The domineering patriarch of the famous Jackson family, Joe Jackson, has died at the age of 89. Joe had been in hospital for terminal pancreatic cancer and passed away early yesterday morning.
While he leaves behind a legacy of having brought his family from the poverty of the steel mills in Indianna to world wide superstrdom, his legacy is also one of a cruel and unyielding father.
Five of Joe Jackson's sons, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, Marlon and Michael, became the famous Jackson 5. Randy Jackson would join them at times but eventually went on to pursue a solo career. The three daughters, LaToya, Rebbie and Janet, all moulded their musical careers under the watchful eye of papa Jackson with varying degrees of success. However, once the children were grown up it would come to light that Joe Jackson had worked them at a frentic pace that some would say bordered on child abuse. Michael Jackson himself spoke of bullying, physical abuse and punishing rehearsal and performance schedules.
Joe Jackson was to later admit that he had whipped Michael but denied that it could be called a beating saying in an interview with the BBC’s Louis Theroux in 2003, "I whipped him with a switch and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick." That particular interview also made head lines when Joe Jackson said in response to a question about Michael, "We don't believe in gays. I can't stand them." Over the years the Jackson family were in the press for all the wrong reasons, family feuding and even arguments over money.
According to the New York Post La Toya Jackson was the first of the Jackson family to post on social media after the passing of her father . She tweeted, “I will always love you. You gave us strength, you made us one of the most famous families in the world, I am extremely appreciative of that, I will never forget our moments together and how you told me how much you cared. #RIP Joe Jackson.”
Sixty two year old La Toya had an extremely unhappy relationship with her father, accusing him of abusing her as a child in her 1991 memoir.
Joe Jackson is survived by his wife Katherine, who is now 88, and nine of his 11 children.
Sources : New York Post/The Guardian/Daily Mail
