In the End, Abuse Charges Eclipsed Career

Michael Jackson’s reputation will forever be tainted by the numerous allegations of child molestation levied against him, the New York Daily News reports. Jackson was never convicted of any crime, but he did settle out of court on two occasions, once for $20 million. A Jackson attorney said the singer settled because he didn’t like “courtrooms and lawyers.”

Even jurors who found Jackson not guilty in a 2005 molestation trial weren’t so sure of his innocence. “I feel that Michael Jackson has probably molested boys,” one said. Through it all—though he dropped out of view after the trial—Jackson seemed blissfully ignorant of public opinion. At the peak of one of his scandals, Jackson was asked if it was OK to sleep with children in the same bed. “Why not?” he replied. (More Michael Jackson stories.)