Michael Jackson Faces The Media’s Favourite Story

NEWS on Anorak’s alert system CCN (Celebrity Cancer News) that Michael Jackson has skin cancer.

The Sun delivers the bleep:

DEFIANT MICHAEL JACKSON is determined to make a full recovery after doctors assured him that his skin cancer is treatable…Experts found spots of skin cancer on his upper body and pre-cancerous cells on his face.

Fortunately, his face can be turned inside out, and he has spares.

Granted, making snide comments about cancer is a sickness. And the writer who made that aside has been sanctioned. Still, the papers are full of speculation on Jackson’s health, it being the media’s agreed narrative to create a sense of impending disaster.

Anyone not familiar with Jackson’s career, would, reading the UK press, be hard pressed to realise he was a singer and not an escapee from Dr Moreau’s love island. The news is all so grim - journalists long since deciding that to be really entertaining Jackson has to give up the dancing and singing and work on being ill or looking ill:

Speaking after Jackson appeared at a London press conference to announce his concert dates, [business manager] Dr Tomhe said: “He’s come back to put an end to all the bulls*** rumours about his health.

We move on and turn to the Mail, which says:

Brave Michael Jackson shows his face as he ’secretly fights skin cancer’

Indeed. Brave. If ever there were a word more damning in tabloidese than “brave” we have yet to hear it. Brave is tabloid for doomed.

But the show goes on – all 50 of them at the 02 tent. The hope is that Jacko makes them. Although it is rumoured that Madame Tusssaud’s Jackson is on standby…

Anorak

Posted: 16th, May 2009 | In: Celebrities Comment | Follow the Comments on our RSS feed: RSS 2.0 | TrackBack | Permalink