Introduction
The King of Pop received at least one dose of Demerol, daily. It has been over a decade since the death of Michael Jackson in 2009 due to cardiac arrest. It is no secret that Jackson was on some pretty heavy prescription drugs however, the question remains about the timing of it all. Since his death there has been many conspiracies such as:
Did Jackson take his own life?
Did he unknowingly overdose?
Did Conrad Murray purposefully kill Michael Jackson?
Let’s take a look at the death of Michael Jackson and analyze the conspiracy theories, the most likely one being that Murray had a hand in MJ’s death.
Character Analysis 
Michael Jackson, known as the King of Pop, accomplished many things during his lifetime. The singer/dancer/songwriter suddenly died at the young age of 50 years old. There are many speculations as to why he died but the blame was ultimately put onto his personal doctor, Conrad Murry.
It is no secret that during his short time on this earth, Michael Jackson can be considered one of the most successful and influential people of his era. One of his defining moments in his career was producing a well-known song called Thriller, which was said to play a part in his, “…astonishing worldwide success…” during his singing career (Michael Jackson Biography). However, his solo career would not have been possible if he hadn’t made the decision to break away from his band, The Jackson 5, who, “failed to generate much interest,” during their time together (Michael Jackson Biography). If it wasn’t for his successful number 1 hits, Jackson would not have gained the recognition he has today. These songs allowed him to produce the music he wanted to and gain a fan base to keep his music career alive and in high demand.
Despite being successful, Jackson led a very unstable life both mentally and physically. Jackson suffered from insomnia, burns, procedures, and so much more, which led to his addiction of pain killers. His addiction became so strong that he entered, “a rehab program in 1993” and ended his tour early (Duke). Even though he went to rehab he sadly went into remission and used, “more painkillers than the doctors prescribed…” to him (Duke). His constant abuse of drugs showcases the toxic environment Jackson was forced in and how the hardship led to his addiction. However, since he was such a successful artist, his problems were neglected in return for profit.
It is still uncertain if Michael’s record company played a role in his actual death, but it is obvious that their negligence led to his downfall. Jackson is known as a successful and talented artist who sadly was caught on the wrong side of fame and paid the price for it. There are still many conspiracies, but it doesn’t change Jackson’s popularity and lasting impression he made on our society.
ConspiraciesThe first conspiracy that was composed was that Michael Jackson may have taken his own life. It is no secret that the eyes of the whole world have driven other artist to death before. Michael Jackson’s death was sudden and unforeseen. Michael Jackson suffered from addiction and entered “a rehab program in 1993” cutting the current tour he was on, down (Duke.) Jackson was a very popular artist of his time and had a lot of pressure from his label and fans to be at his best without error. A fan base this large and high expectations are bound to get to a person no matter how tough their skin is. However, there was no trace of narcotics or illegal substances found in his body after death, so he was not taking any more medication than usual. This means that although Jackson was under a lot of pressure, he did not have any traces of abnormal substance abuse compared to what his “normal” dosage was. This means that Jackson’s death was caused by something outside of himself and a result of another person’s doing.
The second conspiracy speculated that Jackson was on so many pain relievers that he could have possibly overdosed without knowing. ): Jackson suffered from chronic pain for most of his life but a main reason that he took painkillers was due to diagnosis of lupus. Along with painkillers, Jackson also took medication to help him with his insomnia, and opioids to help him recover from a procedure on array. On many different accounts it had been said that Jackson “suffered from addiction” for a long duration of his life (Duke.) Although it is correct that Jackson was heavily reliant and addicted to these drugs, I believe that it would have affected him in the long run but could not have killed him at the age he passed away. This essentially puts the blame onto all of his doctors because all his medication was prescribed so the doctors should have been looking over his intake and dosage.
The final theory is that his physician, Conrad Murray purposefully killed him for the benefit of himself and Jackson’s label company. Murray was Jackson’s personal physician that helped him with his insomnia. Conrad was “not licensed to prescribe most controlled drugs” in his area which really questions the legitimacy of this doctor (biography.com editors). There is a lot of suspicious activity when it comes to Conrad Murray but most of it was just negligence on his behalf. Jackson was so heavily addicted to the propofol that Murray prescribed him that it became part of his everyday routine. This theory is the most evidentially supportive because Jackson’s death was a result of the constant drugs in his system so the only person to blame would have to be the person giving him them in the first place. This means that Conrad Murray played a significant and large role in the death of Michael Jackson.
Jackson’s family had attempted to file a lawsuit against his record company, AEG. Despite their best efforts, the court came to the conclusion that although it was a devastating accident, AEG was not at fault. However, the blame was put onto his physician Conrad Murray, and only earned a maximum of 4 years. He was charged with involuntary manslaughter and the death of Michael Jackson was ruled a homicide.
ConclusionMichael Jackson’s death remains as a result of propofol intoxication. He died on June 25,2009 at his house in Los Angeles, California, at the young age of 50 years old. The death of this influential artist developed three main conspiracy theories:
1. Did Jackson take his own life?
2. Did he unknowingly overdose?
3. Did Conrad Murray purposefully kill Michael Jackson?
To this day Michael Jackson’s death has officially been ruled as homicide under the care of his personal physician, Conrad Murray.
Works CitedS Duke, Alan. “Michael Jackson Was a Drug Addict.” Cnn.com. Accessed September 26, 2021.https://www.cnn.com/2013/08/27/showbiz/michael-jackson-death-trial/index.html.
S Biography.com Editors. “Michael Jackson.” Biography.com. A&E Networks Television, March 3, 2021.https://www.biography.com/musician/michael-jackson.