Donald Glover is an actor/singer/rapper/comedian/producer and director.
For those who don't know, he writes, directs and stars in Atlanta, a series popular in the US.
In one of the episodes, he has a character, wearing prosthetics, who was supposed to be based on MJ. If anyone wants to watch the episode it's series 2 episode 6. It's a very interesting episode which talks about 2 Michael Jacksons. It's very dark and creepy. Here is a clip from the end (spoiler obviously):
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LoginThere are many theories as to what this all means but the one that made most sense to me was posted in the comment section on YouTube:
"Teddy is the Michael Jackson that the world knows, the one who the media claims was “weird, creepy, and messed up”, the MJ who dominates headlines because of rumors that float around him
Benny is the real Michael Jackson, the one who was painfully and irreversibly hurt. The one who underwent so much bullying in his life (either from his father or the press) that he was too ashamed about what he looked like and what happened to him that he never came out of hiding. He was the scared MJ.
Benny kills Teddy because he’s the fake MJ and Benny is tired of his being alive (aka the real MJ tries to kill the fake MJ/rumors that the media created)
Then Benny/Michael Jackson kills himself because he can’t take it anymore. He’s carried too much pain.
Idk it’s just a theory, but I do think the writers/directors of the show were trying to make us think deeper about Michael Jackson and the double life he reluctantly lead."
Now, interestingly, the character Teddy turned up at the Emmys last night:
At first, people thought it was Glover, but he was seen elsewhere in the audience:
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LoginIt's worth noting that Childish Gambino often makes references to MJ, like in his recent music video, which referenced all of the black artists that were relevant in 2018. MJ appears at the end.
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LoginIn Atlanta, the Teddy character, who is supposed to represent Michael Jackson, is the only character to not have the actors name in the end cedits. Instead, it says he is played by himself:
Some more photos of that evening: