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Hugely successful music producer Mark Ronson has recalled the time he spent with Michael Jackson as a teenager and why the allegations of child sexual abuse against the late star forced him to ‘re-examine’ things.
Ronson, now 50, is perhaps best known for collaborations with the likes of Amy Winehouse on her Back to Black album and Bruno Mars on Uptown Funk. He has nine Grammys to his name, not to mention an Oscar and a Golden Globe, having been responsible for some of the biggest tunes of recent years.
At the age of 13, long before his days of writing for the Barbie soundtrack or scooping up Brit Awards, Ronson attended a party in Jackson’s hotel room.
He insists that nothing ‘untoward’ occurred, with the so-called King of Pop’s career marred by court cases and pedophilia accusations in the latter years of his life and since his death.
However, the encounter is still something Ronson has played over in his head several times.
He details the events in his new book, having been admittedly ‘obsessed’ with the idea of being a musician even as a child.
Ronson was introduced to the Thriller hitmaker by friend Sean Lennon, the son of John Lennon and Yoko Ono. The then-teen attended Jackson’s Bad Tour concert and the subsequent afterparty at a hotel with 50 guests.
There, he was keen to impress and was caught by surprise when Jackson was more interested in fooling about.
Ronson writes: ‘[Michael] was just obsessed with throwing these soggies out the window, like taking big mounds of toilet paper and making them damp and then throwing them at parked cars.’
‘It’s so crazy to say it out loud,’ he admits.
As reported by The Sun, he continues: ‘Obviously, with allegations that came later, of course, it made me re-examine that event too many times.
‘I wouldn’t say it’s a highlight of my childhood, but it was certainly one of the most memorable experiences.’
Ronson adds that he has since ‘put [the experience] back through that lens a hundred times’.
‘I was like, for whatever reason, there was nothing weird or untoward on that night.’
Ronson also writes that ‘even at that time, [he] already loved being in the studio’, and he was desperate to get a ‘cool hook’ for a tune from Jackson that he could take back.
‘Like, “You guys go play and run around like kids; I am going to use this Michael Jackson meeting to, like, get something, get a song out of it”,’ he recalls.
Alas, the inspiration for a song never came.
Meanwhile, to this day, allegations of misconduct surround Jackson and tarnish his legacy. He always denied them when alive.
Jackson was first propelled to controversy when an accusation was made in 1993, with Evan Chandler, a dentist and screenwriter, accusing him of abusing his 13-year-old son, Jordan.
Though the father encouraged the friendship at the beginning, he later grew suspicious of inappropriate behaviour.
Jordan confided in a psychiatrist about the alleged molestation, and while police found no evidence to support a criminal investigation, the Chandlers later filed a lawsuit and reached a financial settlement. Jackson said this was not an admission of guilt, but his career suffered as the press took hold of the story, and he cancelled his tour, citing ill health.
From there, Jackson’s reputation took a beating, but his die-hard fans remained defensive.
In fact, his music sales increased by 10% after the Leaving Neverland documentary was released and further allegations came to light.
Having premiered in January 2019, the doc featured two men, named Wade Robson and James Safechuck, now in their thirties, who detailed their alleged encounters with Jackson over several years at the height of his fame.
While aged seven and 10, they claim Jackson sexually abused them, with director Dan Reed saying the purpose of the doc was ‘not about cancelling Jackson,’ but rather to let people know ‘that he was, at times, a monster to children.’
Jackson, who died aged 50 in 2009, was long dead by the time the film hit screens, but his estate continued to deny any wrongdoing on his behalf.
Maintaining his innocence, they also stressed that Robson testified that he had not been abused during the singer’s 2005 criminal trial, which tried further child sexual abuse allegations. Jackson was acquitted.
To this day, though, the truth about Jackson’s relationships with the then-young boys and their families divides opinion.
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