I’m scratching my head.

Watching this incessant, non-stop coverage of the death of Michael Jackson, I’m trying to remember when I’ve ever seen Al Sharpton associated with Michael Jackson in any way when the King of Pop was alive. For the life of me, I cannot recall a single time when Sharpton and Jackson were photographed together, or even mentioned in the same sentence.

Yet there he is on TV screens all over the world: Sharpton speaking to the crowd at the Apollo Theater, Sharpton extolling the contributions Jackson made to American pop culture, Sharpton expressing his deep sympathy to the Jackson family over their loss.

I have asked some folks if I’ve missed something, that Jackson and Sharpton were somehow best friends, but no one knew about it. They cannot remember it, either. Before he became known as a “civil rights activist,” Sharpton’s main claim to notoriety was his role in the trumped-up brutality charges brought by a young black woman against some white police officers, who eventually sued Sharpton and others for slander — and won.

It’s been said of many politicians that the most dangerous place in the world is any space between them and a television camera.

Al Sharpton wins that honor — hands down!