Why Pete King will not be speaking at the Michael Jackson funeral

"Fan" is short for "fanatic," and this is best exhibited by those who are fans of Michael Jackson. Sure, there are some who may have been moved to buy a CD over the last few days, but then there are those who dress in the Sergeant Pepper reject outfits and fly across the world to gaze at Neverland Ranch or whatever.

Congressman Pete King is not a Michael Jackson fan. Far from it. This video was posted on July 5:



If you're not able to view the video, the Huffington Post summarized it:

Over the weekend, King said that the media had gone far over the top in glorifying Jackson, who he deemed a "low-life" pervert who "may have been a good singer" and "did some dancing."

The Huffington Post goes on to report that this has inspired some political action:

Now, an ActBlue fundraising site has been set up by "A fan of Michael Jackson" titled "Michael Jackson Fans AGAINST Peter King."

"Peter King ought to let Jackson rest in peace, and focus on the needs of his constituents. As we mourn the loss of an American legend, political grandstanding is not what we need right now!" the page reads. "Fans of Michael Jackson and his legacy stand united against Peter King's hateful words. Please donate here to show Peter King that true MJ fans won't stand for the smearing of a pop sensation!"

H/T PopEater, which conducted a poll. And for those who think that music publication readers would be sympathetic to Jackson, check the results:

Are King's comments too harsh and out of line?

No. Peter King is right.
69% 131,978

Yeah. Michael deserves respect.
31% 60,100

Granted that this is unscientific, but consider that for every sobbing moonwalking fan that you see on TV today, there are two people elsewhere muttering, "That freak!"

And for the 87 people that donated $2,075 to the ActBlue page for a Peter King opponent, remember that this is small peanuts in a political campaign. At list price, that would only buy about 100 copies of the Thriller 25th Anniversary Edition.

(Oh, and regarding questions of blogger ethics, re my recent blogger disclosure post, you'll note that I chose NOT to post an Amazon link to the album here. Somehow it wouldn't seem right.)