This is an iHeart Podcast. This Labor Day, say goodbye to spills, stains, and overpriced furniture with washable sofas.com, featuring Anibay, the only machine washable sofa inside and out, where designer quality meets budget-friendly pricing.
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Now through Labor Day, get up to 60% off-site-wide at washablefas.com. Every order comes with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not in love, send it back for a full refund. No return shipping, no restocking fees, every penny back. Shop now at washable sofas.com.
Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions. may apply. iHeart presents the Big Three Playoffs. This Sunday, the remaining four teams battle to make their championship in the most physical, fierce, and competitive basketball league in the world. The action starts with the Big Three Monster Energy Celebrity Game.
Then Dwight Howard and his LA Riot take on Montrez Harrell and Dr. J Chicago Triplets. The finale will see popular Miami 305 with stars MVP Michael Beasley and Lamb Stevenson take on Nancy Lieberman's Dallas Power, who will make it to the Big Three Championship. The no-holds bought action starts Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern, 12 Pacific, only on CBS.
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Select locations only. While supplies last. SeeLows.com for more details. Good morning. Welcome to Today.
From back to school to tackling your to-do list, the Today Show is your best start to the day. It's a new season and every morning. We're here to help you take it all off. As the forecast calls for football all across the country. Blockbuster stars, live concerts, and so much more.
Wake up to where it's all happening. We're getting back to all of it and the best way to start is together. Watch The Today Show, weekday mornings at 7 a.m. on NBC. This is Danielle Fischel from Pod Meets World.
Parents, quick question. When is the last time you won snack time? The other day, I handed my son a perfectly portioned Pinterest-level snack and And he traded it for a Motts applesauce pouch. I'm not mad, just impressed. And that's why Mott's no-sugar-added applesauce pouches are perfect to keep on hand.
They're made with real apples, packed in a super easy pouch, perfect for tossing in a lunchbox, keeping in the car, or grabbing as you're running out the door. Plus, they're a good source of vitamin C, and kids love them. Win-win. Make sure your kid wins snack time with Motts. Real apples make real good applesauce.
Learn more at Motts.com. This is Lee Habib, and this is Our American Stories, the show where America is the star and the American people. Coming to you from the city where the west begins, Fort Worth, Texas. Michael Jackson's story is one of immense musical talent, global stardom. and significant controversy.
Here to tell the story about why Michael Jackson's skin color changed as he aged is Simon Whistler from the Today I Found Out YouTube channel and its sister, the Brain Food Show podcast. Let's take a listen. There was a story about you wanting to have a little white boy play you in a In a Pepsi commercial. That is so stupid. That's the most ridiculous.
Horrifying story I've ever heard. It's crazy. I mean, why? Number one, it's my face as a child in the commercial. Me when I was little.
Why would I want a white child to play me? I'm a black American. I'm proud to be a black American. I am proud of my race. I am proud of who I am.
I have a lot of pride in who I am and dignity. That's like you wanting an oriental person to play you as a child. Does that make sense? No. Many scandals marred Michael Jackson's personal life, overshadowing his otherwise remarkable musical career.
One such scandal was the obvious change in his appearance, especially his skin colour, which started from the mid-80s to slowly but surely turn from dark to white.
So when did the color of your skin start to change? Oh boy, I don't sometime after Thriller, around off the wall thriller. By the mid-90s, when Jackson released his album History in 1995, it was more than obvious to even his most dedicated fans that the man of Thriller from 1982 looked nothing like the man who had recently married Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie. By this time, Michael Jackson was milky white. A skin colour transition that started almost a decade earlier was more or less complete.
So, what happened? According to his family and Jackson himself, the King of Pop had vitiligo, a condition that causes depigmentation of parts of the skin, which usually results in white spots on the patient body.
Okay, number one, this is the situation. I have a skin disorder. that destroys the pigmentation of the skin is something that I cannot help.
Okay, but when people make up stories that I don't want to be who I am, it hurts me. It's a problem for me, okay? I can't control it. These are even more noticeable if the person has a dark complexion, as in Jackson's case. The one in 250 or so people who have this condition typically first start seeing signs of it beginning between 10 and 30 years old.
Approximately 30% of the people who have it also have it run in their family, which is true of Jackson. It's in my family, my father said, is on his side. I can't control it. I don't understand. I mean, it makes me very sad.
I don't want to go into my medical history because that's something that's private, but that's the situation here. In addition to this skin disorder, Jackson also reportedly suffered from systemic lupus erythmatosis, which, besides potentially being a very serious condition, can also cause loss of skin pigmentation. When the controversy about his changing skin color hit its zenith, Jackson spoke openly about his vitiligo for the first time in an interview he gave to Oprah in 1993. He said, among other things, But what about all the millions of people? Let's reverse it.
Okay. What about all the millions of people who sit out in the sun to become dark or to become other than what they are? Mm-hmm. Nobody says nothing about that. In the days after, at Jackson's request, his condition was publicly confirmed by his dermatologist, Dr.
Arnold Klein, who also stated Jackson was first diagnosed with the condition in 1984. It was also confirmed that he had lupus erythmatosis then, that it was in remission. Conspiracy theorists propose that there was much more to it than this, that in fact Jackson had no such disease and that he instead systemically bleached his skin using Beniquin cream and other medical cocktails in his quest to look like a white person. Are you bleaching your skin? And is your skin lighter because you don't like being black?
Okay, number one. There, as I know of, there is no such thing as skin bleaching. I have never seen it. The obvious and extensive cosmetic surgeries he had on his eyebrows, eyelashes, lips, and nose only served to enforce the theory that he was simply purposefully tweaking his appearance even more by bleaching his skin.
So is there any truth to this? Dr. Christopher Rogers, deputy medical examiner at the Los Angeles Coroner's Office and the man who conducted Michael Jackson's autopsy, chimed in on this after performing the autopsy on Jackson. Dr. Rogers confirms that Jackson indeed suffered from vitiligo, most notably with patches around his face, chest, abdomen and arms.
So did he also bleach his skin? According to dermatologist Dr. Hanish Babu, Jackson did. This is sometimes a treatment used for those with vitiligo. When these white patches first started appearing, you can see from certain of Jackson's concert footage that he was trying to mask them with makeup matching his original skin color.
I just want to get this straight. You are not taking anything to change the colour of your skin. God, no. You did not purposely. Trying to control it and using makeup evens it out because it makes blotches on the skin and I have to even out my skin.
Once the patches became too numerous to easily hide with makeup, and he supposedly became tired of the extensive time needed to apply the makeup every day, he switched strategies and began the process of bleaching his skin, supposedly under the care of his dermatologist and using 20% mono-bezole ether of hydroquinone, veniquin cream. Much later, in June of 2009, after his death, tubes of beniquin and hydroquinone were found in Jackson's home. As Dr. David Saucer said, Some patients with visiligo get to the point where it makes more sense to remove the brown bits because so much of the skin is pale. Besides giving him a white complexion, this also results in him being prone to sunburns, which is why in later years he often kept himself nearly completely covered when outside in the sun.
In the end, only Jackson knew his true motivation for ultimately choosing to bleach his skin, whether as a treatment for his vitiligo to even out his skin colour as reported, or as the conspiracy theorists claim, to further change his appearance to more of a Caucasian look, though one would think the latter would be an odd move for the co-author of The Line with Bill Bottrell. It doesn't matter if you're black or white. Why is that so important? That's not important to me. I'm a great fan of art.
I love Michelangelo. If I had a chance to talk to him or read about him, I would want to know about what inspired him to become who he is, the anatomy of his craftsmanship, not about who he went out with last night or why he decided to sit out in the sun so long. What's wrong with him? I mean, that's what's important to me. The story of Michael Jackson's skin color.
Here are our American stories. Lee Habib here, and I'd like to encourage you to subscribe to Our American Stories on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, Spotify, or wherever you get our podcasts. Any story you missed or want to hear again can be found there daily. Again, please subscribe to the Our American Stories podcast on Apple Podcasts, the iHeartRadio app, or anywhere you get your podcasts. It helps us keep these great American stories coming.
This Labor Day, say goodbye to spills, stains, and overpriced furniture with washable sofas.com, featuring Anibay, the only machine washable sofa inside and out, where designer quality meets budget-friendly pricing.
Sofas start at just $6.99, making it the perfect time to upgrade your space. Anibay's pet-friendly, stain-resistant, and interchangeable slip covers are made with high-performance fabric built for real life. You'll love the cloud-like comfort of hypoallergenic, high-resilience foam that never needs fluffing and a durable steel frame that stands the test of time. With modular pieces, you can rearrange anytime. It's a sofa that adapts to your life.
Now through Labor Day, get up to 60% off-site-wide at washablesofas.com. Every order comes with a 30-day satisfaction guarantee. If you're not in love, send it back for a full refund. No return shipping, no restocking fees, every penny back. Shop now at washable sofas.com.
Offers are subject to change and certain restrictions may apply. iHeart presents the Big Three Playoffs. This Sunday, the remaining four teams battle to make their championship in the most physical, fierce, and competitive basketball league in the world. The action starts with the Big Three Monster Energy Celebrity Game. Then Dwight Howard and his Ellie Riot take on Montrez Harrell and Dr.
J Chicago Tripletts. The finale will see popular Miami 305 with stars MVP Michael Beasley and Lamb Stevenson take on Nancy Lieberman's Dallas Power, who will make it to the Big Three Championship. The no-holds ball action starts Sunday at 3 p.m. Eastern, 12 Pacific, only on CDS. This is Danielle Fischel from Pod Meets World.
Parents, quick question. When is the last time you won snack time? The other day, I handed my son a perfectly portioned Pinterest-level snack and And he traded it for a Mott's applesauce pouch. I'm not mad, just impressed. And that's why Mott's no-sugar-added applesauce pouches are perfect to keep on hand.
They're made with real apples, packed in a super easy pouch, perfect for tossing in a lunchbox, keeping in the car, or grabbing as you're running out the door. Plus, they're a good source of vitamin C, and kids love them. Win-win! Make sure your kid wins snack time with Motts. Real apples make real good applesauce.
Learn more at Motts.com. Hi, it's Danielle Fischl from Pod Meets World. You know that moment when you're getting dressed and it's just total chaos? Your kid can't find a shoe, the dog's barking at his reflection, and all you need is a go-to outfit you can trust. If you're tired of options that miss the mark, let me put you onto JCPenney.
No, don't give me that. Wait, seriously? Look. They've got stylish, dependable pieces that feel effortless. A perfect solution for busy parents.
I just picked up an AA denim blouse and Liz Claiborne A-line dress, both easy wins for when I'm on the go and super affordable. And the best part? The shocked faces I get when I say, yeah, it's from JCPenney. Don't miss out. Shop now at jcpenny dot com.
Yes, J C Penny.
Song stands about an obsessed fan who's taking me too literal. From Eminem and the producers of 8 Mile. Never seen anything like Eminem fans. This is the story of a fan base. I had to look in the mirror and be like, am I in one of these crazy stands?
That created a culture. I do have an addiction to Eminem. I traveled the world for Eminem. Without Eminem, I wouldn't have the life I have right now. What's your first question?
Stands, new documentary streaming August 26th on Paramount Plus. This is an iHeart podcast.
