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THE EXPERTS. If the abuse case comes to trial, expert witnesses will be asked to fit Jackson's public behavior to the psychograph of a child molester. "What we see in the pattern of a fixated offender," notes clinical psychologist Nicholas Groth, co-author of Sexual Assault of Children and Adolescents, "is that he seems to get along well with people significantly older than him and those who are younger. He has a significant absence of peers. He lives more in the world of childhood than the adult world." And when the sex is gay, the offender is often homophobic, Groth says. "Rather than seeing a boy as gay, he has a narcissistic identification. But even if the allegations against Michael Jackson are true, it doesn't mean all of his good deeds for children were motivated simply to seduce them. He surely has a genuine love of children that goes beyond any sexual interest."
THE FANS. In terms of record sales, Jackson's career has steadily plummeted since the all-time best-sellerdom of Thriller in 1982. But now the superstar with an abused childhood is something between an object of pity and a dirty joke. His travail could still end in courtroom triumph. It might also reveal tragedy, for Jackson and for children even more vulnerable than he. Then the circus will close down, and Michael's white clown-face will never smile again.