James Randi was a Canadian-American stage magician, author and scientific skeptic who extensively challenged paranormal and pseudoscientific claims. He was the co-founder of the Committee for Skeptical Inquiry (CSI), and founder of the James Randi Educational Foundation (JREF). Randi began his career as a magician under the stage name The Amazing Randi and later chose to devote most of his time to investigating paranormal, occult, and supernatural claims, which he collectively called "woo-woo". Randi retired from practicing magic at age 60, and from his foundation at 87.
Louis Sebastian Theroux is a British-American documentarian, journalist, broadcaster, and author. He has received three British Academy Television Awards and a Royal Television Society Television Award.
Paul Edward Theroux is an American novelist and travel writer who has written numerous books, including the travelogue The Great Railway Bazaar (1975). Some of his works of fiction have been adapted as feature films. He was awarded the 1981 James Tait Black Memorial Prize for his novel The Mosquito Coast, which was adapted for the 1986 movie of the same name and the 2021 television series of the same name.
Uri Geller is an Israeli-British illusionist, magician, television personality, and self-proclaimed psychic. He is known for his trademark television performances of spoon bending and other illusions. Geller uses conjuring tricks to simulate the effects of psychokinesis and telepathy. Geller's career as an entertainer has spanned more than four decades, with television shows and appearances in many countries. Magicians have called Geller a fraud due to his claims of possessing psychic powers.
Martin Henry Bashir is a British journalist. He was a presenter on British and American television and for the BBC's Panorama programme, for which he interviewed Diana, Princess of Wales in 1995. Although the interview was much heralded at the time, it was later determined that he had used forgery and deception to gain it.
Sir James Wilson Vincent Savile was an English DJ and television and radio personality who hosted BBC shows including Top of the Pops and Jim'll Fix It. During his lifetime, he was well known in the United Kingdom for his eccentric image and his charitable work. After his death, hundreds of allegations of sexual abuse made against him were investigated, leading the police to conclude that he had been a predatory sex offender and possibly one of Britain's most prolific. There had been allegations during his lifetime, but they were dismissed and accusers ignored or disbelieved. Savile took legal action against some accusers.
People v. Jackson was a 2005 criminal trial held in Santa Barbara County Superior Court in Santa Maria, California. The American singer-songwriter Michael Jackson was charged with molesting Gavin Arvizo, who was 13 years old at the time of the alleged abuse, at his Neverland Ranch estate in Los Olivos, California.
Living with Michael Jackson is a television documentary in which the British journalist Martin Bashir interviewed the American singer Michael Jackson from May 2002 to January 2003. It was broadcast in the United Kingdom on ITV on 3 February 2003, and in the United States three days later on ABC, introduced by Barbara Walters. Jackson took Bashir on a tour of his home, Neverland Ranch, and discussed his family, unhappy childhood, plastic surgery and relationships with children.
Thomas William Sneddon Jr. was the district attorney of Santa Barbara County, California. He had more than two decades of experience as a District Attorney, and more than three decades of experience as a prosecutor. He is best known for leading two investigations of Michael Jackson on child sexual abuse allegations in 1993 and 2005. His most famous case was when he was prosecuting child molestation charges against entertainer Michael Jackson in the trial People v. Jackson in 2005, at the end of which Jackson was acquitted.
Marcel Raymond Theroux is a British-American novelist and broadcaster. He wrote A Stranger in The Earth and The Confessions of Mycroft Holmes: A Paper Chase, for which he won the Somerset Maugham Award in 2002. His third novel, A Blow to the Heart, was published by Faber in 2006. His fourth, Far North, was published in June 2009. His fifth, Strange Bodies, was published in May 2013. He has also worked in television news in New York City and in Boston.
Louis Theroux's Weird Weekends is a television documentary series, in which Louis Theroux gives viewers the chance to get brief glimpses into the worlds of individuals and groups that they would not normally come into contact with or experience up close. In most cases this means interviewing people with extreme beliefs of some kind, or just generally belonging to subcultures not known to exist by most or just frowned upon. It was first shown in the United Kingdom on BBC2. In 2001, Theroux was awarded the Richard Dimbleby Award as well as the Best Presenter BAFTA for his work on the series.
Man in the Mirror: The Michael Jackson Story is a 2004 Canadian-American biographical telefilm produced for VH1. It stars Flex Alexander as American pop star Michael Jackson, and follows his rise to fame and subsequent events. The film takes its title from one of Jackson's songs, "Man in the Mirror". The film was primarily shot in Calgary, Alberta, Canada, and was released August, 2004, a month prior to when Jackson's criminal trial was scheduled to begin.
The Most Hated Family in America is a 2007 BBC documentary film written and presented by Louis Theroux about the family at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church. The organization was led by Fred Phelps and located in Topeka, Kansas. Westboro Baptist Church members believe that the United States government is immoral due to its tolerance of homosexuality; in addition, they protest at funerals of U.S. military killed in action with signs that display text such as "God Hates Fags" and "Thank God for Dead Soldiers". With a BBC film crew, Theroux travelled to Kansas to spend time with members of the church and interview its leadership. Theroux interviews church leadership including Fred Phelps and Shirley Phelps-Roper.
The personal relationships of Michael Jackson have been the subject of public and media attention for several decades. He was introduced to the topic of sexual activity at the age of nine while a member of the Jackson 5. He and his brothers would perform at strip clubs, sharing the bill with female strippers and drag queens, and the sexual adventures of his brothers with groupies further affected Jackson's early life. The entertainer said his first real girlfriend was the child actress Tatum O'Neal, when he was a teenager in the 1970s; he called her "my first love – after Diana Ross." The pair eventually "cooled off" and Jackson entered into a romance with model Brooke Shields in 1981. Although the relationship was platonic, Shields said there were times he had asked her to marry him, but as he grew older he started to change physically and became more asexual towards her.
Louis and the Brothel is a 2003 British documentary by Louis Theroux.
America's Most Hated Family in Crisis is a 2011 BBC documentary film presented and written by Louis Theroux, who revisits the family at the core of the Westboro Baptist Church. It is a follow up to 2007's The Most Hated Family in America, also written and presented by Theroux. In 2019, Theroux made another follow-up, Surviving America's Most Hated Family, completing a trilogy of documentaries based on the church.
My Scientology Movie is a 2015 British documentary film about Scientology directed by John Dower, and written by and starring Louis Theroux. The film takes an unconventional approach to the subject matter, featuring young actors "auditioning" for parts playing high-profile Scientologists in scenes recreating accounts from ex-members about incidents involving senior church management. The Church of Scientology responded by putting the filmmakers under surveillance and denouncing the film.
The Federal Bureau of Investigation (FBI) kept records on the American singer Michael Jackson, which were released under the Freedom of Information Act posthumously on December 22, 2009. In response to perceived threats against Jackson and allegations of child sexual assault made against him, the FBI made several investigations into Jackson, none of which led to charges.
"Jiggle Jiggle" is a 2022 single by British-American journalist and documentary maker Louis Theroux, produced by Manchester-based DJ duo Duke & Jones. The song was created based on a rap trend that Theroux had been involved in, featuring a snippet of him rapping on the "Gangsta Rap" episode of the show Weird Weekends.
The Michael Jackson Interview: The Footage You Were Never Meant To See is a television documentary released as a rebuttal to Living with Michael Jackson, in which the British journalist Martin Bashir interviewed the American singer Michael Jackson, from May 2002 to January 2003. Jackson felt betrayed by Bashir and stated that the documentary gave a distorted picture of his behavior and conduct as a father. On February 23, 2003, it aired on Sky One in the United Kingdom, and on FOX in the United States.
