May we use the words “beneath contempt” here?
LOS ANGELES (AP) – Declaring himself “completely innocent” of child molestation charges, Michael Jackson said Sunday that he is the victim of a conspiracy and asked fans around the world to pray for him.
In an interview with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the entertainer would not elaborate on his conspiracy belief, citing the court-imposed gag order that prevents him from discussing his trial in detail.
However, he said he believes he is just the latest of several “black luminaries” to be unjustly accused, citing former South African President Nelson Mandela and former heavyweight boxing champions Muhammad Ali and Jack Johnson as others.
Get it? It’s all because he’s black.
(We will omit the obvious wisecrack here.)
Joe Gandelman is a former fulltime journalist who freelanced in India, Spain, Bangladesh and Cypress writing for publications such as the Christian Science Monitor and Newsweek. He also did radio reports from Madrid for NPR’s All Things Considered. He has worked on two U.S. newspapers and quit the news biz in 1990 to go into entertainment. He also has written for The Week and several online publications, did a column for Cagle Cartoons Syndicate and has appeared on CNN.