I respect his talent. He was a heck of a good dancer, and his music wasn't bad either (not my style, but not bad).
But I don't like him.
He had some serious issues. I don't know whether or not he was a pedophile, but either way, he had a lot of problems. He was crazy, he was. He had many issues, and they are pretty serious ones. I don't think I can say that I LIKE a person like that. I respect his talent, but that's as far as it will ever go.
Guess what? I'd say (this is not exact, this is just what I've noticed from experience, and I'm guessing here) about 75% of the people who are obsessed with him now HATED him when he was alive, including several of my friends. They would all call him a racist and a pedophile and a mental case freely. That was until he died. Then suddenly, he's a huge hero. Seriously? I think that's disrespectful. Yeah, stopping the hating is good. But idolizing him just because he died? That's not cool.
