Grief turns to anger for Jackson fans
Agence France-Presse | 06/28/2009 6:15 PM
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HOLLYWOOD - Grief turned into anger Saturday for fans of Michael Jackson who bitterly accused his doctors -- and society at large -- for cutting short the King of Pop's tragic life.
Two days after one of history's best-selling artists collapsed and died at his rented Beverly Hills mansion, streams of fans kept offering flowers and teddy bears outside his home and on his star on Hollywood's Walk of Fame.
"He shouldn't have died so young. It's so sad. I'm just hysterical," said Deborah Canton, as she sobbed inconsolably near the late 50-year-old pop singer's star.
Canton, 46, grew up in Jackson's home state of Indiana and listened to his music since he was a child star in the Jackson 5 music band. She blamed society for treating him cruelly.
"The guy would never hurt a fly, but all of these evil people would do everything to destroy him just to get his money," she said. "I don't think he wanted to live anymore."
She pointed to pedophilia charges leveled against Jackson, of which he was acquitted, and sharply criticized the doctors who surrounded the pop star.
"The doctors were greedy bastards. I do hold them responsible," she said.
Los Angeles police were believed to be interviewing the singer's doctor, Conrad Murray, for the second time late Saturday, although detectives and the physician's lawyer stressed he was not viewed as a suspect.
"I don't know whether there was a conspiracy, but to be perfectly honest, it was really shady," said Megan Foley, 25, who left a handwritten sign on Jackson's star saying, "You will be missed."
"I'm a nurse myself. What physician wouldn't know how to perform CPR?" she said.
In an emergency call released by the Los Angeles Fire Department, a member of Jackson's entourage is heard pleading for help, saying the doctor's attempts to revive him had failed.
The Los Angeles Coroner's Office said a preliminary investigation showed no evidence of "external trauma or foul play" on Jackson's body. But friends and associates of Jackson have voiced anger over the role of advisers and physicians who surrounded the pop icon.
Jackson suffered an apparent cardiac arrest, but the coroners said they were performing exhaustive toxicology tests that would take six to eight weeks to complete.
Derek Sheridan, 45, who grew up on Jackson songs and has taught his family to dance the star's moves, feared that the true circumstances behind his idol's death may never be known.
"This is tragic. I had been hoping that Michael Jackson would still be dancing like that when he was 70 years old," Sheridan said.
"I don't think he could have just died from a heart attack," Sheridan said. "But only Michael Jackson really knows what happened."
Despite the shock, some fans said they had premonitions that Jackson would die young. The superstar's career had been on a downward spiral for years with a sensational pedophilia trial in 2005 and major financial problems.
Neil Turner, 22, a British tourist visiting Hollywood with two friends, bought tickets for one of Jackson's 50 comeback concerts scheduled to start July 13 at London's O2 Arena.
But Jackson's intense rehearsals, he said, may have been too much for him. "We had tickets for the 12th one, but I didn't think he was going to make it that far," Turner said. "I always thought that he might die."
Huerta Tribble, a semi-retired business consultant, from Indianapolis said he hoped Jackson was finally at peace.
"We may never know all the truth, what happened. I just hope he was at peace with himself. He had impossible stress, look at the debt he was into," he said.
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