Michael Jackson’s troubled daughter Paris Jackson has lashed out at internet haters in a new video, according to TMZ.
Paris spends much of the video in tears, raging against the internet trolls who make life miserable for her and people she knows well, like Justin Bieber and Bieber’s girlfriend Sofia Richie.
Paris’ father Michael famously raged against the media and haters both in interviews and in the lyrics on his later albums, notably HIStory and Invincible . Michael’s track ‘DS’ is believed to be a thinly-veiled attack against Tom Sneddon, an official involved in investigating the child sex abuse allegations against Michael Jackson. Sneddon was so hated by fans of Michael Jackson that they took to social media to celebrate when Sneddon died of cancer in 2014, according to MJFacts.
In another track, ‘Tabloid Junkie,’ Michael referred to journalists as parasites who will “do anything for news,” and urged the public not to believe the stories about him at a time when he was hit by a wave of negative press.
The media landscape of 2016 is, of course, very different to that of the mid-to-late-nineties. Social media sites like Twitter, Facebook, and Instagram have become the major arenas where celeb-watchers vent their sometimes hateful thoughts.
Jackson’s daughter Paris says that she receives hate primarily in the comments sections on her busy social media pages, especially her Instagram.
In the new clip, Paris Jackson describes how she has tried everything from ignoring the haters, to responding to them, to making her Instagram private for a time. Jackson says that nothing seems to deter the cyber bullies.
Michael’s daughter admits that she is a very public person who likes to share and doesn’t hide who she is. Paris laments that some of her followers seem to want to use that against her.
“I’ve tried sticking up for myself. I’ve tried not reading the comments…I don’t hide a lot, i’m very public. When I was fourteen years old I got so much hate I tried to kill myself.”
Paris Jackson’s on-camera breakdown over bullies: “I’m just tired of it”: https://t.co/xdaxwhVZ4B pic.twitter.com/Io8Aj5nXtg
— ExtraTV (@extratv) September 16, 2016
Paris Jackson says that she left Instagram for a while then came back because fans and friends asked her to. She expected the hateful comments to die down after her widely-reported suicide attempt and temporary break from Instagram, but that did not happen.
“People asked me to come back so I did… and nothing changed.”
Paris Jackson seems to be anticipating a common retort against complaining celebs when she says that she knows that she is not the only one who receives mean social media comments. Michael’s daughter goes on to discuss Justin Bieber, who recently made his Instagram private and then deleted it completely after fans would not stop sending hate to his new girlfriend Sofia Richie.
Paris says that Justin went on a ‘downward spiral,’ first asking his fans to stop sending hate, then getting involved in a clash over the incident with ex-girlfriend Selena Gomez, before finally deleting his Instagram, as reported by Vogue.
Paris talked about Justin’s new girl Sofia, saying that she has known Lionel Richie’s daughter since she was about twelve and Sofia Richie is incredibly sweet. Paris’s voice cracks with emotion when she talks about how people are telling Sofia Richie to kill herself.
“F***ing Justin Bieber went into a downward spiral because everybody that he dates gets so much hate. I have known his girlfriend Sofia since I was like 12 or 13, she’s one of the the sweetest girls in the world, and people are telling her to kill herself. I mean, we’re human beings, man.”
Paris urges followers and celebrity-watchers to remember that celebs are human beings with hearts, minds, and rich inner worlds. Paris, a survivor of a teen suicide attempt, urges her viewers to think twice before hurling damaging words at people because “it f***s them up.”
“When you say damaging things like that to people, it f***s them up.”
See Paris Jackson speak out against cyberbullying https://t.co/tNcs22MeTj
— Rolling Stone (@RollingStone) September 15, 2016
[Featured Images by Mark Davis and Kevin Winter/Getty Images]