Consider: this is Sony's hoax, MJ is dead, and the family & friends are playing along out of obligation.
Starting at the beginning, the whole story is true regarding the death; Propofol and all that, Murray is a sleazy, incompetent doctor, and really is serving time. Aeg really did push MJ to the brink and instructed Murray to do whatever it took to keep MJ alive and performing. Once the events of 6/25/09 occurred, Aeg was in a panic. Facing the prospect of losing all that money in ticket sales they went into damage control. The first attempt at recuperation was hasty and only mildly effective; refunds OR commemorative tickets collector's pieces. Also selling tickets to the memorial (lottery system). But it wasn't enough, so the idea for TII was born. They pieced together a movie of sorts with Kenny Ortega's help, and set out to sell it. Once Sony got wind of what they had, and negotiations began, an idea began to take shape there at Sony headquarters, a diabolical, shady idea, one they borrowed from a previous dead King, and the death hoax was born.
So, in a top secret project, cinematographers and editors at Sony pieced together any clips they had of the TII rehearsals that looked "hoaxy" and strung them together in a "hoaxy" order and TII the rough cut was born. But this wasn't enough. Data miners at Sony discovered the hoax site mjhd.com and planted moles. The moles observed the community and quickly infiltrated it. Sony approached Amy and purchased the site and 40 days and 40 nights later, Amy became "AMY" and the [Sony] Death Hoax was launched.
Sony also planted other hoax personalities in various media sprinkled through the web. Twitter, Facebook, forums, blogs, they infiltrated everything and began to "suggest" certain likly outcomes to the "hoax". For example, remember the alleged 33 clues in TII? Widely circulated speculation swirled prior to TII's release of such to the point that some hoaxers attended opening night with pencil and paper in hand to record all 33. Another example, TS/_comments and the FBI theory, also the notion of "bamsday", the idea that MJ will return, perpetually.
Meanwhile, all members of MJ's immediate and close extended family/friends are approached with a proposal. Participate and be handsomely rewarded in the form of a multi-year contract and salary, possibly even commission. Decline and miss out. Speak out and be ridiculed mercilessly in the media and your "career" is over. Most, realizing the stakes were incredibly high, and knowing MJ is resting peacefully anyway, agreed. Some declined (Randy? Rebbie? Jackie?). Others were given auditions, and effectively "tried out" for different roles, after which being assigned to their respective character for the duration of the hoax (5 year plan?). They periodically receive instructions akin to a job order on what move to make next.
The purpose of this is to keep alive continued interest in MJ and the MJ brand, to make the brand more relevant today, and to launch his iconic status (Elvis) going forward. Sony knew the drugs and old chi-mo allegations buzz would take center stage and sought to counter attack by launching the hoax. We always speculated MJ had little to lose reputation-wise going into this, thus why not do something this massively risky and edgy? Exactly the same reason Sony settled on the idea of a hoaxed death hoax. They own the MJ brand, which at TOD was distressed. They threw a hail mary and low n behold it was completed.
The fact that the death hoax theory is so underground adds to the sense of mystery and perceived legitimacy. It doesn't feel like marketing. It feels real, as if the user truly stumbled upon something big just below the consciousness of society. Whoever put this together at Sony was indeed a genius, but it wasn't MJ. There's a reason Sony is a multi billion dollar conglomerate mega-brand in entertainment, they employ the best of the best. As any good marketer knows the in's n out's of human nature, this Sony hoax master mind, using what pop culture learned from Elvis and what we knew of MJ, and created the perfect urban legend death hoax for today's generation and effectively elevated their private MJ brand to immortality status.
Now, prove me wrong.
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