It affected me, came as a chock, but really not. I knew from media reports that his health was bad.
What a symbol!
He really questioned racism. But I don't think many understood. Because if he was wrong by not accepting the boundaries set by being born black, then it is wrong by all these neo-colonizers wanting to be black.
Elvis' similar destiny was also based on cultural boundaries, I believe. It is almost like the Berlin Wall falling, no?
I'm a kid of the eighties, and I lived in the U.S. exactly that year when (I think) Thriller and Return of the Jedi came out.
I am a child of E.T., Superman and "Beat it"! StarTrek, Knight Rider, you name it. Every thing was new, us in Honolulu 1983. So of course I mourn him. I mourn the last ten years when he was accused of child abuse and needed oxygen tents (which was much earlier)and his disintegrating face and all this, because up until Bad, I found him an excellent dancer and a cute brown boy (like me, brown, not white). He held up so much. But maybe a little bit too much. He was much alone up there, I suppose.
Rest in peace, Michael.