In an experiment to show how quickly misinformation and conspiracy theories can spread across the Internet, German broadcaster RTL posted on YouTube last week a video that appears to be Michael Jackson emerging from a coroners van.
“We wanted to show how easily users can be manipulated on the Internet with hoax videos,” spokeswoman Heike Schultz of Cologne-based RTL told The Associated Press. “Therefore, we created this video of Michael Jackson being alive, even though everybody knows by now that he is dead — and the response was breathtaking.”
Jackson died in Los Angeles June 25.
The poorly lit video shows what appears to be the King of Pop emerging from a coroners van inside of a gated parking garage with another person.
Although the video was only posted for one day, it received 880,000 hits.
The King of Pop’s death has officially been ruled a homicide by the Los Angeles County coroner, according to the Associated Press. That ruling makes it more likely that Michael Jackson’s personal doctor Conrad Murray will face criminal charges for Jacko’s death.
Officials say tests show that anesthetic propofol, along with a sedatives known as benzodiazepine, caused Jackson’s death on June 25. The LAPD is targeting the cardiologist for manslaughter after a search warrant unsealed an affidavit which provides an account of what Murray told investigators.
In the affidavit, Murray tells investigators he did not procure any propofol but had found about eight bottles of the drug at Jackson’s home. However, investigators have recently uncovered evidence showing Murray legally purchased the propofol from a Las Vegas pharmacy the day Jackson died.
Over 200 years before the death of the King of Pop, another musical icon passed away suddenly; it is now believed that the unexpected death of Wolfgang Amadeus Mozart may have been caused by complications with strep throat.
A study by researchers at the University of Amsterdam in the Netherlands concluded that the composer’s death was a result of a strep throat epidemic that swept through Vienna in the winter of 1791.
“Our findings suggest that Mozart fell victim to an epidemic of strep throat infection that was contracted by many Viennese people in Mozart’s month of death, and that Mozart was one of several persons in that epidemic that developed a deadly kidney complication,” Richard Zegers, one of the studies authors, told Reuters Health.
Mozart wrote over 600 compositions during his life. Joseph Haydn once said of Mozart “posterity will not see such a talent again in 100 years.”
The Luxor, MGM Grand, Caesars Palace and now Neverland? Colony Capital, who are the current owners of Michael Jackson’s Neverland Ranch, are said to be working out a deal to transport the main house and several other structures to a piece of land right off of the Las Vegas Strip.
The Los-Angeles-based private equity firm Colony Capital acquired the loan on Neverland from Fortress Investment Group LLC, who financed Jackson’s 2,900-acre ranch. Jackson had been struggling with debt in recent years and had difficulty with the terms of the $23.5 million loan.
Besides the proposed museum and theatre, Colony executives are also hoping to get family approval to construct a burial plot for Jackson where fans could visit and pay their respect to the King of Pop.
According to dozens of media outlets, the King of Pop Michael Jackson has passed away at the age of 50 of a heart attack. Reportedly, Jackson was rushed to UCLA Medical Center after collapsing in his Bel Air home. He was not breathing when paramedics arrived.
The King is survived by his three children: Michael Joseph Jackson, Jr., Paris Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince “Blanket” Michael Jackson II.
