I'm a reporter working on a series about Michael Jackson. Part of this series will look at his life as a Jehovah's Witness and his relationship to the faith. I've already spoken to a few ex-witnesses and one elder who have explained JW 101 beliefs and teachings. I've read stories about Michael going door to door even around the height of Thriller, and also that he received so much pressure from his elders about the Thriller video that he almost destroyed it. And a year later, he apologized in the May 1984 edition of Awake.
I hope that you have spoken to his family about this. That is the only way you would know what his relationship to the faith was. I do believe that Michael Jackson (MJ) might have had pressure from his family about his Thriller video but not from the elders. They wouldn’t have known about the video until after it came out and at that point it would be useless to try to destroy it. Michael Jackson had a contract and legalities he had to deal with and I doubt very seriously that the elders would have wanted to get into that mess.
But you also seem to have a serious misunderstanding about what the general Jehovah'sWitnesses (JWs) population understands about celebrity JWs. They aren’t held to the same standards as regular JWs. They can fulfill their requirements to ‘witness’ by saying ‘Jehovah’ or giving Jehovah credit on their platform, whatever that may be. If they say it in an interview, on TV, to a reporter, or at one of their events they are reaching thousands if not millions of people in one go. Why would they need to go door-to-door. It seems much more likely that they would only go door-to-door as a publicity stunt of some sort and the doors they would be going to wouldn’t be the typical doors everyone else knocks on.
Do you have a copy of that Awake! magazine? I would very much like to see it. I don’t remember that and I would have paid attention because my sister was a huge MJ fan at the time and I was reading the Awake! magazines at that time.
This is a hail mary long shot request, but is there anyone here with first-hand experience meeting or working with Michael as a JW? I've heard that Michael would have been called before a discipline committee for the Thriller video, where he would have made a case not to be disfellowshipped. Even a longer shot, does anyone know or can connect me with an elder who might have dealt with Michael?
Yes, that is a Hail Mary. I don’t personally believe that Michael Jackson ever had the typical JW experience. It is possible… except that video really shot him into the status of a rock star. I doubt the Watchtower society (WTS) would want to get rid of someone who was so popular. I mean, his ability to ‘witness’ to billions of people would have made him a person they would want to keep. The rest of the world loved that album. The video was clearly a theatrical musical piece. Also, the WTS has always been very inconsistent about what things are allowed, what is not allowed, and what is ‘up to the person’s conscience’. The fact that we were never told to avoid the Thriller video/song actually speaks volumes to make me believe that there was never any to-do about it at all.
So… no, I personally, find that very unlikely that this ever happened. It just doesn’t make much sense. Most JWs I know of never really thought of Michael Jackson (nor the Williams sisters, nor Prince) as being real JWs and we don’t expect them to behave like regular JWs and we don’t expect them to be held to the same standard as the rest of us. The WTS has different standards for people in different countries, and different standards for people of different status in the US. Celebrities and ultra-rich people get a far different treatment. So far, I don’t see you mentioning any credible sources for your information.
Last question/request. In 1987, it was reported that Michael disassociated himself from the JWs. The LA Times cited a letter from the then Brooklyn headquarters dated May 18th 1987 that the organization "no longer considers Michael Jackson to be one of Jehovah's Witnesses." Does anyone remember this being said in Kingdom Hall? Any MJ fans out there who would have kept the letter? The reporter from the Times has unfortunately passed away.
The LA Times cited a letter. They didn’t publish it as an open letter. That tells me that the letter being mentioned wasn’t a letter that was put out by the Watchtower society as an official statement. That tells me that the only congregation that might have had that information announced from the stage would have been the congregation that Michael Jackson was actually a member of. That is the way the Watchtower society works. And if you have people telling you about the beliefs then you should have people telling you about the procedures as well.
To the best of my knowledge the Watchtower society never officially and publicly acknowledged Michael Jackson, nor the Williams sisters, nor Prince in any way whatsoever. And it makes sense that they wouldn’t. They wouldn’t want to highlight the deferential treatment. They also wouldn’t want to be put into the position of having to publicly censure or to be held responsible for a celebrity who behaved in a way that contradicted the JW beliefs. The very fact that celebrities have activities that are more important than the JWs is a disfellowshipping offense. The fact that celebrities do drugs and hang out with amoral people is a disfellowshipping offense, and one that is also common public knowledge. The very things that make a person a celebrity are all things that would keep them from being a regular JW. They wouldn’t be acknowledged to be Jehovah’s Witnesses publicly nor officially, and they wouldn’t be publicly and officially excommunicated from the cult. It would be up to the celebrity to decide if they wanted to make that information public. So my guess would be that the ‘letter’ that is referenced is a letter that Michael Jackson (or possibly his lawyer) obtained and gave to the journalist, not something that would have been made available to anyone else.
Quite frankly, your assumptions about Michael Jackson’s experience and your serious lack of evidentiary proof and looking to anecdotal proof instead doesn’t make you look like a credible journalist. It also is curious to me that you have not in any way mentioned all the rampant and heinous child abusers that the Watchtower society has been found to be protecting (according to court documents and Australian Royal Commission) and yet have not questioned if there is any correlation between that and Michael Jackson’s own accusers. I would think, that at this point, that would be a subject for any article talking about MJ and the JWs. Leaving that out makes me think you are doing a fluff piece instead of something with more journalistic integrity. But… that is just my opinion and has nothing to do with anything. Good luck in your endeavor.
Edited to remove typos.