When MJ slammed The Beatles, Elvis Presley for racism

Late icon believed they used it to further their careers

Did you know Michael Jackson once hit out at The Beatles and Elvis Presley in a handwritten rant against racial inequality? According to the late King of Pop, both the Beatles and Presley used social injustices to fuel their rise in the music industry.

According to Mirror UK, Jackson speaks about racism in a number of unearthed notes which are believed to have been from 1987. He was still at the height of his career at that time and vented his frustrations in the notes, accusing MTV and US magazines for “shunning” black entertainers such as himself.

The Beat It singer called out a number of the biggest white music stars of the time and in history to try and prove his point. He claimed that he would show Bruce Springsteen "who's boss" and that "Elvis is not King."

Jackson also took aim at The Beatles, writing, "Yes, these guys were good but they weren’t better singers or dancers than the blacks." He then declared that it was his time to rule the world of pop. “I am not prejudiced; it’s just time for the first black King now.”

The pop icon mentioned infamous American racist organisation Ku Klux Klan once, saying that he feared parents were raising their children to be prejudiced when it came to colour. Jackson also laid out his aims for Thriller in 1982, stating that he wanted to sell 200 million copies so that he could be a role model for a new generation.
“My goal is to become so big, so powerful; to become such a hero; to end prejudice; to make these little white kids love me by selling over 200,000,000 albums…Make them look up to me. I will change the world.”

While Thriller went on to sell 66 million copies globally back then, it is still one of the biggest selling records of all time and has gone a long way to influence the pop scene.

Jackson also pledged to use his status and creativity to help the next generation of children fight racist feelings, alluding to a newspaper clipping from 1987 about a march in South Carolina by the Klan. In a passage, attached to a June 1987 newspaper clipping, he vowed to use his creativity to stop racism seeping from into the next generation. “I want what’s fair. I want all races to love as one.”

A source told The Sun that the notes had been “passed to a friend” when police were searching Jackson's Neverland ranch in California after he was accused of child abuse in 2003. The source added, “Michael trusted his friends more than his family and he wanted his treasures to be in safe hands.”
Jackson died in 2009, aged 50, after suffering a cardiac arrest.

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