Would the Public Forgive King of Pop?

ByABC News
November 21, 2003, 6:43 PM

Nov. 25, 2003 -- Some fans of the King of Pop are standing by their man, holding candlelight vigils in his honor and chasing down his motorcade with supportive signs.

But if Michael Jackson goes to trial on charges of child molestation, the American public may not be so forgiving, and his already faltering career may never rebound.

America has been fickle in its treatment of fallen stars. Some celebrities recover from criminal accusations and convictions.

Winona Ryder, for example, seems to have bounced back from her shoplifting conviction last year. Hugh Grant's solicitation of a prostitute in 1995 seems like a footnote now to his successful film career. And Robert Downey Jr., for his multiple arrests and imprisonment on drug charges, still gets movie roles.

Still other accused celebrities, perhaps most notably O.J. Simpson, are banished to the netherworld of notoriety, unable to resuscitate careers or acquit themselves in the court of public opinion.

Severity of Charges, Nature of Act Matter

"It's a relatively complicated calculus," says Robert Thompson, professor of television and popular culture at the S.I. Newhouse School of Public Communications at Syracuse University. "It depends on the crime you're accused of. It depends on the kind of act you're known for doing."

Take Paul Reubens, for example. In 1991, the actor who played the children's television figure Pee-wee Herman was arrested inside a movie theater in Sarasota, Fla., for allegedly exposing himself.

"The thing itself he was charged with is probably forgivable and in some people's eyes not that big of a deal," Thompson said. "The fact he was the star of a kids' morning show made that a much bigger problem."