Poor Gavin (A RANT)
Hello all.
Let me preface this by saying that all of the boys and girls that Michael has abused were victims. I make this post not to say that one had it worse than the other, but I feel that Gavin suffered the worst before, during, and after the abuse and was made an example of by the Estate that it probably prevented more victims from stepping forward until Jimmy, Wade, Jane Doe, and the Cascios came forward with their stories.
I know Gavin can tell his story and it's really not my place in which to do so, but I am going to attempt to explain why I feel Michael was absolutely heinous with his abuse of Gavin
- The Cancer
Gavin was battling cancer during his childhood. It always breaks my heart to see cancer patients, let alone when they are children. Growing up in Winnetka, there was a kid on my block named Tommy who had childhood leukemia. He became friends with my older brother and his mother could make a damn good chicken piccata. I always felt bad for him because, unlike his peers, he had low energy levels and couldn't run, ride his bike, play baseball. He just watched all the kids on the block do it and that seemed to satisfy him. It made me wonder what vile force would do something like that to children. It's probably the reason I'm an atheist in my adult life.
As far as Gavin goes, his last wish was to meet his hero, Michael Jackson. Jackson was informed of this and almost immediately he called the 10-year-old boy who was going through chemo. He and Michael would talk for hours. What grown man would talk for hours with a 10-year-old!?!? Michael then invited Gavin and his family to the Neverland Ranch. Jackson invited his new "special friend" and his little brother, Star, to sleep in his bed, but not alone, as Frank and Eddie Cascio and Jackson's children occupied the room as well.
- "Living with Michael Jackson"
Always the one to take advantage of young, impressionable boys, Michael, in a bizarre power play, had Gavin defend him on camera. Michael was gripping Gavin's hand so hard during this segment, as though they were in a loving, consensual, committed relationship. Gavin implied that Michael had cured his cancer. He then put his head on Michael's shoulder. At this point, Michael felt the need to re-establish his opinion that he sees nothing wrong with sharing a bed with a child that is unrelated to him. If John Q. Public would say this at an HOA meeting, the community would be at his doorstep with torches and pitchforks. But not Michael Jack. He is immune to any sort of standards that everyone else is to abide by. In fact, Bashir, the journalist that covered this documentary, was accused of "yellow journalism", because fuck forbid anyone look at Whacko Jacko in any other light besides this benevolent, angelic, asexual deity. Give me a fuckin break.
- The grooming
Like with so many of Jackson's victims, there is a lengthy grooming process that Jackson goes about. I truly believe he does this to both the parents and the children to see what the fuck he can get away with, and then escalates his behavior from there. In the use case with Gavin, Jackson manipulated Gavin on what to say on camera, so Jackson probably felt that he can make his sick move to molest the 12-year-old boy. Jackson started purchasing Gavin expensive gifts such as laptops and a Miami trip. Gavin's mother, Janet, felt a bit suspicious about this whole thing, but never acted on her intuition.
I also wanted to point out that Gavin's father up and abandoned his family during Gavin's battle with cancer. This probably sent Gavin spiraling. I couldn't imagine what he was going through. Here you had a 11-year-old boy whose father just vanished, pretty much signaling that he never really cared for the family. Michael looked at the situation with glee and immediately took advantage of his emotionally distraught soon-to-be victim by calling him "son". Gavin, very vulnerable and traumatized by his current scenario, returned the endearment by calling Michael "dad". After all, the boy probably longed for any sort of positive male influence in his life.
Michael then escalated his sordid behavior by giving Gavin what Michael called "Jesus juice", which was just wine in pop cans. This began on the flight back from Miami to the Neverland Ranch. While at Neverland, Michael kept going down to the wine cellar with Gavin in tow. I believe Michael did this to lower Gavin's defenses and to make him more pliant so that he couldn't fight back. I just find it absolutely heart wrenching and repulsive that a 45-year-old man would be getting a 13-year-old boy lit like that. It's completely unacceptable.
During the grooming process, Mike decided it would be funny to make out with a female mannequin in his bedroom in front of Gavin and Star. I don't know, for shits and giggles, I guess, or to introduce sex acts to the two boys so that he can use that to manipulate his target later on. Also, I think after this, is when Jackson decided to show Gavin and Star some "barely legal" porno mags, probably while giggling. During Jackson's arrest, Gavin told the investigators where Mike stored these magazines (I believe in a suitcase in his bedroom), and the forensics team found Michael's, Gavin's, and Star's fingerprints in the magazine.
Michael kept trying to see what he could get away with and it was after this that Michael decided to escalate things in a way that is every parent's worst nightmare.
- The abuse
Michael continued to allow Gavin and Star sleep in his bed and was extremely happy that he could have this relationship with this kid. It probably tickled his fancy. I guess at some point, Michael decided he was done playing games and ready to victimize this poor boy.
Whacko Jacko began the mind games and manipulation with Gavin by telling him that guys have to masturbate or they will go crazy. He explained that he once heard of a man raping a dog because he didn't masturbate. I wonder what kinda sick shit was going through Michael's head if he was making this shit up, or if he heard it via third party, what kind fucked up people he hung around. And how awful he was to be telling this kinda fucked up shit to a 13-year-old child!!!! That's the part I can't wrap my head around. Like, Michael is seriously fucked in the head to be saying that kinda bullshit to a kid.
He told Gavin that all guys need to masturbate, that it's natural, and if Gavin didn't know how to do it, Michael will show him (sound familiar??) Michael immediately reached into Gavin's pants and began to masturbate him until he ejaculated. Gavin had no idea what Michael was doing because he wasn't looking at him. Afterwards, Gavin felt confused and embarrassed, so Michael held him and once again reiterated that it's "natural". No, it's not natural for a 45-year-old asshole, sicko, pedophile to jerk a 13-year-old boy off. That's reprehensible!!!! Nasty ass Michael.
The following day, Gavin and Jackson were in Jackson's bed watching a movie together. Jackson attempted to molest Gavin again by grabbing Gavin's hand and trying to put Gavin's hand on his dick. Gavin rightly jerked his arm away out of Jackson's grasp.
It's so sick the shit Michael was doing to this boy. It makes my heart weep.
Luckily, Gavin did the right thing and told what Michael did. Janet immediately removed both Gavin and Star from Neverland Ranch and they snitched to the authorities. Michael was promptly arrested.
- The Trial
There's this misconception that the Arvizo family were about money and just wanted money from Michael. Nothing could be further from the truth. This is where I think the Estate became enraged and vindictive. Michael was able to escape this sort of situation by just paying his victims off to be free to move on to molest the next boy. Not in this use case. This was the first time that Whacko Jacko had to face the music, as this young boy didn't care about money, he wanted justice for the vile actions that Michael subjected him to. His dignity couldn't be bought at any price. I applaud Gavin for his bravery.
However, this is also where I feel the saddest.
Since Michael's back was to the wall in this instance, he reacted like the trapped animal he was, probably having his lawyers attack the Arvizo family's character.
Before I get to that, I just wanted to say that not only did Gavin have to tell his story to the authorities, a story that he clearly felt extremely embarrassed and hurt by, he essentially had to tell it to the whole world, as not only the jury heard it, but reporters parroted it to the whole nation constantly. That surely had to have had some effect on him.
He was also betrayed by a bevy of Michael's "special friends", even one who was a victim himself. Brett Barnes, Macaulay Culkin, and Wade Robson all said that "it never happened to me. Michael was on his best behavior when I was around him." While I'm on the fence about Mac ever being abused, we know that Wade was and I think Brett was but just hasn't come to terms with it yet to tell his story.
While, yes, I understand that abuse victims tend to not want to revisit their abuse, especially in a public forum and in a large case such as this (male abuse victims are even less likely to do this and when they do, they are ridiculed, just look at when Terry Crews came out and stated he was sexually assaulted and that bitch Wendy Williams had the audacity to make snarky comments about it, which is why her ass in a hospital somewhere in a catatonic state), this was the perfect opportunity for all of Michael's victims to form a united front against Michael and the Estate. Had Wade just stated "You know what, Michael did molest me," then maybe Safechuck (who refused to even be part of the spectacle of the trial), may have came forward with his story and the Cascios would have felt compelled to share their story. Michael and the Estate would have been overwhelmed with these accusations, which would have legitimately tarnished Michael's career. The Estate would never been able to rewrite history with shitty, one-sided movies in this timeline.
Michael's lawyers also decided to take it upon themselves to show the Arvizo family as "grifters"; people that only wanted cash and were trying to scam Michael. I don't know if they have the same mindset as me, but I wouldn't fake being sexually assaulted, in such vivid detail, just to get a little bit of cash. And speaking of the sexual assault, what Gavin describes, the grooming and the sex acts, rings eerily similar to what happened to Jordan Chandler back in 1993. The internet was not as advanced in 2003 as it is now. Most of Jordan's testimony of what Michael did to him were in documents, which I doubt were transposed to the internet at that time. They could have been, but that would require a 13-year-old kid to access legal library websites online and search for hours on end to come up with that, and then memorize it to a tee.
In the end, Michael walked because some asshole jury foreman wanted a "smoking gun" in a sexual assault case. Fuckin idiot. From what I've read, there's very little in the way of a direct "smoking gun" in a sexual assault case. Instead of looking at the case from a "is he capable of committing this," sort of way, the jury foreman wanted semen or blood. The fuck? Based on Michael's 1993 allegations, I would say that Michael had the means, opportunity, and motive to hurt poor Gavin.
Out of all of Michael's victims, my heart cries the absolute most for Gavin. Not only was victimized by Michael, he was victimized by the jury (one juror went to an after party hosted by the Estate after Michael walked), the reporters who sensationalized this case, Michael's lawyers, and Michael's "special friends", one of which was a victim himself!!
Fuck Michael Jackson!!!!
Sources:
Michael Jackson and Gavin Arvizo (2003) – MJandboys
Jackson molested me twice, says teenager - ABC News
The Arvizos Never Sought Money: What the Testimony Really Shows