Jesus Juice and Jesus Blood
Jesus Blood. Jesus Juice. Those two descriptions of red and white wine as ascribed to Michael Jackson made headlines in February 2004, as a result of a scathing article about him, by Maureen Orth in
Vanity Fair
. The allegation made by Orth is that Michael gave Gavin Arvizo and another boy wine – Jesus Juice – in Coke cans on a flight from Florida in February 2003. Jackson, though, prefers Jesus Blood. This is a disturbing accusation, obviously, but even more so because two of the charges against Michael have to do with giving a minor ‘intoxicating agents’ in order to wear him down for sex with him.
Orth’s primary source for increasingly lurid stories about Jackson in
Vanity Fair
is his former business adviser Myung-Ho Lee. Lee was Jackson’s financial adviser from 1998 to 2001. He sued him for $14 million in 2002, and hasn’t stopped talking about him since – even though Jackson settled the suit by giving him money. Lee is the person who told Orth, in another
Vanity Fair
article, that Jackson hired a witch-doctor named Baba to sacrifice dozens of cows in order to put a curse on David Geffen and Steven Spielberg. That’s hard to believe… even for Michael Jackson.
The wine story, however, is partially true. Michael
does
refer to white wine as ‘Jesus Juice’ and red wine as ‘Jesus Blood’. It’s an offbeat joke of his, probably not a very good one, but everyone in his camp knows about it. Also, he
does
drink them both from soda cans. However, Orth reports that the concealment is Michael’s way of drinking alcohol without having anyone know that he’s doing it. The truth is that he drinks wine out of soda pop cans so that
children
won’t see him doing it. ‘He’s always around kids, and he doesn’t want them to see him drinking,’ says someone in his camp. ‘It’s weird, but not criminal.’ Also, Jackson has always been afraid that he would be photographed with a glass of wine in his hand, and he thinks that would be inappropriate for his image.
An in-flight passenger profile document that has become part of the public record in litigation between Jackson and XtraJet, the private airline company he once hired, details the pop star’s food and beverage preferences and seems to further confirm the wine anecdote. According to the document, dated Sept. 1, 2003: ‘White wine in a Diet Coke can’ was required ‘on every [the word is underlined in the document for emphasis] flight.’ In addition, according to the passenger profile document, Michael sometimes drank tequila, gin or Crown Royal on flights.
A strange requirement outlined in the documentation is Michael Jackson’s desire for fried chicken from Kentucky Fried Chicken, the American fast-food restaurant, for
every
meal: breakfast, lunch and dinner. Michael demands the so-called ‘secret recipe’ with ‘original chicken breasts, mashed potatoes, corn and biscuits with spray butter’. On short flights, according to the documents, he requests Big Red gum, mints, cheese and crackers and fruit plates. He will not eat broccoli or ‘strong-scented foods’. Prince Michael I and Paris have a stricter diet and are not permitted to eat peanut butter, sugar or chocolate. KFC is part of their regimen when flying, but it must be stripped of all skin. According to the documents, the children ‘typically will ask for the same thing their Dad is eating for every meal, but he’ll determine what they are allowed to eat, like crackers.’ Also, in bold letters next to their menu, it reads ‘NO SUGAR!’ and ‘NO CHICKEN SKIN!’ The document says that Paris, in particular, ‘is good at cajoling you for sugar’. Moreover, Prince Michael II, a.k.a. Blanket, is always fed by his nanny, Grace Rwamba (who, it is noted, will never eat KFC chicken). The toddler gets the same KFC regimen – ‘cut up into pieces’ – in addition to crackers, grapes and juice or milk. Finally, the in-flight behaviour of Michael Jackson – a ‘non-smoker’ – is described as ‘very timid… but will get out of his seat during takeoff and landing. Be prepared to clean a lot after he deplanes.’
It must be noted, though, that Jackson and Mark Geragos are suing XtraJet, accusing its staff of having secretly video-recorded his flight from Las Vegas to Santa Barbara on the day he was arrested, and then attempting to sell the tape. Documents that surface from XtraJet’s side of the litigation have to be, therefore, viewed with at least some scepticism. Also, Richard Matsuura, another youngster Maureen Orth claimed was given wine by Michael when he was twelve, categorically denied the report as soon as the
Vanity Fair
article hit the stands. He says Orth never contacted him before writing the story. His father confirmed that his son was not given any wine by Michael… either in a glass, or a soda can.
Stories about Michael that mix truth and fiction – such as the wine in Coke cans anecdote – only serve to confuse people and make them wonder. ‘You can’t blame people for speculating about odd behavior. In light of charges that he intoxicated a minor in this way, this new information that he actually does drink wine out of soda cans does not look good for him. It has to be a concern to his defense. There are records, and there is also, probably, a stewardess who served Michael wine in this manner. How much of a leap is, then, that this is something Jackson would give to a minor? When you are speaking of this kind of person, when do you cross the line between weird and criminal? That’s the question.’