I didn’t mention this in my review on Monday, but I found it problematic while watching the documentary “The Greatest Night In Pop” to see long stretches of Michael Jackson.
Yes, he co-wrote “We Are The World,” so he had to have a major place in the movie, but I can’t see him without thinking of the multiple pedophilia charges he faced from 1993 to 2003. He should have been culture-cancelled because of them, with his songs removed from radio airplay just as “The Cosby Show” disappeared after its star’s sexual assaults became public.
Now I worry I’ll have a similar sick feeling in my gut when Cheryl Hines pops up in the new season of Larry David’s “Curb Your Enthusiasm.” I have nothing against her as an actress, and I’m guessing she won’t appear in more than a few episodes as her character’s arc on the series has wound down since she split from David’s character.
My problem is that Hines is married to anti-vaxxer conspiracy theorist Robert F. Kennedy Jr., who has reappeared in mainstream media because he’s running for president.
Like Jenny McCarthy, Joe Rogan, Aaron Rogers, and other know-nothing celebrities who not only believe similar garbage but promote it, nearly every pronouncement from RFK Jr. is dangerous to our society. He’s not as evil as Trump, but if his campaign picks up any kind of steam and siphons off votes from Biden in November, the horrifying result will be the same.
When I wrote about RFK Jr. in October, I referred to a piece by Victoria Brownworth, “The Shaming Of A Legacy,” in which she explains he is not just a spreader of anti-vaccine misinformation. He’s compared Dr. Anthony Fauci to Hitler, claimed HIV doesn’t cause AIDS, spewed homophobic and anti-trans garbage, and aligned with such lowlifes as Alex Jones and Jordan Peterson. It’s actually surprising Junior is not the leading Republican candidate for president not named Trump, since he sounds more like the extremists who make up that party.
On the HBO series, Hines portrayed a woman married to a misanthrope who said and did horrible things, but it was always played for laughs because it was a TV comedy. In the real world, however, she apparently supports her husband and believes the toxic bilge he spews — she has never made any public statement denouncing him, as other members of the Kennedy family have. That makes her a co-conspirator not worthy of airtime on “Curb” or anything else.
And if there’s a scene this season of her singing “Thriller,” I’m done with all of them.