Kevin Mazur/Getty Images; Julien Hekimian/Getty ImagesThe BET Awards last weekend were basically a three-and-a-half-hour tribute to Michael Jackson, as totally expected. But the celebration of his life kept going long after the show was over. All the award-goers drove out to Beverly Hills for the post-BET fete at Mr. Chow (sponsored by Heineken) to dish about their experiences working with or just dancing to M.J.'s tunes over the years.
Appropriately, the party only played Michael's music, since that's all anybody wanted to hear!
We spoke to Vivica A. Fox, who made a cameo in M.J.'s "Remember the Time" vid, still a classic today. "I miss his smile," was how VAF told us how she felt about the departed King of Pop, but didn't stop there:
How will you best remember M.J.?
That's a wonderful question to ask because there is so much to remember. For me, it's still the Motown 25th when he came out as a solo artist and did the moonwalk. There was no YouTube back then, but if there was, it would've gotten millions of hits.
Did you plan to see him perform in London?
I'm sure I would have. I was happy to hear he was ready to come back and that they embraced him. I thought it was really unfortunate that he had to go so far away to be appreciated.
Do you think the tour was too much pressure?
There's always been pressure to be Michael Jackson. Unfortunately that may have been one of the things that led to his demise. But we know Michael loved to entertain, and he always wanted to make everyone happy. Personally he may not have been as happy, but on that stage, that's when Michael experienced pure happiness and joy.
Should the more questionable parts of Michael Jackson's life—the molestation accusations, the eccentric behavior, the plastic surgeries—no longer be discussed?
It's over. We can no longer retry him. We can no more hurt him about it. We can no more belittle him. He's a legend. We should celebrate him. It is was it is. We all make mistakes.
______
Rapper Busta Rhymes, also at the party, felt even stronger about not talking about any of M.J.'s indiscretions when he was still alive…
Once some time has passed, should we go looking for more answers about the more mysterious and tragic parts of M.J.'s life?
I'm never gonna tell you when I think is the right time to speculate about his personal space, 'cause I don't think there ever is a right time for that.
What do you think about the allegation that it was M.J.'s doctors prescribing too many pills?
I don't know nothing about that, and I'm not even gonna play with that in this conversation. I don't even think y'all should as journalists, because this is not the time to be speculating about s--t that could lead to bigger problems if you say the wrong thing.
His family has mentioned Michael's drug addictions, though.
Whatever his family mentions, let them do that—we don't need to do that. Somebody says the wrong thing, and it's magnified by 20 million. The last thing anyone of us needs is to be responsible for affecting that family in a negative way.
______
Uh, aren't we journalists just trying to do our jobs, too? Busta would be shocked by all the info reporters find out in the times when no one else wants to deal with a sad or uncomfortable situation.
We love M.J.'s work as much as everyone else, but we're positive certain truths are on the cusp of finally being revealed, and it'll all be for the better.