Word: jacksonism
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...turns out, the man at the Berlin Wall was not the King of Pop, but a look-alike hired by the German television channel SAT 1 for a broadcast that day. Since the reclusive Jackson refused to go out in public in West Berlin, Sat1 reporters decided to hire their own double and see how Berliners reacted. They hired limousines and body guards, fooling the public, local media, and, as we now know, the notorious Stasi secret police. The coup was so successful that it worked again 20 years later when Jackson's Stasi file, and the infamous pictures, emerged...
...Jackson gave a concert that day in West Berlin as part of a three-day festival on the West Berlin side of the Wall. He was touring to promote his album Bad and was joined on the bill that day by Pink Floyd. And judging by the meticulous notes the agent kept, the Stasi considered it one of the most threatening moments for the security of the now defunct East German state. (See the top Michael Jackson items for sale...
...weeks, the East Germans had been trying to figure out a way to prevent Jackson's moonwalk through West Berlin from becoming political dynamite for East German youth. These were the days of Perestroika, when the Soviet Union's iron grip on Eastern Europe was slipping and Soviet President Mikhail Gorbachev was becoming a source of hope for reformers in the East and the West. The Stasi was determined not to repeat the events of the year before, when East Germans amassed at the Wall to listen to a concert by Genesis, David Bowie and Eurythmics in West Berlin...
...Details in the Stasi's report on Jackson suggest that the Western promoter, the concert's sponsor and Jackson's management were more than willing to accommodate the East Germans' concerns. In the minutes of a preparatory meeting of Stasi officials, dated May 4, 1988, the Stasi notes discussions that it was having with the head of the West German company that was organizing the concert. The names are blacked out in the report. According to the report, the organizer "together with Jackson's management is willing to build the stage at such a height that it is not visible...
Watch TIME's video "Appreciating Michael Jackson, the Musician...