Raven Woods · @emailraven
13th Aug 2014 from TwitLonger
More Thoughts On Robin Williams and MJ...
Since Robin Williams died on Monday, and all of the tributes started pouring in, I have noticed that a lot of fans have also been linking to old videos from past stand up performances where Williams made some distasteful jokes about MJ.
However, I am not sure that really serves a purpose at this time other than to stir up needless, negative feelings about a man who has left us so tragically. While I did rant recently about the double standard of the media coverage surrounding Williams's death, that is something apart from Williams himself, who of course isn't the one to blame.
While no doubt such jokes WERE distasteful and pandered to the MJ caricature that so many of us found hurtful (and I by no means condone) I think we have to keep some things in perspective. Robin Williams was a comedian, and he did what all comedians do. That is, taking advantage of timely topics and trying to find the humor in them. Lots of comedians back then made jokes about Michael. Certainly his were no more or less distasteful than anyone else's-and certainly not as mean spirited as I have seen from some like Chris Rock.
I don't condone it any more than I ever condone pandering to the lowest common denominator. However, sometimes it is easier just to let go and forgive the small things, rather than allowing ourselves to be bogged down constantly by the weight of negativity. I don't know how MJ and RW felt about each other personally or professionally-for that matter, I don't know if they ever even met. But I somehow doubt that Williams bore him any actual malice. Like I said, he was a comedian doing what comedians do.
We don't have to forget, but sometimes it doesn't hurt to forgive. If some of Williams's comments about Michael's death were less than sensitive, that karma obviously came back to him and is now in God's hands.
RW and MJ DID have a lot in common-that same childlike persona that allowed them to connect to the child and to the innocence in all of us (which was exactly why, if Michael couldn't play Peter Pan, who else was the most logical choice?).
In times of tragedy, we usually try to remember the best about a person, and to let go of the negative. Like I said, I think it is possible to forgive without condoning.
Robin Williams was a national treasure, just as Michael was, and it is only right that we mourn his passing and pay tribute. Sometimes I have no difficulty completely condemning some individuals, like Gene Simmons who has been so obviously malicious and vindictive. Other times, especially when it is someone whose work I have always loved otherwise, it is more difficult and I have to use my judgement in separating how I feel about the artist as opposed to the person. And then there are artists like Eminem, who claims to admire Michael on the one hand, while on the other releasing one of the most horrific videos imaginable mocking his near fatal accident.
Everyone jumped on board the MJ bashing bandwagon, it seemed, and Williams was not exempt. I am sorry he felt the need (although his clumsy attempts at mocking MJ's dance moves, I have to admit, were pretty funny). Michael was never really against gentle humor that poked fun at his dance moves or vocal tics or onstage persona. I have no issues with that kind of humor, either. People did it to Elvis, too, and all entertainers who have passed into the realm of cultural icons are prone to being spoofed and lampooned. I only wish that he had not "gone there" with some of the more distasteful jokes about Michael and kids. He may not have done it as often or as maliciously as some others, but the fact remains, he did do it.
However, I like to think that maybe there is a Heaven where Michael and Robin have met already, and have exchanged hugs and handshakes-and who knows, maybe a few jokes, too. I have always been a fairly good judge of character. And I sincerely do not believe there was a mean or malicious bone in Robin Williams's body. I don't believe he bore ill will to anyone.
Part of a comedian's job is to sometimes push our buttons. Robin Williams was a "funny man" to the last, but sadly, just as with so many of those who have made us laugh, his own life was anything BUT funny. However, he fulfilled his purpose on earth, to make us laugh; to occasionally make us cry, and to sometimes push those buttons.
If he used Michael for material, as so many countless other comedians did, we don't have to like it, but I think it serves no real purpose now to dwell on it. For me, it doesn't detract from his great body of work, and it certainly doesn't make me hate him. It does make me feel sad that we can't ALL be more compassionate human beings to one another.
Nevertheless, as you can probably tell, I still have a soft spot for RW and I like to think I always saw through the jokes to a good heart underneath.
My two cents? Well, once someone has died, it's time to let some bygones be bygones. There is plenty room in my heart for both of these men and the happiness they brought us.