Fans

Michael Jackson

"My fans truly are a part of me, we share something that most people will never experience."

"I want you to know that I appreciate my fans (...) every day of my life. It is your presence, your faith and your loyalty that has given me great strength during difficult times, and it was you who inspired me to work hard and deliver, I owe you. Over the years we became a family. You are all my family. My children are your children and all children of the world are our children and our responsibility."

“It was you who put your heart on the line. It was you who stepped forward to defend someone you love. It was you, on a worldwide basis who supported me as my army, my soldiers of love. You were always there. You are always loyal and I love you forever.”

Michael Jackson - These quotes were taken from the speech Michael gave at his 45th birthday party celebration.

"Some friends, you only see them when the sun shines... My fans sustained me even in dark days. I owe them everything."

Michael Jackson

“One of the best moments is right here (during History Tour in Copenhagen, on his birthday in 1997). Right here. It’s right in the middle of the show and it’s my birthday and I’m thousands of miles away from my family. When they surprised me with the full marching band and then they brought out this huge, beautiful birthday cake.. I realized that I’ve got family all over the world. Everywhere I go, because my fans really show me the love and I love them just as much.”

Michael Jackson in Private Home Movies, 2003

"My main love for what I do is the admirers. I love the fans. Like when I´m doing a show and see the fans out there dancing and screaming, excited, and we´re bringing joy to them, that´s what I love most. And it´s just the greatest feeling in the world. You´re up there and you´re giving them that energy and that love and they´re just throwing it back at you. And it´s great. And that´s my main love, the stage and making those admirers happy."

Michael Jackson in Ebony interview, December 1984

"You can feel the audience. It is love we are talking about. Ooh, you can definitely feel them! You can hear them, they are swaying and sceaming and fainting, the reactions are always lovely."

Michael Jackson in Morrocan interview

Molly: Well, how do you cope with all the hysteria? I mean wherever you go, whether it´s London, whether it´s Munich, whether it´s New York, whether it´s Bangkok, whether it´s Japan and even here in Australia, how do you cope with the hysteria?

Michael Jackson: I know it´s all love, so it makes my heart very happy and I like to give back, you know, through however I can give and it puts a smile on my face to see all the children and all the teenagers and the adults, the demographics. It makes my heart very happy, I love them, I love all the fans very much."

Interview with Ian ´Molly´ Meldrun, 19th November 1996

Rick Dees: Where do they (the fans) get craziest? I saw some shots in Japan where they´re carrying people out and everything. Does it get craziest in Japan or where?

Michael Jackson: To tell you the truth, Rick, it´s the same wherever you go. It really is. The love and appreciation is so wonderful. The fans are so happy and animated and it just touches my heart. It´s love. I pray it´s what I do. I thank God.

Halloween Interview, October 30, 2003

" Being on the road with Michael Jackson was like touring with baby Jesus. All his legions of fans and people that just can see a picture of him or hear his voice and know he's in a hotel just start weeping and crying and proffessing their love."

Siedah Garret

Question: „I imagine that someone like you would be a kind of interesting and important resource for her, you know. As someone who was a star when you were so young, and then when... I don't think people necessarily understand what a kind of strange reality that is, you know, within all the acclaim and the fame and the excitement, you know, to be a kid and have all that attention focused on you must be kind of scary also. Did you find it that way, uh, in your own experience?“

Michael Jackson: "Yeah, because where ever I go, um, I disguise myself, now -- but now I can't with, 'cause, you know, with what's going on in the world -- so I don't wear a disguise. And uh, people they just go... They really go crazy. They're very happy to see you. They feel as if they know you. You have to respond back to them like you know them. They feel they personally know you. My picture's on their walls, you know, my music is playing in their house, so they grab you and they hug you and they touch you and they... So I usually respond back with hugs and loves and kisses. Cause I love... I love... I truly love my fans. Truly, truly from the heart. That's the real truth. I love them. And the ones who are, um.... Like when we go to a certain country and they're outside, and outside they're sleeping on the street and I throw them pillows and cover and everything. And I have my security guards buy them pizza so they can all eat, and get the candles and, you know, we really take care of them. They're very, very, very sweet and supportive."

Q: Can you tell us one of your craziest MJ's fan moments ever?

MJ´s bodyguard: Once, a fan sneaked into MJ's house and stayed in a guest bathroom for 4 days. They were caught by MJ when they were getting food out of the refrigerator in the middle of the night.

Q: What did Michael say?

MJ´s bodyguard: They sat down and had something to eat and then security took her home.

- MJ told me this, [she sneaked into] Neverland while MJ was away. The fan was in the house while everyone was away. She couldn't get through the house, 'cause of the security system, [so] she stayed in a closet in the kitchen area.

Q: Did he talk to you about us, his fans? Did he know how much we love him?

MJ´s bodyguard: Yes, he spoke of his fans many times in very good ways, however he was (as well as security) very cautious about which fans meant well. Remember, a fan killed John Lennon.

Q: To your knowledge, did MJ ever go to fan forums and read or post under an assumed name? (I'm not asking for the names, just curious if he did this.)

 MJ´s bodyguard: Ok, yes, he did read a lot of fan posts, [but] not until it was viewed by security. He was not good with reading negative info, that made him completely shut down.

"During his stay in New York, we were chased by fans, from place to place, all day. Wherever we went, they were already there and I soon felt somewhat frustrated with these young people. So, I thought about what I could do to make it easier for us and came up with an excellent plan, in my opinion.
When we went to the next meeting, I made arrangements with the driver to go undetected to the back door of the building. This way, we wouldn't have to go out in the crowd, waiting, and I was sure this was something Michael would be happy about, because I believed he was getting tired of all the commotion too.
Then, when the time came, I picked him up from his date, we snuck through corridors and staff entrances, towards the waiting car. We managed to get out of the building without being seen by a single fan and I felt really big and proud of myself.
Suddenly, Michael asked me, "Mike, are all the fans gone?" And I proudly said to him, “No, sir! I brought you out the back of the building, to avoid the crowd. ”
But he continued, "But why did you do that?", and I replied, "Well, I thought they were bothering you." But what he said to me, then, really made me think:
“Mike, these people are my fans! They buy my records, they come to my shows and I really love them! You should never, never, never try to sneak up behind them, because I appreciate my fans and if that means that I'm bothering you, know that is OK with me. They are the only ones who care about me, buy my music and support me and I wouldn't be here today, without my fans! ”
I must confess that it was not the kind of reaction I had in mind, when I had made my plan to get him out of the building. However, this was kind of my “pinch me” moment and I started to understand what he meant when it comes to appreciation and tolerance and that it doesn't matter what social status , nationality or what race you are. ”

La Perruque, bodyguard in book “A Life for LOVE”

Michael Jackson's MOONWALKERS: Then, Now, and Forever...

Question: What did the fans mean to Michael?

Dieter Wiesner: Everything! They were his family. They were his crutch and they gave him strenght. More than any other thing. And he loved them above all things. And he told this to his children too. Everytime, in any place, where we stayed on hotels, he showed his fans to his kids and explained to them what the fans mean to him. The family has simply no connection to Michael´s fanbase. They don´t quite understand how much Michael´s fans reall meant to him.

Question: Weren´t his siblings and parents rather his support? Mainly during the trial days?  

Dieter Wiesner: They were, but Michael´s strenght and comfort came clearly from the fans. He loved them beyond words. He respected his siblings and parents and loved them. He always cared for their wellbeing and that they wouldn´t miss anything. But the closeness and love, it came rather from the fans. Always, when he said that he loves them and ´I love you more´, it was the simple truth.

You Are So Beautiful

My fans are the reason why I continue to do what I do. I do see theam as my family, my friends, my children. I am not the same man without my fans. I dedicate this book to all of you and want you to know how much I love you all.

You are so beautiful, to me

Your true love showed me the way

The way I had to go

I walked with you

A thousands miles

Through hurtful lies

Standing strong with you

Fighting this all through (so through)

You are so beautiful

You are so colourful

You are so magical

You are salvation to me

Your near dried my tears

Washed away the fears

The hole in my soul

Wa covered up

Because you

You are so beautiful

(You are all that I am)

(Deep in my soul)

You were there

Michael Jackson in his official photo book

"(...) Last month we drove out of his Knightsbridge hotel in a people-mover with midnight-tinted windows, and there were 2,000 people crowded across the pavement. Around 60 of the younger ones broke from the press and sprinted alongside us. I was concerned that someone could slip and fall under a wheel, but they were all so exuberantly happy. They were shouting out, "Michael, we love you!" Michael gestured for the car to slow down, and he edged his door open, leaning out of the car to touch the hands of his fans.

"We love you, Michael!" "I love you more," he said. I heard him say it again and again during the next few days. "I love you more."

When Michael walks over to a group of fans who have waited hours for a glimpse, you see some of them lock solid. They have messages for him, they want to say how much he has meant to them all through their lives, how his music has been their soundtrack, but all they can do is stare. Many bring handmade gifts. Embroidered cushions, framed paintings, poems, boxes, candles, national flags. He takes every one and holds it to his chest for a moment. He says, "Thank you. I love you," again and again. He does not refuse any request for an autograph or a photograph. I walked with him for 200 yards through the pouring rain across an Oxford road and past barriers after his address to the privileged Union audience last month, to a huddle of drenched and shivering fans. They had not been able to get tickets, and they had turned up on a bitter night without any real hope of being close to Michael for more than a moment, but they (and not the curiosity-hunters in the Union building) were the real fans.

Michael truly loves his fans. When he tells them, he does not do it in the superficial way that most pop stars intend when they shout it from the stage. He means it this way - when Michael walked through the rain that night, he was on crutches, with two broken bones in a foot that was swaddled in bandages. By the time we got back to the limousine he was squeezing filthy, icy rainwater out of the bandages onto newspapers on the floor. I laid my hands on the aching flesh and let energy flow through me, to activate Michael's own healing powers. He sat back with a calm expression on his face and his eyes closed, perfectly accepting of the possibility that healing can begin with positive thinking.

The fan's gifts are displayed in Michael's hotel suites. Wherever he's staying - and he moves around a lot, even between places in the same city - his favourite presents are on display. And he has a lot of favourites. He uses objects almost as pledges, reminders of affection from people who can't be with him, the way you might fill your wallet with photos of your children and folded postcards from old friends. On Michael's walls there are pictures of his own children, of course, and photos of him with his family and friends, but the reverence with which the admirers' gifts are arranged seems to say that his fans are his family too.

I saw how sincerely he felt this when two ingenious German über-fans broke into my home on my wedding day. Michael was to be best man, though by the time the ceremony was due to start neither he nor the rabbi, Shmuley Boteach, had turned up. My manager, Shipi, who is also my brother-in-law, had posted security guards all round the perimeter of the grounds. We were tolerating half a dozen paparazzi who were pointing lenses like cannon barrels over the privet hedge which screens the house from the Thames, and there were a few girls perched in the riverbank trees too, with nothing to see but the marquee and a helicopter. Once or twice the magician David Blaine floated outside for interviews - I do mean floated, and if you haven't yet seen David Blaine levitate then you have a real shock in store.

Many guests commented that I seemed nervous, and I was -but not about getting married. Hanna and I had been together 30 years, and I felt I was probably ready for the commitment. What concerned me was a call from an Israeli source, warning there might be a terrorist attack on the wedding. I took the warning very seriously and I engaged all precautions, Scotland Yard referred me to the local police who in turn sent two policemen to discuss the day. Some internationally famous people were there, aside from Michael - the Formula One racing champion Nigel Mansell, Sir David Frost, Dave Stewart of the Eurythmics, the horror writer James Herbert, Dido's producer Youth, not to mention an Israeli consul and the Japanese Ambassador... any terrorist wanting to make a name for himself need only open fire on the canvas walls of the marquee with an automatic weapon. My helicopter pilot was under orders to fly anyone wounded by gunfire to the nearby Royal Berkshire hospital. A medical doctor was on standby, unseen by the guests inside the main house, and Michael's own doctor would accompany him.

Most of the fans, with no thoughts of terrorists, were outside the main gates. A steady stream of guests drove up and announced their names to the guards. The Germans, a boy and a girl, were clever and brazen - they hung around to hear a couple announce themselves, walked away for 20 minutes, then came back and presented themselves under the same names. Shipi saw them walking down our long driveway: "Who's that?" he demanded nervously, but by then the Germans were inside, and we didn't want a scene. Not in front of the paparazzi. Not on my wedding day. If these guys were willing to behave themselves ... and they were, but they pleaded to be allowed close enough to say hi to Michael when the ceremony had been concluded.

Michael did more than say hi. He beckoned them to him, embraced each of them gently, accepted their gifts graciously and posed for their cameras. He told them he truly valued their friendship, thanked them for taking such risks to bring him presents, and smiled a blessing upon each of them. (...)

Uri Geller, May 2001  site.uri-geller.com/mj

“He was the only celebrity that, if you were devoted enough, he would let you into his house. You think somebody could go to Bruce Willis’s house and say, ‘I love you, I love you,’ that you’d get in? He’d call the police. That’s what all of them would do. All but Michael. If you said ‘I love you, I love you’ to Michael, he would assume you meant you loved him, and he would let you in.
 

I was always impressed by that, how deeply he seemed to care for these girls. When he hugged one of them, he would put one hand on her neck, behind her head, that extra-comforting move like you would do to a person you know. The writing in those letters had a style that was personal, deep, flowery, ornate. It was not ‘Thanks guys. Have a good night. I hope you like the music’”

Ben Evenstad & Christopher Weiss, Photographers

“He was a proud man, with much dignity and decency. To see him being totally exhausted and all in–it was hard to bear. After we got certainty that he will be prosecuted, he was totally down to the ground at first. He was left in disbelief that they would do this to him. But after this time of depression, he actually took a grip on himself and he changed his attitude. He again became the fighter and he was prepared to attack the whole matter. But despite all of this it was an incredibly hard time for him.

If he wouldn’t have had his fans, it would have been almost impossible for him to find a further meaning of life.

I was a bit shocked about this. I was aware of the fact that Michael really loved his fans. But I was never aware of how much strength he got out of the fact that he was loved by his fans.

If he felt bad and down we cheered him up with fan gifts and letters. And he loved it from his very heart. First and foremost the paintings. Not only in those hard times, but always. No matter where we’ve been–if fans were around and he saw drawings and paintings, he always said: ‘Get me the pictures, get me those pictures!’ “

“They were his family. They were his crutch and they gave him strength. More than any other thing. And he loved them above all things for that. And he told this to his children too. Every time, in any place where we stayed in hotels etc. He showed his fans to his kids and explained to them, what the fans mean to him and how much they love him.“

Michael’s strength and comfort came clearly from the fans. He loved them beyond words. I mean, he respected his siblings and parents and loved them. He always cared for their wellbeing and that they wouldn’t miss anything. But this closeness and love–it came rather from the fans. Always, when he said that he loves them and ‘I love you more’ – then it was the simple truth.” 

Dieter Wiesner, manager and friend

“I met our beloved Michael, in 1988, when I was 12 years old. I have loved him ever since. Oh, how I loved him! I must have driven my family crazy, but I am the youngest daughter and the only woman, so they were lenient with me.

My birthday is in December and I agreed that my Christmas / birthday gifts would be tickets for the BAD tour, shows in Kansas City and Chicago [we live on the southwest side].

My parents took me to the show and there are no words to adequately describe how I felt. It was just absolutely magical. Anyway, after the show, my parents allowed me to join a small group that would try to find Michael. And we did !!! To our delight, he stopped to talk and asked each of us for our names and where we were from.

My whole body was bursting with pride when this perfect gentleman, my hero, greeted my mom and dad, shook hands and thanked them for coming to the concert. I can't describe how impressed we all were with this handsome man, who must have been so tired, but he had time to say "Hello" and he seemed genuinely happy to do so.

In the 23 years since I met Michael, I can tell you that I have never met anyone whose mere presence could make me feel so much joy and love, all at the same time. I imagine the sky must be like this. I don't think you would have to physically meet Michael Jackson to have met him. I really believe that we all know him. At some level, we are all connected and Michael touched our yearning with pure selfless love.

With Michael, we had that. I know we still have it. As he said at the end of THIS IS IT: 'love lives forever'. ” 

Ashtanga ("Ashtanga" is the pseudonym of a fan who wrote this testimonial)

“He stood right in front of me, pointed to the fans and said to me: this is my family. They understand me and my music, they understand everything.” 

Jonathan Sugarfoot Moffet in live zoom session 6/2020

"If one looks beyond the label of “crazed” attributed to [Michael Jackson's] fans, one finds mostly intelligent, thoughtful people...As the world’s most famous and visible global humanitarian and cheerleader, he leaves behind a worldwide family of 250 million admirers who are taking his teachings seriously. Michael always said his fans were his legacy. Many in the media have given them a cursory dismissal because of the “fan” label. But they got the message and they mean to be the change they want to see in the world and make it a better place. They are an army of humanitarians who are being the change. They mobilize themselves and resources for causes like the earthquakes in Haiti and Chile and others. They got Michael’s message and are weaving it into their lives."

He was nothing but a Pinata who always gave, gave, gave 

This elderly woman cares. #MJInnocent #MJFam #FightToSaveMichael #FactsDontLiePeopleDo #MichaelJacksonIsInnocent #michaeljackson pic.twitter.com/CG42Kiwn0x

— Keeping Up With The Perjurers (@UnsmoothCrims) March 21, 2019

As a cultural experiment, those who defend MJ are probably the most diverse group on earth. We share certain universal values that transcend politics, religion, gender, creed or sexuality.

Personally, I blame it on the boogie ....#MJFam #MJInnocent

— David Appleby (@ybelppa) April 17, 2019