Is the King of Pop too big to cancel? Michael Jackson fans grapple with legacy after Leaving Neverland

It'll likely happen suddenly when you're in the grocery storeor a restaurant, or maybe while you're listening to some random music stream.It could be this week orperhapsnext. Asong by Michael Jackson will come on.

June will mark10 years since the popsuperstar'sdeathyet he remains firmly entrenched inourculture.

Music aside, the Cirque du Soleilstages itsMichael Jackson-themed show five nights a week in Las Vegas, while Broadway is slated for an MJmusical in 2020.

But after this week's television debut of Leaving Neverland(poised for broadcast worldwide), many music fans are grappling with their feelings about Jackson andhis music amid theharrowing documentary's resurfacing of long-standing allegations of child sexual abuse.

"I certainly can't see myself striking up theplaylistI had, which was 150 songs long, and playing it and enjoying it in the same way," saidRene Graham, an associate editor and columnistfor the Boston Globe.

A self-described Michael Jackson devotee since childhood, Graham recently wrote thatafter watching Leaving Neverland, she can no longer be countedamong the ranks of his defenders.

"There is no way to not hear the music very differently. If you think of the hit The Way You Make Me Feel, there is that line that goes:'Ain't nobody's business but mine and my baby.'When you hear that [now], you think of the secrecy and how there were these two very different Michael Jacksons," Graham said.

"How do you see [the documentary] and then decide, 'I can just happily dance to Remember the Time? Everything, all his lyrics, sound very different now to me."

Leaving Neverland has been vigorously denounced by the Jackson family, which launched a$100-million US lawsuit against HBO over its broadcast. And alegion of diehard MJ fanshave taken toaggressively trollinganyonewho posts favourable comments about the documentary orthose who express sympathyforaccusers Wade Robson and James Safechuck.

Jackson's pervasive presence

The recent phenomenon of so-calledcancel culture the notion of withholding moral, financial and other support for prominent figures deemed problematic has grown to become the default reaction in circumstances of troubling allegations or unacceptable behaviour.

But is the King of Pop too big to cancel?

Jackson remains one of the bestselling recording artists of all time, with more than 100 million in worldwide album sales for 1982's Thriller aloneand in excess of 1 billiontotal sales overall.He releasedNo.1 singles across four decades, topped the charts in nearly every music market around the globe, and hasreigned atop Forbes magazine's annual tally of the highest-earning dead celebritiesevery year since his death, save one.

He inspired some of the biggest pop, hip-hop and R&B acts of the past few decades fromBeyoncto Justin Timberlake, Bruno Mars to TheWeeknd, Drake toJanelleMone.His influence continues be heard in new music made today.

Jackson's albumsOff the Wall and Thriller stillserveas musical blueprints and reference points for so many artists today, according to Odario Williams, a DJ, hip-hop artist and radio broadcaster who hosts CBC Music'sAfterdark.

"Not just in a songwriting sense, but mastering and mixing.The drums on Thriller are still unmatched.The way that Off the Wall mixed disco with the future of music in one album is just unprecedented," he said. "There are a ton of Michael Jackson copycats out therewe all know it.There is a ton of Michael Jacksonesque music out there."

Beyond his aural influence, Jackson also forever changed the music video industry with Thriller, said Williams.

Directed by filmmaker John Landis, the 13-minute-long music video was a game changer, boosting the profile of both Jackson and a then-fledgling MTV, and elevating music video productioninto an art form.Thrillerinfluenced a generation of ambitious directors in the field, as well as spawned a making-of documentary that itself went on to sell more than a million copies.

In 2009, after Jackson's death,Thriller became the first music video ever added to the U.S. National Film Registryfor preservation.

As a DJyou're playing for the people. And I can't see the people wanting to hear any Michael Jackson.- Odario Williams

Leaving aside the horrific allegations outlinedin Leaving Neverlandfor a moment, Williams said,any notion of erasing Jackson's monumental musical history is "horrible and sad."

Any DJ in the world would agreethat Jackson's music offers an old-school vibe that once unified everybody on the dance floor, he said. Now, however, "I can definitely see myself hesitating to spin an MJ track As a DJ, you're not playing for yourself,you're playing for the people. And I can't see the people wanting to hear any Michael Jackson."

The Quebec-based CogecoMediahaspulled Jackson's music fromits network'splaylists, including threemajor Montreal radio stations,following the airing of LeavingNeverland, citing audience feedback. But most music programmers seem to be taking a wait-and-see approach, likelyanxious about the recentreversals of similar decisionsregardingthe music of controversialartistslikeR. Kellyand the holiday season uproar surroundingBaby It's Cold Outside.

A cultural shift

Leaving Neverlandhas arrived amid a broader societal reckoning over sexual misconduct. The current zeitgeist has witnessed the toppling of high-profile celebrities such as Bill Cosby, Harvey Weinstein and Kevin Spacey.

At the same time, recent documentary series and feature films are forcingaudiences to re-examinedisputed figures of the pastunder a modern lens such as with Surviving R. Kelly, whichexamineda multitude of sex abuse allegations against the R&B hitmaker.

What these instances haveunderlinedis that we have to divorceourselves from the notion that someone who has made a significant artistic contribution is automatically a good person, says music writer A. Harmony.

"That needs to change as we shift the culture to make space for people who come forward withallegations that are so serious and so harrowing. We can't give [artists] a pass to treat people any way they want, or behave any way they want, or put them on a pedestal that leaves them exempt from any type of critique just because they made good music," said Harmony, speaking with CBC'sFrontburnerpodcast.

The fact that Michael Jackson made "significant contributions" to the world ofmusic will always be true, she said."But these allegations are also a very large part of his legacy, and we have to learn to look at both and accept both of them," she said.

"[Because Jackson is dead], beyond allowing the victims to tell the story, there's not much we can do to erase or undo those wrongs. But we can go forward and make sure that we're shifting the culture in general," Harmony said.

"There certainly is a responsibility once you become aware and once you learn some things and unlearn some flawed ways of thinking to go forward and do better."