Michael Jackson's Memorial

[Maikeru-sama]

His sister said he would stay in a room with children for days at a time. MJ himself admitted he slept with children that were not his own. He was accused on several occasions of child molestation. He paid off the accusers. With all of that, you don't think he did it? OJ was never convicted either. (Shout out to Mick!)

:laugh2:

 

[Maikeru-sama]

I just don't see it. And I'm a huge boxing fan. Sure he'll get coverage, the OxyClean guy got coverage, but it won't be huge.

Sure but when you talk about Muhammad Ali, you are talking about more than just boxing.

 

[FloridaRob]

I wonder if all the people that state how MJ was so misunderstood and would hever hurt a child would have a problem wiht their kids or grandkids spending the ngiht at his pad.

If the kid sneaks into Elizabeth Taylors room with Brooke Shieldes with the only intention of looking at Taylors Wedding Dress, then something is defintely not right with him. Not that there is anything wrong with that....

 

[MC KAos]

come on cajun, you really think that if the state of california had its way they wanted this to happen outside of their state? or the city of LA??? do you realize how much more money the city made, uncluding the influx of people, the added business to local restaurants, hotels, etc? im sure the economic impact of the funeral being in LA far outweighed the extra 2 million they spent on security.

as for him being a child molestor, he was never found guilty of anything, and although that doesnt mean he is innocent, it also doesnt mean he is guilty. I think its fine that you have your opinion about him but i just think that he was a little child inside and he just hung out with little kids to fulfill his childhood that he never had. Did he sleep with kids that werent his? maybe but i dont think he had malicious intent when doing so, like he wanted to sexually abuse those kids, he was just innocent minded, IMO and didnt think things through, something he is clearly guilty of.

i will agree with you that its a shame that it gets so much coverage and it shouldnt be that way because of other things goin on in the world, like the crisis in china, that need to get our attention. unfortunately our society is obsessed with celebrities such as michael and britney, etc. they drive up ratings, they are what the news is giving us. its the sad truth

 

[MC KAos]

I wonder if all the people that state how MJ was so misunderstood and would hever hurt a child would have a problem wiht their kids or grandkids spending the ngiht at his pad.

If the kid sneaks into Elizabeth Taylors room with Brooke Shieldes with the only intention of looking at Taylors Wedding Dress, then something is defintely not right with him. Not that there is anything wrong with that....

i wouldnt let my son spend the night at tim tebow's or mother theresa's house either. I dont know them personally, if i knew michael personally then maybe id know wether he is a pervert or not

 

[Avaj]

Drug addictions, custody battles, and shocking photo!

 

[Cajuncowboy]

come on cajun, you really think that if the state of california had its way they wanted this to happen outside of their state? or the city of LA??? do you realize how much more money the city made, uncluding the influx of people, the added business to local restaurants, hotels, etc? im sure the economic impact of the funeral being in LA far outweighed the extra 2 million they spent on security.

as for him being a child molestor, he was never found guilty of anything, and although that doesnt mean he is innocent, it also doesnt mean he is guilty. I think its fine that you have your opinion about him but i just think that he was a little child inside and he just hung out with little kids to fulfill his childhood that he never had. Did he sleep with kids that werent his? maybe but i dont think he had malicious intent when doing so, like he wanted to sexually abuse those kids, he was just innocent minded, IMO and didnt think things through, something he is clearly guilty of.

i will agree with you that its a shame that it gets so much coverage and it shouldnt be that way because of other things goin on in the world, like the crisis in china, that need to get our attention. unfortunately our society is obsessed with celebrities such as michael and britney, etc. they drive up ratings, they are what the news is giving us. its the sad truth

Here's some pixie dust...

Oh, and he admitted to sleeping with children.

And if the circus was such a boon to the economy of California, (It was 4 million dollars by the way) why is the state of California asking people to help pay for it?

 

[big dog cowboy]

Morgan Freeman to wed step-granddaughter???

 

[Cajuncowboy]

Morgan Freeman to wed step-granddaughter???

Well, this certainly fits in this thread.

 

[Faerluna]

Back onto the subject of this thread instead of the tired, old arguing...

The program from the memorial:

http://wizbangpop.com/2009/07/07/michael-jackson-memorial-program.php

 

[MC KAos]

Here's some pixie dust...

Oh, and he admitted to sleeping with children.

And if the circus was such a boon to the economy of California, (It was 4 million dollars by the way) why is the state of California asking people to help pay for it?

distorting the truth to fit your agenda? typical, it was actually not even 2 million

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/08/michael.jackson.cost/index.html

 

[trickblue]

Icon? Without a doubt...

Hero? No way!!!

I really liked his music, but he was his own worst enemy...

 

[Cajuncowboy]

distorting the truth to fit your agenda? typical, it was actually not even 2 million

http://www.cnn.com/2009/SHOWBIZ/Music/07/08/michael.jackson.cost/index.html

LOL

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/07/entertainment/main5140123.shtml

BTW, the estimates were leading up to the funeral. Your link was from yesterday and as it turned out it was nearly 1.5 million. Still way too much money for a city that is in debt over a half billion dollars. AS your own link says, when the Lakers had their "celebration" it cost the city 2 mil. and they reimbured the city. Think the Jackson circus will do the same?

 

[MC KAos]

LOL

http://www.cbsnews.com/stories/2009/07/07/entertainment/main5140123.shtml

BTW, the estimates were leading up to the funeral. Your link was from yesterday and as it turned out it was nearly 1.5 million. Still way too much money for a city that is in debt over a half billion dollars. AS your own link says, when the Lakers had their "celebration" it cost the city 2 mil. and they reimbured the city. Think the Jackson circus will do the same?

i wish they would, it would be nice, but i doubt it. but i still think the city was happy it happened there because of all the added business.

 

[MC KAos]

Icon? Without a doubt...

Hero? No way!!!

I really liked his music, but he was his own worst enemy...

great post

 

[WoodysGirl]

Didn't want to create a new thread...

LIFTING THE VEIL ON JACKO'S KIDS
INSIDE THEIR STRANGE & AMAZING FANTASY LIVES AT NEVERLAND

By DAVID K. LI and LACHLAN CARTWRIGHT IN LOS ANGELES AND CHUCK BENNETT IN NEW YORK

Last updated: 11:20 am
July 9, 2009
Posted: 3:10 am
July 9, 2009

Michael Jackson's sudden death may give his three beloved children something he could never provide -- a chance to be themselves.

The King of Pop devoted his life to creating a fairy-tale Never Neverland for his three young heirs, a world where the reality around them was hidden behind masks or the burly frames of professional bodyguards.

PHOTOS: Michael Jackson Memorial Service

Ongoing Michael Jackson Coverage

Prince Michael Joseph, 12, Paris Michael, 11, and Prince Michael II, a k a "Blanket," 7, have never attended a day of school. They've never known a neighborhood friend. They sleep together in the same room. And the only outsiders they know are strangers their father would bring in to entertain them.

Last Christmas Eve, Jacko and his dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, -- the suspected father of the two oldest children -- arranged for Carrie Fisher to surprise the kids by reprising her role as Princess Leia in "Star Wars" at their rental mansion in Holmby Hills, Calif.

"Michael brought the kids down in their pajamas and said, 'This is Princess Leia,' " said family friend Stephen Price. "They were so excited! She did her famous speech for them -- the 'Help me, Obi-Wan' speech."

"They are the greatest kids you'll ever meet," Price told Us Weekly of the Jackson kids. "They didn't act like they had silver spoons in their mouths. They are nice and not Hollywood brats. Paris is very polite, a little reserved. Prince is the most outgoing. And Blanket is a sharp kid, but also pretty quiet. When I asked what he wanted for Christmas, he said, 'I just want a stuffed animal.' "

To entertain his kids, Jacko would often take them on midnight shopping sprees in stores specially opened just for them. They hopscotched around the globe from California to Las Vegas to Bahrain to Ireland to New Jersey to Switzerland.

He showered the children with indulgences. In 2007, he shut down parts of the New York, New York Hotel in Las Vegas so he and the kids could play video games and ride the roller coaster. And the kids would show up bleary-eyed at bookshops and toy stores around the world for private shopping sprees at 2 or 3 a.m.

They ate Jackson's favorite -- KFC -- for lunch and dinner.

"Prince I, Paris and Prince II were his life," Michael's longtime pal Dieter Wiesner told Life & Style. "He made breakfast for them -- a lot of people don't know this side of Michael."

VIDEO: Brooke Shields Remembers Michael Jackson

Video: Jackson's Daughter's Sad Goodbye

Perhaps best of all from a child's perspective -- no school.

"I'm going to build a computer school on the grounds [of Neverland]," Jackson said in an interview. "How can they go into society? He's Prince Michael Jackson. She's Paris Katherine Michael Jackson. It would be too difficult."

He also fathered by example -- and showed them how to take responsibility for themselves, one record producer told Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli. Prince Michael once spilled popcorn on the studio floor, and the producer bent over to clean up the mess, fearing Jacko would have a diva-like tantrum.

Instead, the megastar apologized.

"He's my kid. I'll clean up after him," Jackson said, according to Taraborrelli.

The producer recalled, "I looked down and there's Michael Jackson on his hands and knees picking up his son's popcorn. I'm not sure you would see Madonna doing that."

Jackson did his best to prevent his kids from becoming brats, friends said.

"He wanted them to have a chance at a childhood which he never had," friend Price recalled. "He wanted to make sure they played, because they are kids first and foremost. He made sure they were taken care of, but he understood the difference between a need and a want. He knew to give them a solid foundation to be good people, and that's what I saw in these kids: bright, intelligent, good people."

Video: Marlon Jackson Remembers Michael

VIDEO: Procession to Memorial Service

Get MORE Michael Jackson Video Coverage

Others in Jackson's inner circle agreed.

"He wasn't a disciplinarian but he didn't let the kids run the roost or be spoiled rotten," Stuart Backerman, a former adviser and publicist for Jackson from 2002 to 2004, told The Post.

He recalled a moment in 2004 when he walked through Neverland's kitchen and a 6-year-old Paris spit out her food -- drawing a quietly stern reaction from Jackson.

"Michael looked up and told her, 'We don't spit out food and we don't talk badly about other people in this house, and we have good manners,' " Backerman recalled.

"It didn't mean anything to me at the time, but now as I look back, it reminds me what kind of parent he was."

Jackson insiders say their eccentric father did his best to instill a steely self-confidence in his children.

Jackson's 11-year-old daughter, Paris Michael, exemplified that strength when she took the microphone at his memorial service on Tuesday to say before a crowd of 20,000 -- and millions watching worldwide -- "Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine."

"Without getting over-mushy about it, it might have shown Jackson did a pretty damn good job raising those kids," Backerman said. "She's no shrinking violet, this kid, as you saw. She might have been hidden by veils and skulking around because of the privacy issues all these years, but she showed herself to be a maturing preteen girl."

Follow The Post on Twitter!

PHOTOS: JACKSON FANS AROUND THE WORLD

Still, there was much to be concerned about.

Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie, was Jacko's first wife and refused to have his babies.

She said that the King of Pop was too emotionally immature to raise a child. The two were divorced within two years of their marriage.

Prince Michael Joseph and Paris Michael were born after Jackson's second wife, Debbie Rowe, the nurse at his dermatology clinic, was artificially inseminated.

Rowe played no part in the children's lives, but she has hinted at a custody challenge in the wake of Jackson's death.

News reports have said the sperm donor may well have been Klein, Rowe's boss who has been oddly close to the children, although he denied those reports yesterday.

"We never saw [Rowe]," a Neverland staffer told Jackson biographer Taraborrelli of life after Prince Michael was born in 1997.

"The baby was cared for by a team of six nannies and six nurses, who worked in shifts so that there were always two nurses and two nannies by his side. They were kept under constant video surveillance, which was monitored by members of Jackson's security team.

"The day team did exercise drills with the baby to build up his strength. The night team read and sang to him. But it was as if he had no mother," Taraborrelli reported.

Another nanny said the air quality in Prince Michael's room was measured hourly, all utensils were thrown away after every use, and toys were tossed each night to be replaced the next day.

Next Monday, Judge Mitchell Beckloff of Los Angeles Superior Court will hear Michael's mother Katherine Jackson's petition for permanent custody of the kids.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/0709200...ing_the_veil_on_jackos_kids_178330.htm?page=0

 

[Bob Sacamano]

Didn't want to create a new thread...

LIFTING THE VEIL ON JACKO'S KIDS
INSIDE THEIR STRANGE & AMAZING FANTASY LIVES AT NEVERLAND

By DAVID K. LI and LACHLAN CARTWRIGHT IN LOS ANGELES AND CHUCK BENNETT IN NEW YORK

Last updated: 11:20 am
July 9, 2009
Posted: 3:10 am
July 9, 2009

Michael Jackson's sudden death may give his three beloved children something he could never provide -- a chance to be themselves.

The King of Pop devoted his life to creating a fairy-tale Never Neverland for his three young heirs, a world where the reality around them was hidden behind masks or the burly frames of professional bodyguards.

PHOTOS: Michael Jackson Memorial Service

Ongoing Michael Jackson Coverage

Prince Michael Joseph, 12, Paris Michael, 11, and Prince Michael II, a k a "Blanket," 7, have never attended a day of school. They've never known a neighborhood friend. They sleep together in the same room. And the only outsiders they know are strangers their father would bring in to entertain them.

Last Christmas Eve, Jacko and his dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, -- the suspected father of the two oldest children -- arranged for Carrie Fisher to surprise the kids by reprising her role as Princess Leia in "Star Wars" at their rental mansion in Holmby Hills, Calif.

"Michael brought the kids down in their pajamas and said, 'This is Princess Leia,' " said family friend Stephen Price. "They were so excited! She did her famous speech for them -- the 'Help me, Obi-Wan' speech."

"They are the greatest kids you'll ever meet," Price told Us Weekly of the Jackson kids. "They didn't act like they had silver spoons in their mouths. They are nice and not Hollywood brats. Paris is very polite, a little reserved. Prince is the most outgoing. And Blanket is a sharp kid, but also pretty quiet. When I asked what he wanted for Christmas, he said, 'I just want a stuffed animal.' "

To entertain his kids, Jacko would often take them on midnight shopping sprees in stores specially opened just for them. They hopscotched around the globe from California to Las Vegas to Bahrain to Ireland to New Jersey to Switzerland.

He showered the children with indulgences. In 2007, he shut down parts of the New York, New York Hotel in Las Vegas so he and the kids could play video games and ride the roller coaster. And the kids would show up bleary-eyed at bookshops and toy stores around the world for private shopping sprees at 2 or 3 a.m.

They ate Jackson's favorite -- KFC -- for lunch and dinner.

"Prince I, Paris and Prince II were his life," Michael's longtime pal Dieter Wiesner told Life & Style. "He made breakfast for them -- a lot of people don't know this side of Michael."

VIDEO: Brooke Shields Remembers Michael Jackson

Video: Jackson's Daughter's Sad Goodbye

Perhaps best of all from a child's perspective -- no school.

"I'm going to build a computer school on the grounds [of Neverland]," Jackson said in an interview. "How can they go into society? He's Prince Michael Jackson. She's Paris Katherine Michael Jackson. It would be too difficult."

He also fathered by example -- and showed them how to take responsibility for themselves, one record producer told Jackson biographer J. Randy Taraborrelli. Prince Michael once spilled popcorn on the studio floor, and the producer bent over to clean up the mess, fearing Jacko would have a diva-like tantrum.

Instead, the megastar apologized.

"He's my kid. I'll clean up after him," Jackson said, according to Taraborrelli.

The producer recalled, "I looked down and there's Michael Jackson on his hands and knees picking up his son's popcorn. I'm not sure you would see Madonna doing that."

Jackson did his best to prevent his kids from becoming brats, friends said.

"He wanted them to have a chance at a childhood which he never had," friend Price recalled. "He wanted to make sure they played, because they are kids first and foremost. He made sure they were taken care of, but he understood the difference between a need and a want. He knew to give them a solid foundation to be good people, and that's what I saw in these kids: bright, intelligent, good people."

Video: Marlon Jackson Remembers Michael

VIDEO: Procession to Memorial Service

Get MORE Michael Jackson Video Coverage

Others in Jackson's inner circle agreed.

"He wasn't a disciplinarian but he didn't let the kids run the roost or be spoiled rotten," Stuart Backerman, a former adviser and publicist for Jackson from 2002 to 2004, told The Post.

He recalled a moment in 2004 when he walked through Neverland's kitchen and a 6-year-old Paris spit out her food -- drawing a quietly stern reaction from Jackson.

"Michael looked up and told her, 'We don't spit out food and we don't talk badly about other people in this house, and we have good manners,' " Backerman recalled.

"It didn't mean anything to me at the time, but now as I look back, it reminds me what kind of parent he was."

Jackson insiders say their eccentric father did his best to instill a steely self-confidence in his children.

Jackson's 11-year-old daughter, Paris Michael, exemplified that strength when she took the microphone at his memorial service on Tuesday to say before a crowd of 20,000 -- and millions watching worldwide -- "Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine."

"Without getting over-mushy about it, it might have shown Jackson did a pretty damn good job raising those kids," Backerman said. "She's no shrinking violet, this kid, as you saw. She might have been hidden by veils and skulking around because of the privacy issues all these years, but she showed herself to be a maturing preteen girl."

Follow The Post on Twitter!

PHOTOS: JACKSON FANS AROUND THE WORLD

Still, there was much to be concerned about.

Elvis Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie, was Jacko's first wife and refused to have his babies.

She said that the King of Pop was too emotionally immature to raise a child. The two were divorced within two years of their marriage.

Prince Michael Joseph and Paris Michael were born after Jackson's second wife, Debbie Rowe, the nurse at his dermatology clinic, was artificially inseminated.

Rowe played no part in the children's lives, but she has hinted at a custody challenge in the wake of Jackson's death.

News reports have said the sperm donor may well have been Klein, Rowe's boss who has been oddly close to the children, although he denied those reports yesterday.

"We never saw [Rowe]," a Neverland staffer told Jackson biographer Taraborrelli of life after Prince Michael was born in 1997.

"The baby was cared for by a team of six nannies and six nurses, who worked in shifts so that there were always two nurses and two nannies by his side. They were kept under constant video surveillance, which was monitored by members of Jackson's security team.

"The day team did exercise drills with the baby to build up his strength. The night team read and sang to him. But it was as if he had no mother," Taraborrelli reported.

Another nanny said the air quality in Prince Michael's room was measured hourly, all utensils were thrown away after every use, and toys were tossed each night to be replaced the next day.

Next Monday, Judge Mitchell Beckloff of Los Angeles Superior Court will hear Michael's mother Katherine Jackson's petition for permanent custody of the kids.

http://www.nypost.com/seven/0709200...ing_the_veil_on_jackos_kids_178330.htm?page=0

damn, I feel kind of bad now