Facing the Music

By RICHARD CORLISS

How many rings can a circus have? Especially a tabloid freak show like the Michael Jackson affair? The star returned from medical seclusion in London to cooperate with authorities investigating sexual-abuse charges against him. But on his Neverland Ranch in California, Jackson seemed only the main attraction in a seven-ring circus of horror.

THE STAR. Jackson, secluded with an expanded law team, proclaimed his innocence in the civil suit brought by a 13-year-old boy who claims the star molested him. Investigators in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara counties have pressed no criminal charges against Jackson. But in the court of public opinion, the jury could be nearing a verdict. To many, the weight of accusations is starting to look like evidence.

THE ACCUSERS. Last week on the tabloid news show Hard Copy, Blanca Francia, who was Jackson's personal maid, proclaimed that the star showered and slept with boys -- giving them the nickname "Rubba," meaning he rubbed the boys against his genitals -- and may have abused these children, including her own son. Such assertions earned her 15 minutes of notoriety and a reputed five- figure honorarium. A judge refused to issue a gag order that might prevent ) others from telling all (or making it up) on TV.

THE LAWYERS. Larry Feldman, attorney for the 13-year-old boy who alleges Michael abused him, has deposed a score of potential witnesses: no other boys but many Neverland staff members. Francia was speaking to prosecutors by day and Hard Copy at night -- moonlighting that does not please the plaintiff's lawyer. "When you introduce money into a witness's testimony," Feldman says, "it gives the other side something to talk about." But he exudes confidence that he has a winning case, and a moral one. "So far, the focus has been on Michael Jackson. From my standpoint, the focus is this little kid who is scarred by these events."

THE FAMILY. Who needs prosecutors? Wayward sister LaToya said mother Katherine had called Michael a "damn faggot" even as Mom went on TV to defend him. But LaToya had her own problems. British Immigration officers detained her for 90 minutes, suspecting she was Michael in drag.

THE DOCTORS. Do some medics take the Hypocritical Oath? Or can a star get anything he wants? On Nov. 12 Jackson cut short his world concert tour after admitting addiction to legal painkillers. Several days before, he gave a taped deposition, played last week during a music-plagiarism suit, and the star's speech was vague, slurred, fretful and forgetful. Further questions are raised about the extensive plastic surgery performed by Dr. Steven Hoefflin, who has also worked on Michael's sisters, on the star's face and perhaps other parts of his body. Declares a rival plastic surgeon, Dr. Wallace Goodstein: "LaToya is mutilated. Hoefflin is a mirror of Michael and LaToya's character disorders. He has etched the abuse of their childhoods into their faces."

THE EXPERTS. If the abuse case comes to trial, expert witnesses will be asked to fit Jackson's public behavior to the psychograph of a child molester. "What we see in the pattern of a fixated offender," notes clinical psychologist Nicholas Groth, co-author of Sexual Assault of Children and Adolescents, "is that he seems to get along well with people significantly older than him and those who are younger. He has a significant absence of peers. He lives more in the world of childhood than the adult world." And when the sex is gay, the offender is often homophobic, Groth says. "Rather than seeing a boy as gay, he has a narcissistic identification. But even if the allegations against Michael Jackson are true, it doesn't mean all of his good deeds for children were motivated simply to seduce them. He surely has a genuine love of children that goes beyond any sexual interest."

THE FANS. In terms of record sales, Jackson's career has steadily plummeted since the all-time best-sellerdom of Thriller in 1982. But now the superstar with an abused childhood is something between an object of pity and a dirty joke. His travail could still end in courtroom triumph. It might also reveal tragedy, for Jackson and for children even more vulnerable than he. Then the circus will close down, and Michael's white clown-face will never smile again.

With reporting by Patrick E. Cole and Martha Smilgis/Los Angeles and Andrea Sachs/New York