An Open Letter To Corey Feldman
Dear Corey Feldman,
I need your help. Can you please make this whole Michael Jackson thing be over now?
Obviously, Michael Jackson meant a lot to millions of people. But the media frenzy over his death seems both hyperbolic and deeply disingenuous. For one, he was a human being, and human beings die in the thousands every single day. He was a "special" human being, I suppose, but surely we could have reminded ourselves of the specialness of him in about 1/10th of the time and fanfare that we took to do so. Which would still be more than the media spends on most actual issues that affect real people's on-going lives. And the pageantry! Dude was buried in a solid gold coffin? Come on, guys. The media didn't put him in that solid gold coffin, but they certainly put in him in a solid gold coffin of WORDS. And the fact of the matter is that while the man's musical legacy will live on for decades (or at least until the world is covered in water, in 2011), he was deeply troubled, and wasting away in a personal hell for the past 20 years. That has been briefly mentioned but quickly hidden away. Which is fine. Except if you aren't going to deal with HALF of his life, then what has TAKEN SO LONG. This memorial feels like it's been going on forever.
You of all people, dressed in your Michael Jackson tribute costume, must recognize that everyone should be allowed to grieve in their own way. Perhaps the pomp of the past week has helped the bizarre and fractured Jackson family come to some kind of momentary peace as they face the inevitable future of further unraveling and public disagreements without Michael to bring the attention everyone over there seems to so desperately crave. I hope it brought them some kind of meaningful experience. But not everyone was necessarily on board, right? Where was Macaulay Culkin, for example? And why was he allowed to opt out of this, while the rest of the world was forced to participate? I feel like we've all been dragged by our eye-heels through some obscene, grotesque carnival of death. Because the reality is that we have been celebrating Michael Jackson's passing as much as we have been celebrating his life. With him gone we can just remember him the way we want to, without all the ickyness attached to the way he actually was for a very, very long time.
Well OK, then. Fair enough. He is gone. So we can remember him however we want.
But can we fucking move on now, Corey Feldman? Can we pack up the tent and take down the rides and remember that there are real things happening in the world right now that genuinely matter? When I go to a news website, can it not be populated with 15 different stories about what people like you were fucking wearing at the Memorial service that more than 30 million people (30 million!) watched? Can we pretend like this is any other pop cultural event and forget about it almost as quickly as it happened because we don't have the attention for anything anymore?
Can you please use your enormous star power as one of Hollywood's A-List to do this? Thanks.
Sincerely,
Someone Who Believes That It Is Still 1986 And That Corey Feldman Is The Person To Talk To
P.S. (Image via HuffingtonPost.)
Posted by Gabe at 5:30 PM in An Open Letter
Tags: Corey Feldman | Costumes | Enough Already | Funerals | Michael Jackson
The sad thing is the last time I saw Cory Feldmen he was talking about how MJ molested him. Now he's at the guy's funeral? He's either a disgusting publicity whore, or he's got some serious Stockholm Syndrome.
Score = 31
EXACTLY!
Corey Feldman is a complete whore for attention.
Years ago when Michael Jackson was brought up on child molesting allegations, Feldman was all gung-ho to leap at the opportunity to be relevant again by bashing his former friend to the media. Now the man dies and he DRESSES UP LIKE HIM in an attempt to do it all again. It's like, who does he think he's fooling?
Is it too late to switch it up so it was Corey Feldman that died last week instead of Michael Jackson? I guarantee there would be less media saturation to deal with.
Score = 22
First off, you ARE the media. What? Uh-huh. Second, by posting this letter, which has received many, many comments, you have achieved exactly what you're complaining about - that is, you have furthered the persistence of Michael Jackson's memory within the public consciousness. You are, in effect, contributing to the Michael Jackson hoopla by posting your thoughts about it. The best way to kill the Gloved One's media buzz, is NOT TO WRITE ABOUT IT. IGNORE IT. STOP TALKING ABOUT IT.
Good luck in your future endeavors and if you want to read about things that matter, try writing about things that matter.
Score = 0
I'm just glad the media frenzy over Karl Malden's death is starting to taper off.
Score = 58
Now if we could just stop hearing about Ronald Reagan.
Score = 4
I don't want to defend the media or anything, but this is a defining moment in a lot of people's lives, and Michael Jackson's life was enormously tragic for a lot of different reasons and just supposing he's a special human being is true, but has a sort of cold hipstery dismissal of what a prodigious talent his was.
Score = -3
It drives me nuts when people defend Gabe and/or Lindsay (RIP! NEVER FORGET) but I don't think anyone's saying MJ wasn't a huge talent or that he wasn't tragic. The issue is the tremendous, ridiculous overkill from not just the media, but also, if CNN's Facebook crawl (blech) it to be believed, people all over the world. It's crazy and kind of gross. Plus, Corey Feldman looks fucking ridiculous. I think we can all agree on that.
Score = 35
Msquinn (and also gabe), I agree, the Facebook crawl (and similar outpours of "support") was disgusting.. as a people, we have a terrible way of making even the most tragic events about ourselves. But at the core of today and the media's ad naseum, was I think an effort to remember Michael Jackson not just as the (clearly) troubled guy he was, but as a legendary.. really, legendary... singer, songwriter and philanthropist. oh makes a point, when we criticize the media blitz, it does seem dismissive of the man whose death inspired all of it.
Score = 3
No, Michael Jackson's death is not "a defining moment in a lot of people's lives". It's defining for his family, his children, and the people who truly lost a real friend. For the public at large, it was just the loss of a pop icon. It's ok that it was all about MJ the weekend he died, and it's ok that it's all bout him today. But not the entire time in between. Now, it's time for it to be over. And where the hell is macaulay Culkin?!
Score = 23
No, it really is -- just not for you. It might be hard to understand because your tastes are different. Like John Lennon's death, it was sudden and unexpected and its shock will leave an impact on many many people. My point is you can't blame CNNFacebook for covering his death to the hilt, you can only blame it for existing in the first place. There's a tidal wave of coverage because there's a tidal wave of outlets.
Score = 0
Dude, if your life is defined by the passing of a celebrity trainwreck who left relevence behind a long, long time ago... then you got a sad fucking life.
Score = 1
I'm pretty sure this letter is perfectly timed. Can't wait to hear him voice Donatello! BOSSA NOVA
Score = 4
dear gabe,
never forget.
kisses,
The Feldman
Score = 2
THANK. YOU. GABE.
Score = 3
Why is this a defining moment in people's lives? An artist who has been essentially inactive for 15 years is dead. Maybe i'm a callous jackal, but i fail to see how this could be definitive to anyone who didn't know MJ.
His death was no more tragic than the deaths of millions of other individuals every day. He *was* special, but possibly excepting the impending tour, he hasn't "used" his specialness to change people's lives in almost a decade.
Score = 18
Hate to make this RetortGum, but in regards to his inactivity and uselessness to anyone who didn't know him, he did give, like, $50 million to charities that paid for vaccines and food and kids' hospitals. Call it guilt money or the rich doing what the rich should do or whatever you like, but that actually is pretty fucking special. Maybe if he'd guest-starred on Gossip Girl or battled with John Salley, we Americans would still find him relevant?
Score = 41
if you count being wealthy as specialness, then i can accept that he was using his specialness to change lives. but i think that's a stretch.
by specialness, i was referring to his artistic talent. hence, a decade of disuse.
this disuse doesn't preclude his doing other meaningful and contributive things with his life. indeed, even if he wasn't and hadn't been contributing anything at all, his death would still be a tragedy.
Score = -2
That comment is ridiculous (sorry). People don't die when they stop contributing to popular culture. These people aren't sad because there's no chance he'll ever make music again. They're sad because this dude meant something to them even from the distance of being a celebrity.
And (generally speaking to the Gabe/Gabe-sympathizers now) i'm not saying all the fanfare is necessary, but like who cares? What is our problem? Television news has been nothing but sensationalism from day one. 24/7 SARS coverage, man. Does anyone below the age of 30 (i.e. videogum commenters) even watch tv news anymore? If we are going to start getting all pissy about how our PRESTIGIOUS and VALUED news stations are overkilling things, maybe we can do it when they're trying to get every one into a reflex-panic instead of a time when they're mourning the death of someone?
If they're still slipping in "RIP MJ"s on TV in a year, than ok. But it has been like, a week.
Seriously, this is my least favorite videogum post ever. Sorry, Gabe. Boooo and whatnot.
Score = 59
I don't follow you; why is my statement ridiculous?
I wasn't trying to insinuate that artists should (or do?) die when they stop producing art.
That is ridiculous. Obviously even completely non-contributive people have a right to life, to a valuable future, etc. Plus, as ' Coco' pointed out, MJ clearly hadn't stopped contributing; he'd just stopped contributing artistically. Tragic, like I said. Wish he hadn't died. Lot of people are justifiably saddened by this; people who didn't know him; people who were profoundly affected by him life.
My point was that I'm confused as to why people feel such a life-changing attachment to a figure who hasn't been very active of late. It seems bizarre to me to say that his death is a defining moment in some people's lives (as 'oh.' did). People were attached to him because he'd affected their lives positively, because he mattered. I get it.
But I ultimately feel like his death would have meant so much more to people if it had happened twenty years ago. Like George H. W. Bush. If he'd died in 1989, people would have been a lot more upset than they would be if he died tomorrow. Both would be tragic, but I would think people were more attached to him – and, hence, would be more upset – 20 years ago.
Because of the immediacy of his relevance.
Score = -9
Ridiculous was too harsh a term (sorry again.) And that wasn't what i thought your comment insinuated either. I totally get that nobody wants anybody to die here. Let's live forever etc.
But i stand by what i said, in that MJ's music had an IMPACT on people's lives. And something like that isn't limited by time. In fact, if anything, it ages and we're better able to recognize that impact and our subsequent appreciation for it. Personally, i always loved his music but like everyone else i found it was a lot of the time lost to the whole Wacko Jacko Fiasco (has anyone used that term yet, because if not i totally call copyright). But once he died, what he was famous for in the first place took precedence both in my mind and the hive mind. The mass reaction to MJ's death, i think kind of backs me up. For a parallel, Elvis wasn't exactly in the best condition when he died, but that didn't lessen people's grief, because shit man! this guy was iconic at some point in his life, and in our heads he's still iconic as hell. Most of us don't think of fat, painkiller hopped up Elvis dead on a toilet. We think of shaky hips, "has left the building" Elvis.
That's what is happening here. Impact is timeless man.
Score = 15
I have nothing clever to say as usual but I would just like to say that I agree with both of your above statements. Outrage with the media is a lot more fitting when they're telling us to do things like buy duct tape to protect ourselves from nuclear attacks. The MJ coverage should come as no surprise to anyone. Plus...Rock With You...great song...you all know you fuckin jam out hard to that shiz.
Score = 10
Well said.
Though, I still maintain that the public response would have been even larger had his death occurred 20 years ago (much more tragic and shocking, significantly more timely). I've wasted far too much space trying to make and defend that point.
At this point, I'm not sure we actually disagree about anything, except for maybe how terrible my first comment was. And maybe your last sentence. But that's an acceptable level of hyperbole considering the durability of cultural impact. Which is a lot of durability.
Score = -3
Let's paint, exercise, mourn Michael Jackson's death, and move on!
Score = 42
i just ignore it everything related to mj, if you can believe it.
change the channel, don't click the news story, don't contribute in any way to converstations about him...
it's been a lot easier than you'd think.
Score = 4
Indeed; I just moved to a city where no one seems to watch TV or check the web all day and thus, I've only seen as much "coverage" as I sought out. If you don't watch TV all day, you don't have to be oppressed by the garbage on it.
Also, give the guy a day in peace before ragging on him, Gabe.
Score = 5
The existence of your comment on a Michael Jackson related post makes that pretty difficult to believe.
Score = 2
Best thing written about Michael Jackson so far. Thank you Gabe.
Score = -3
Yeah, I was shocked for like 5 minutes, but it's not like he's Jackson Pollock and everyone's left wondering what could have possibly been ahead of him artistically if not for the untimely death, and I doubt anyone feels that the world of music is suffering some grand bereavement of talent. He has already contributed his share, a great big share at that, but in 2009 he was pretty much done with everything. Also, no one needs a golden coffin. You just don't. I feel sorry for his kids for being parentless. That is what actually sucks.
Score = 26
I understand the sentiment, but dude was buried TODAY! What you should be mad at is the media for jumping the gun and pre-burying him in tributes before he was LITERALLY IN THE GROUND.
Today, MJ gets a pass today because..IT WAS HIS FUCKING FUNERAL. Tomorrow, you can complain about the coverage, kay?
Till midnight tonight, MJ can be celebrated. We shut it down at 12:01.
Score = 37
But do you really believe it's going to shut down tomorrow? Of course it's not. The media is going to criticize every minute detail of his life and death for days to come just as they have been doing for the past 10 days. What's sad is that attention like this isn't brought to the deaths of people who are doing life-changing work. The fact that the news is taking this much time to cover an event that, while sad, isn't globally important is sickening. This massive news coverage just goes to show how in the toilet American media is.
This may just be me, but was anyone else creeped out that his body was on display for 30 million people?
Score = 4
MIchael Jackson basically created the American Media as it is today, so this should come as no surprise that they bow down to him now. MJ is responsible for the face of popular culture as it looks today, and, unfortch, the news media is now another arm of popular culture, which steals as much from music video aesthetics as it does from muckracking or whatever.
What am I even talking about though. When was the "American media" so great and filled with integrity? http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Propaganda_of_the_Spanish_American_War
The sad fact that MJ had so much money he could buy a reputation as a philanthropist, just as Bill Gates is doing. So...he ends up being "globally important" and "life-changing" and a "humanitarian" cause he could throw money at lots of things when he wasn't throwing them at vases. (What is a humanitarian? Isn't that like the weirdest word?)
Score = -9
What? No. Andy Warhol. Open a book.
Score = 17
As an admirer of the King of Pop for most of my time on this mortal coil, let me be the first to say that i do not in any way find his passing to be Pumpkininny.
RIP
Score = 19
I personally cannot upvote this enough, but I am biased. When you saw the news, did you at least act surprised like you couldn't believe what you just heard?
Score = 0
Of course.
I was out on goober patrol when the news came in.
Score = 3
"I was shocked when I saw this house," Azhar, 11, said, before turning on one of his favorite Hindi songs and dancing around the living room. "I want to thank Danny Boyle for giving us this flat." Boo-yah suck it GABE!
Score = 10
I was on board the mourning train the first 3-4 days, but then I started getting weary. Besides today, I'm shocked and dismayed at the amount of coverage genuine news sites are still giving it. Sure, I shed a tear for my childhood, but let's soldier on.
Score = 4
QUOTE:
"Can we pack up the tent and take down the rides and remember that there are real things happening in the world right now that genuinely matter?"
.......like the new episode of the Real Housewives of ____ _______ or you shitting on movies and celebrities that you don't like?
???
Score = 2
Last time I checked videogum wasn't CNN
Score = 13
It's laughable to call out a media outlet for not focusing on things that matter when all this website does is steer the focus towards meaningless bullshit
Score = 0
I'm pretty certain Feldman doesn't consider that a Michael Jackson Outfit.
Score = 24
The problem is that this really won't end any time soon. Remember when Princess Diana died? That went on for years.
As far as it being a really important moment in peoples lives, I'm sorry but that's a little ridiculous. I can see his music being important but his dying.. that's taking it a little too far. Well at least for me.
Score = 4
Dear the hundreds of dying people in Iran,
Sorry you got completely shafted for an obsolete popstar's death.
Sincerely,
Lindsay Robertson
Score = 1
Dear the hundreds of dying people in Iran,
Sorry you got completely shafted for an obsolete popstar's death.
Sincerely,
Lindsay Robertson
Score = -10
The memorial is totally going to be nominated for Best Picture Oscar.
Score = 4
This kinda goes without saying, Gabe, but here it is anyway: Corey Feldman is your boyfriend.
Score = 16
Say what you want, but you didnt write thriller.
Score = 0
Neither did Michael Jackson. Rod Temperton did.
Score = 62
ba-zing.
Score = 8
It was obvious this was going to happen from day one. My reaction when I heard the news (after the initial WTF) was 'Oh shit, here goes three months of MJ/24/7'. It doesn't surprise me in the least. It's overkill, but predictable overkill.
TEAM GABE.
Score = 13
It was obvious this was going to happen from day one. My reaction when I heard the news (after the initial WTF) was 'Oh shit, here goes three months of MJ/24/7'. It doesn't surprise me in the least. It's overkill, but predictable overkill.
TEAM GABE.
Score = 0
I'm just glad I've finally got something to take my mind off the death of Barbaro.
Score = 7
I hope they display Billy Mays' body in a giant big city sliders machine.
Score = 16
Ahem...
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=cylUp7cRU7s
Score = 5
I see your Cory and raise you a tree stump.
Glad there is other news than MJ's memorial being covered.
Score = 1
If only Michael were alive to see this. All the people who ridiculed him for years and years and made his life a living hell now celebrating his life.
Score = 6
I got just one question for ya Gabe,
"WHO YOU KNOW JAMMIN IN BUCHAREST?"
Ohh..nobody?
THATS WHAT I THOUGHT!!!!
Only he could. (R.I.P Michael Jackson King of Pop)
I will worry about the worlds pain...why life isn't fair...and my humanity later Gabe. But for today I just wanna remember the times, and put my nine to five upon the shelf and just enjoy myself. Cuz life ain't so bad at all when you live it off the wall. Bye Videogum. It was fun while it lasted.
Kisses*
Score = -14
Bye
Score = 5
forget that movie about the view-master, i want a film about corey feldman saving the world.
Score = 1
The only ridiculous thing is that the media spent the last 15 years disparaging him at every opportunity, but now he's dead so he's a hero. It's not surprising at all, it happens with everyone, it's just absurd.
MJ's memorial was like a drag-queen version of Ronald Reagan's.
Score = 9
I didn't watch any of it. But, I have to say. I'm seriously appreciating the resurgence of MJ music on every radio station all over the place.
Score = 5
I just hate that everyone cites the "last 20 years of wasting away" as a reason to not care. Frank Sinatra died after nearly 10 years of being out of the spotlight; Johnny Carson was a famous recluse, Marvin Gaye had descended into a life of drug addiction and was shot to death by his own father! And all were celebrated with MANY specials and memorials weeks after dying. Deservedly so.
Had MJ died immediately after Thriller, would you be happy?? You bitter fucking 57 year old.
Score = 7
People keep saying he hasn't been relevant for twenty years, as if that means something. We're not talking about Spencer Pratt or Kato Kaelin. MJ isn't just some dipshit who got famous. Michael Jackson isn't A celebrity, he's THE celebrity. It's easy to forget this now, but he was the biggest star in the world. Dude sold out shows in motherfucking Romania. There wasn't a country in the world where Michael Jackson couldn't sell out a show.
I guess the problem is that if you're under 30, you don't know that. You only know him as the sideshow freak from the tabloids. But there is nobody in entertainment today that holds a candle to the stature of Michael Jackson. Nobody has influenced current pop music more than Michael Jackson. He was the biggest celebrity in the world, back when becoming a celebrity meant you had to accomplish something. Celebrity might be a Sad Clown Parade these days, but things weren't always like this.
Score = 5
"Celebrity might be a Sad Clown Parade today"
Well, you could make a convincing case that MJ inaugurated the Sad Clown Parade, or at least part of it (not the kind involving people so desperate for notoriety they'll go on any reality show imaginable. obvs.)
Look, he died. It's sad I guess (not really for me, I feel totally disconnected from it). But can we all agree that the whole media circus has taken absurdity to a new level? And that memorial yesterday? That was like a whole new level...
But I ask - what IS the appropriate requiem for a celeb of MJ's stature?
I honestly don't know, but this parade has bordered on death-cultish.
Score = 2
He sold a lot of records - no one buys records or even cds anymore.
He was a massive pop culture icon for about decade - in the age of the internet it's not possible to be as universally liked and capture the world's attention for so long.
He combined rap music and pop music - is that really considered musical genius?
Jackson was a creation of his era and will be remembered as a song and dance man who sold pepsi, didn't stand up for his sexuality or race when he had the unique platform to do so, had a series of legal troubles and an ever changing appearance that became tabloid fodder. Please don't bury and remember this man as a hero, he was just a representation of a self-indulgent time.
Score = -1
The ability to deal with identity problems isn't directly proportional to one's level of fame. That's a basic pop culture math principle. Plus, your comment only illuminates how unlikely it will be for another star of MJs magnitude to emerge. That fact alone is something to mourn about.
Score = 1
Dad, I think you miss my point.
Ponder this...
what IS CNN?
what IS videogum?
Score = 0
i have to continually remind myself that magazines, e-zines, news and every single media outlet serves 1 function. to pay the bills and make money. CNN is showing what people will watch, Gabe is writing what people will read, and all of us are reading it to be entertained. I wonder if MJ's funeral would have been covered if it was a simple eulogy by his family instead of an amazing concert with usher, mariah carey, stevie wonder, john mayer... Really.
and A GOLD FRIGGIN COFFIN!!!!! I felt like charleton heston was going to show up and throw some stone tablets on that. Seriously!!!!
Score = 0
I think the only thing that has frustrated me about all this media coverage is the knowledge that my own musical heroes, no matter how much more they contributed to pop music, will probably not get a tenth of this kind of attention.
Brian Wilson's death will probably be a second-string headline for a couple of days that most people my age will shrug their shoulders at. This makes me very sad.
Score = 3
Way to chain your anchor to a sinking ship, Feldman.
Score = 0
Michael Jackson died!!!???
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Michael Jackson died!!!???
Score = 0
people mourn in different ways. When I found out, I mourned on my own by just listening to his awesome music but now I kind of want it to go away because the news media began coverage of his death by talking about his accomplishments, his music footprint, now all I see in the opening seconds of the tv are "MICHAEL JACKSON: POISONED?" or "MICHAEL JACKSON WAS KILLED?" , "MICHAEL JACKSON'S SECRET HOBBIES?"with the news anchor questioning what he/she just said to keep the viewer hooked. It's gonna get uglier and uglier and it's sad they just can't let it go, he's buried already, we should move on.
Score = 0