The prescription drugs, poor health, inexorable media and Michael Jackson himself probably caused his death according to Ronald Wan. We examine the spectacle, the circus and the sideshow that consumed the King of Pop and what he needed most – love

As the tributes poured in for the King of Pop, many are asking – who/what exactly killed Michael Jackson? What could have possibly induced a sudden cardiac arrest when dearest MJ was just rehearsing days earlier for the 50-sold-out-concerts-that-would-never-happen (ominously called This Is It)?

Some blamed it on the drugs while others questioned his team of resident doctors and nurses. Was the 50-year-old entertainer of our times pushing himself a little too hard at rehearsals? Has the media played a part in his death too? Perhaps we, as the spectator of the spectacle, the observer of the gaze, the vultures and the voyeurs who feed on the news cycle and fuel the hype that courses through every hungry celebrity, played a sleight of hand in nudging Michael Joseph Jackson off the wall and towards history.

But it can only be the man in the mirror, or rather the Peter Pan boy who refused to grow up, who is responsible for fleeing towards Neverland.

Since the days of Jackson 5 in the late 60s, Jackson was groomed for a bigger stage and music career. He began a solo career in 1971 and went on to register best-selling records over the decades by the millions – Off the Wall, Thriller, Bad, Dangerous and HIStory. His videos (Thriller in particular) made MTV cool, dance moves influenced generations including this writer’s failed attempts in his childhood days to do the moonwalk and philanthropic moves inspired many (read: Heal the World Foundation). Jackson’s talents are a divine gift from God and his influence deeply profound.

But with such overwhelming success, Jackson’s life was evidently put under scrutiny by the media long before Tom Cruise’s couch antics or Britney Spears’ commando acts appeared on the news. Jackson dominated headlines in the 90s with his changing appearances (black to bleach white), botched plastic surgeries, failed marriages to Lisa Marie Presley and Debbie Rowe and the haunting child sexual abuse allegations and trials. As the media incessantly devoted column inches and relentlessly fixed its lens on Wacko Jacko, the singer himself had then retreated into a Disneyland bubble. To be more specific, his Neverland ranch in Californ