He was percieved as strange because he wasn't a social person and he was never good at explaining himself. He never understood why everyone freaked out when he said the stuff that he did. This is most likely because he spent his whole childhood stuck in a band instead of learning social skills like other children.
(sorry i'm 10 months late and the user deleted but hey 😅)
I was alive when Michael Jackson was subjected to racist & homophobic persecution as well. Not that he was gay (probably asexual), but people made assumptions based on his appearance & mistreated him accordingly.