MIDDLE EAST: An Arab tribute to the King of Pop

Middle East analyst and blogger Juan Cole of Informed Comment writes today about Michael Jackson’s popularity in the Arab world. Jackson lived in Bahrain for a time after he was acquitted on child molestation charges in 2005. But he had a falling out with his benefactor, a son of the Persian Gulf island's emir.
Cole includes a link to a Middle Eastern video tribute to the King of Pop posted on YouTube. Although the comments suggest that a Jackson soundtrack may have been superimposed over a clip of men in traditional Arab robes dancing to music from the Gulf, Cole says “it is the height of hybridity either way.”
"Given the stereotyping of Gulf Arabs as medieval and fanatical, and given the hurtful prejudice against their very form of clothing in the West, it is only right that they should have the last word here on Michael Jackson's universal appeal."

At a meeting in a bungalow at the Neverland ranch, Jackson said
he had his mother at his side when he fought off another
proposal.
"And I vehemently told them, 'No, I am not signing this,'"
Jackson recalled. "And I just remember how angry, the intensity
of the anger in the room. And so they marched out."
Jackson made his comments when he was grilled by lawyers for
the Hackensack, N.J., finance company that is suing the singer
in Manhattan Federal Court. The firm, Prescient Acquisition, is
owned by businessman Darien Dash, who claims Jackson stiffed
his company out of $48 million.
According to Dash's lawyer Steven Altman, Dash was due the
money for helping Jackson refinance a $272 million bank loan
and secure $573 million in financing to buy out Sony's half of
the Beatles' song catalogue that Jackson co-owned.
But Jackson claimed he's never heard of Dash, a cousin of
hip-hop impresario Damon Dash, and doesn't remember signing any
agreement.

Burkle was calling him on the cell phone during bathroom
breaks, warning him not to sign anything, Michael Jackson said.
Stabler wasn't happy, Jackson said.
"[Stabler] said, 'What's the problem? You're not down, you're
with the Jews now. You're not down with blacks anymore,'"
Jackson testified.
"It was unkind," Jackson added. "It was mean. It was
meanspirited. It was nasty. Simply because he couldn't get me
to sign something that he wanted me to sign."
The next time Jackson saw Stabler "he wanted to take my head
off." And his brother Randy wasn't too happy, either.
Randy later claimed that Jackson and his staff had run up a
$700,000 bill on his American Express card during the trial,
which Jackson said he would repay.

A Santa Maria, Calif., jury acquitted him of child molestation
charges in June 2005, after which he retreated into the
seclusion of his Neverland ranch.
But during breaks in the trial, Jackson says he was being
pressured to sign off on a multimillion-dollar financing deal
by Don Stabler, an associate brought in by brother Randy, his
go-to guy on financial matters during much of his career.
Jackson initially took a liking to Stabler after Randy
introduced them.
"He reminded me of people that live in mid-America like
Indiana," Jackson testified.
Stabler was persistent, at one point during the trial sending a
message through one of Jackson's Nation of Islam security
guards that questioned the singer's faithfulness to his
African-American heritage.
It was a sore point for someone who has denied he purposely
lightened his skin.
By then, Jackson had turned to Burkle, the billionaire pal of
former President Bill Clinton, for financial help. Burkle
brought in Jesse Jackson, who's known Michael Jackson since his
Jackson 5 days, to help with the consultation.

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The Gloved One even fingered a man close to his older brother
Randy as a key villain.
It was an ordeal that left Jackson bitter about the industry in
which he's spent his entire life.
"It's full of sharks, charlatans and imposters," he said in
testimony taken last summer in Paris.
"Because there's a lot of money involved, there's a bunch of
schmucks in there," Jackson said. "It's the entertainment
world, full of thieves and crooks. That's not new. Everybody
knows that."

Michael Jackson claims he was nearly swindled out of his
fortune during his kiddie-sex trial and only the wise counsel
of the Rev. Jesse Jackson and billionaire Ron Burkle saved him.
The behind-the-scenes battle over the pop star's finances is
detailed in a sworn deposition he gave for a federal lawsuit
scheduled to go to trial this week.
There is a possibility that Jackson himself might even be
called to testify.