The Story Behind MJ's Baby Dangling
21 years ago, King of Pop Michael Jackson made a controversial headline for dangling his son on a hotel balcony.
Honestly, I will never forget this story. 21 years ago, King of Pop and Global icon Michael Jackson was staying at a hotel with his three children in Berlin. His fans and photojournalists were there outside of the hotel waiting for Michael until he was caught dangling his nine-month-old son on the hotel balcony causing a huge controversy and a bad rep for Michael‘s career.
November 20, 2002
Jackson and his three children: then five-year-old Prince, four-year-old Paris, and nine-month-old Prince the Second aka Blanket at the time with his posse, had checked into the Adlon Hotel, near the German capital’s landmark Brandenburg Gate to attend Thursday’s Bambi Awards ceremony, an entertainment awards broadcast where he is to receive a lifetime achievement award for his music. The trip marked a recess in his current trial in California, where he’s being sued for $21 million by promoter Marcel Avram, who claims the King of Pop backed out of an agreement to perform in two 1999 concerts. In three days of testimony last week, Jackson said it was Avram who scrapped the shows.
Fans, reporters, photographers, and photojournalists were informed where Michael was staying in Berlin, they stood outside of the hotel waiting for Jackson even chanting his name. Michael opened the window, excited Jackson waved at them. The crowd roared with cheers seeing the King of Pop like he was the president of the United States. He was wearing a face mask with his bodyguard next to him. He introduced his two children: Prince and Paris with their faces covered protecting their identities. After that, he takes his son Blanket covering his face to the window showing him in front of the crowd dangling his baby on the hotel balcony. He takes his son back inside the room. Thankfully, he was ok! After that, he opens the window again with a cloth in his hand and throws it into the crowd. In the cloth, he autographed it and it says:
'I love you with all my heart! ~Michael Jackson'
The next morning, Jackson was ridiculed by the news and the media outlets after the baby incident calling him a “lunatic”, "wacko", and a “bad dad”. During Living with Michael Jackson interview documentary hosted by journalist Martin Bashir, Jackson was seen holding his baby Blanket covering his face, and feeding him his bottle when asked about the dangling incident, he explained that what he did was a mistake and he did it out of excitement. In the video, while Jackson was feeding his son, he looked jittering and shaking his leg.
His close friend Uri Geller condemned his actions, saying:
"I just would not put any child over a railing at such a height. I think it was a silly thing to do. He probably did it because he was overwhelmed emotionally by the fans."
Even Prevent Child Abuse of America and the Alliance for Children's Rights made comments on fans who witnessed the incident should have contacted the authorities instead of standing watching Jackson dangle his son. Jackson apologized for the baby dangle incident.
Jackson's brief apology statement:
"I made a terrible mistake. I got caught up in the excitement of the moment. I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children.”
Since the incident, no Berlin police officers nor Child protective services did any investigation of the incident finding no evidence in harm way. Comedians would mock the incident. For instance, Jon Stewart mentioned the incident on The Daily Show.
An episode of Family Guy showed a cutaway of Michael dangling Stewie on the balcony.
A scene from Scary Movie 3 this time with Charlie Sheen's character dangles a parody of Michael Jackson (played by Edward Moss, an MJ impersonator) until he falls off taking his nose and it was revealed that he is an alien.
I'm not going to lie Michael is an amazing father however he was wrong on his part for holding his baby like that. He could have dropped the baby. I'm sure his son Bigi doesn't remember the incident after all he was a baby. None of Jackson's family or anyone who was with him during the incident never ever mentioned about it.
Source
https://www.dailystar.co.uk/showbiz/michael-jackson-son-blanket-turns-16988435
https://ew.com/article/2002/11/20/jacko-apologizes-dangling-baby-out-window/
https://www.ladbible.com/more/viral-music-celebrity-15-years-on-balcony-baby-blanket-jackson-is-still-staying-away-20170517
About the Creator
Gladys W. Muturi
Hello, My name is Gladys W. Muturi. I am an Actress, Writer, Filmmaker, Producer, and Mother of 1.
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