Greed

Michael Jackson, mummified music icon, is complaining that his music label, Sony Music, is a bunch of greedy scumbags.

Well, duh, they’re in the music publishing business.

Unfortunately, Jackson, who’s made zillions despite looking more and more like one of the zombies from “Thriller,” only scarier, doesn’t have a lot of credibility when he complains about being cheated out of money. And he only weakens his case when he allies himself with Al Sharpton and Johnny Cochran against the “racist” music labels.

Watch VH1 some time, Mike. Music labels are like sharks — they don’t care what color the fish is, only that it’s food.

The Reuters story has another of my pet peeves:

Jackson also targeted Sony Music Entertainment chief Tommy Mottola, calling him a racist and “devilish.” He accused Mottola of using the “n-word” — a highly derogatory racial slur — referring to an unidentified black Sony artist.

Oh, that “n-word”? I wouldn’t have known whether Jacko was accusing Mr. Mottola of calling someone a “nerd” or a “nitwit” or a “nebbish” if they hadn’t qualified it by adding “a highly derogatory racial slur.”

And did Mr. Jackson actually say the term “n-word”? Or did he use the actual term “nigger”? I strongly suspect (and hope) the latter, in which case how does Reuters get off censoring the person who was making the complaint about racism?

(I note that the Telegraph wasn’t afraid to use the “n-word” in whole. It also notes that Jackson wasn’t afraid to engage in a bit of further demagogic character assassination against Mr. Mottola, who may very well be the Anti-Christ, but who ends up earning sympathy by way of Jacko’s crude smears.)

(USA Today wouldn’t actually spell out the “n-word” either, but at least they didn’t feel the need to explain it.)

(Via Blogatelle)