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Jackson "Furious" About GQ Imitator

Michael Jackson may have moved to Bahrain to retreat from the public life, but his representatives definitely haven’t joined him in seclusion. The latest target in their infamous crosshairs: GQ magazine.

It seems even fashionable men like reading about bizarro celebrities, so the magazine recently sent writer Devin Friedman to Bahrain to attempt to track down the reclusive star. The article apparently didn’t offend the Gloved One, but the accompanying photographs raised an eyebrow. Jacko has demanded an apology, and asked that publisher Conde Nast pull the issue off newsstands. In the photographs, a Jackson lookalike stands in the desert and sits in a dark and cozy movie theatre with a group of children.

“The person in these photographs is an impostor,” said Jackson’s reps.

Wrong word choice, counters GQ. “It is very clear that the pictures in the story…are satirical,” said Editor-in-Chief Jim Nelson. “Mr. Jackson may feel that the person in the photographs is an ‘imposter,’ but he is merely an imitator.”

Friedman writes that Jackson has been spending some of his free time taking in films at a mall in Bahrain. (He is also, as previously reported, working on a new album which may or may not involve 50 Cent). A theatre manager says that Jackson’s penchant for dressing up as a woman came in response to people having previously recognized him and pestered him with picture requests.

So which films are having their grosses raised by Wacko Jacko? Viewings have included King Kong and the latest Harry Potter.

--The ARTISTdirect Staff
05.08.06