Lie #1 – The Thriller Jacket
The Michael Jackson Files – Losing Neverland To Lies
Inconsistency #1 – The Thriller Jacket
Thriller Jacket Timeline
“We went into the closet and were looking at his stuff, and he told me I could pick out a jacket. I could have that—that would be mine. I picked the Thriller Jacket, of course. Go Big. And I took it home. I wore it to the grocery store.”
– James Safechuck
One of the first fabrications that caught my attention during Part 1 of ‘Leaving Neverland’ – was James (Jimmy) Safechuck’s claim of Michael Jackson’s legendary ‘Thriller Jacket’ being gifted to him, upon his request according to his claim about events that took place at a dinner hosted at Havenhurst, back in 1987.
It sounds like a BIG dream come true (so much so) that it turns out to be just that—a dream. You know how the saying goes, if it seems too good to be TRUE than more than likely it’s either a complete scam or a huge fabrication of the truth. And of course, in this case, it appears to be both.
The main problem with his statement (however thrilling as it may sound) is that according to an article that was published by CNN back in 2012– the jacket was given to Michael’s long-time costume designers, Dennis Tompkins and Michael Bush. Michael autographed the left sleeve of the jacket just prior to the release of the album back in November 1982. It includes an inscription to them on the inside lining, and the sleeve reads, “Love Michael Jackson.”
Michael gave them the iconic jacket to use as inspiration or as a creativity guide for producing other jackets that would be similarly worn in future “Thriller” concert performances, beginning with his Bad Tour back in September 1987. That was his first solo show without the other Jackson’s.
“Having sold an estimated 66 million copies of his album, “Thriller”, it was the first to reach 30x platinum, with 33 million shipped album-equivalent units certified in the US. The album won a record-breaking eight Grammy Awards in 1984, including Album of the Year. Thriller broke racial barriers in pop music, enabling Jackson’s appearances on MTV.
The album was one of the first to use music videos as successful promotional tools, and the videos for the songs “Thriller”, “Billie Jean”, and “Beat It” all received regular rotation on MTV.” – (via @Wikipedia)
Nonetheless—all of the album’s success quickly made the jacket an instant icon for years to come, and still remains to be seen as one of the most popular fashion choices amongst the MJ Community today.
“In an auction featuring memorabilia from the Beatles, Madonna and Elvis Presley, it was Michael Jackson who proved to be king.
The red and black jacket, winged shoulders and all, that the late pop star wore during his zombie-ridden “Thriller” video fetched a $1.8 million bid at this weekend’s Julien’s auction in Beverly Hills, California, according to the auctioneer’s website.
Its sale came exactly two years after the then 50-year-old Jackson was killed by a surgical anesthetic called Propofol, which a Los Angeles coroner ruled killed the singer in combination with several sedatives found in his blood.
A bidder paid out $330,000 — more than 10 times what Julien’s had expected to get — for one of the famous, shiny, crystal-covered gloves that Jackson wore during the 1980s.
“Michael Jackson has an unbelievable fan base,” Darren Julien, the auction house’s president, told CNN earlier this month.” — (via @CNN)
This very valuable tidbit of information also helps to reveal that the scenes with Wade Robson, (one of Leaving Neverland’s biggest accusers) who appeared to be burning (again) a Thriller jacket inside of the pictures that were being displayed during the end-scene credits, with items that Robson claimed were also “gifted” to him by the King of Pop – may realistically be child-sized replicas
Clearly from the fact that we now know who the Thriller jacket was originally given to and how much it sold for @JuliensAuctions, I think we can pretty reasonably conclude that the jacket being burned inside these photos, are in fact a child-sized replica and not the real deal.
What we are seeing here however (for those of you who are wondering) is the last remaining little bit of MJ memorabilia that failed to sell and had little to no authentic value.
Translation = The merch that was burned was replica items (much like with the Thriller jacket) and nothing that had been gifted or associated with the King of Pop, himself.
I find it quite interesting though, that the first lie to surface in Part 1 of Leaving Neverland (which begins with Safechuck’s claims of getting the jacket gifted to him), seemingly ends with the last lie in which Robson (during the credits in Part 2), displays pictures of the same jacket in question getting burned.
My Final Thoughts on This: Right around 25:41 into LN Pt 01, we get our first in discrepancy from Safechuck. Who would have known that one, small detail could inevitably make or break the beginning of what appears to be—a long investigation warranted amongst the MJ Community? If both accusers are caught casually lying about or misrepresenting a detail that (most viewers may not have perceived to be significant at the time while watching this extremely biased one-sided documentary in which is now being rightfully called, a “Mockumentary”) while other DETAILS may get completely overlooked or blown off as nothing more than a “minor” fabrication from a child’s imagination, etc. WHAT ELSE might also be exaggerated or incorrect then inside their statements?
This also undermines the credibility of the accusers and the producers, as it seems so far, no fact-checking on these claims was ever done, which leads me to question the authoritative nature that this film truly possesses in the first place.
Stay tuned, as we’ve barely begun to scratch the surface with all of this. The (mockumentary so-to-speak) “Leaving Neverland” appears to be “Leaving out A LOT of the Facts.”
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