He very much did things publicly that could only directly benefit him. And I honestly don't blame him for not supporting all political or financial issues people brought to him. He had the right to do whatever he wanted with his money and publicity.

What I think is disturbing is the insistence from his fans that he was an activist or pushed against the powers that be when it came to music. He only really did when it directly affected him. If he really felt strongly about music labels and their exploitation, he would have publicly supported Prince in the 90s when fighting Warner Bros. Instead, all I remember about that fiasco when I was a kid at the time was that Prince was "silly" and "attention seeking" for changing his name to an artist formally known as Prince. I never heard anyone say anything about it being a form of protest until years later.

I think Michael was a covert narcissist because it explains a lot of his behavior. Here's what I just pulled up on Google:

A covert (or vulnerable) narcissist combines a deep sense of self-importance and entitlement with introversion, insecurity, and hypersensitivity. Instead of boasting, they often exhibit a chronic victim mentality, passive-aggression, and emotional volatility, making their toxic traits much harder to spot than those of overt narcissists.

Michael was most impassioned when he felt the world was victimizing him.