Seven years ago, when two men made detailed, unsettling accusations in an HBO documentary that Michael Jackson had sexually abused them as boys, the music industry pondered a striking question: Could Jackson, one of the most popular and beloved artists of all time, really be canceled?
The answer, it turned out, was a resounding “no.”
As the Jackson estate’s latest megaproject, the Hollywood biopic “Michael,” arrives this week, the King of Pop is more popular — and the business behind him more lucrative — than at any point since his 2009 death.
Streaming activity for his catalog of hits like “Thriller,” “Billie Jean” and “Bad” rivals that of contemporary stars like Kendrick Lamar and Sabrina Carpenter. A Broadway musical, “MJ,” once thought to be endangered by HBO’s two-part documentary, “Leaving Neverland,” has instead proved a sustained hit, selling 2.3 million tickets worth $328 million since it started performances in late 2021, according to the Broadway League.
And every Halloween, you can reliably hear the synthesized beat and spooky sound effects of “Thriller” booming out of school parking lots and trick-or-treat houses all across the United States.
‘ The preceding article may include information circulated by third parties ’
‘ Some details of this article were extracted from the following source www.nytimes.com ’
