Michael Jackson's legacy four years after his death

Michael Jackson died four years ago Tuesday, leaving behind a
remarkable body of work, a mountain of debt, a squabbling family and a
scandal-plagued specter.


He has yet to rest in peace.
Since 2009, the singer's estate has grown, along with appreciation for
his artistry, but his private life has been undergoing renewedscrutiny
in the ongoing wrongful-death suit pitting his mother against AEG
Live.


For years, Jackson's character has been battered but not destroyed by
allegations of child molestation, substance abuse, cosmetic procedures
and abnormal behavior. As testimony revisits the pop superstar's
frailtiesand drug use in detail, will the freshly exhumed indignities
damage Jackson's legacy?


Experts are divided. Millions are at stake in the civil case. So is
Jackson's reputation, and some question the wisdom of a family
willingto sully it for financial gain.
"Jackson's famously dysfunctional family surely isn't doing him any
favors with its trial," says George Varga, pop-music critic for U-T
San Diego. "Alas, one could argue his family didn't do him many favors
when he was alive, either. Now, as then, Jackson seemsto be regarded
more as a brand-cum-revenuestream than the deeply flawed person he
was. The trial sadly underscores this."


Journalist Diane Dimond agrees, calling the suit "pure bad publicity."
"Michael Jackson worked hard his whole life to build a fabulous body
of work and a wonderful legacy," says Dimond, whose book,Be Careful
Who You Love: Inside the Michael Jackson Case, chronicles the
molestation sagafrom the first 1993 allegation through the 2005
criminal trial. "In death, his family is doing all the wrong things to
tear that down. You see now in the AEG trial that Jackson wasa basket
case of his own making. The trial very well could be the last mark on
the legacy sheet for him, and not in the positive column."


Katherine Jackson, 83, filed suit in 2010, alleging that promoters of
Jackson's comeback tour hired cardiologist Conrad Murray and failed to
supervise him. AEG says that Jackson independently enlisted Murray,
his personal physician since 2006, to join himfor 50 This Is It dates
at London's O2 Arena. Murray is serving four years in prison,
convicted of involuntary manslaughter for administering the fatal dose
of propofol that left Jackson dead at 50.


The trial is "nothing but a money grab," Dimond says.
"When Katherine passes, her portion of the estate goes to Michael's
children," she says. "Her sons get nothing. She's trying to amass a
pile of money to leave her chronically underemployed sons. Doesn't she
have enough money?
"I think of Michael's three children watching the trial dredge up all
this ugliness and terrible memories. When I heard a paramedic say his
body looked like an emaciated cancer patient, I thought, 'His children
are reading this. It's on the Internet now.' "
The outpouring of love and sympathy following Jackson's death settled
into "a seamless river of support" that the trial has poisoned, Dimond
says.