based on the book, Remember the Time: Protecting Michael Jackson in His Final Days.
Do we really need another reminder of the pop legend’s troubled life?