Watched some of it, and to be honest found it all a bit of a circus.. where were all these loyal friends ( who could not wait to be in the forefront showing their sorrow)..when he (MJ) was accused of Child abuse, where were they when he was popping pills  to get by on a daily basis.

The  memorial will go down in history as either one of two things... the greatest memorial of all time or the greatest Hollywood extravagance of all time....  personally I saw it as the latter.

I have no problem with children going to funerals,  but I do have a problem with them being exploited...

His daughter showed the probeby only genuine emotion of the day... but her eulogy made me uncomfortable,  not the fact that she was crying and clearly very upset....but the fact she had the Jackson family pushing and poking  her to , telling her to  "speak up darling"    through her distress.

One would hope these children  will now have a chance of normality..but I doubt it, in the hands of a media hungry family  , they have no hope... specially after seeing the extravaganza of them "supporting"  her through her speech

I didn't find it unlike the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. That was a 'showbiz' event. The young Princes being made to walk the streets of London with the world watching, stiff upper lips - no cuddles from their Aunts & Uncles. They were then used as pawns in the service between two arguing families.  At least Michael Jackson's children were allowed to act like children.

I didn't find it unlike the funeral of Diana, Princess of Wales. That was a 'showbiz' event

I think that was more of a State/Royal funeral,  nothing showbiz about it...apart from Elton John maybe.

It's a different argument really but she was no longer a Royal at the time of her death and personally I think her funeral shouldn't have been the media frenzy it was turned into. I was really getting at the point that people are complaining about MJ's children being part of the funeral service on Tuesday but I can't see a difference between them and the two Princes and the way they were treated.

> Jackson family pushing and poking  her to , telling her to  "speak up darling"    through her distress.

Talk about invading her space.The poor girl must have felt terribly hemmed in.After the effort MJ made to keep them unseen,apart from a few times in the few months before he died,it went against everything he wanted for them.To push her forward in front of thousands of people,and surround her like that,pawing her,she couldn't have escaped if she'd tried.Now the speculation (everything is speculation,isn't it?)about the identity of their biological fathers.You just couldn't make it up!Poor kids.

'Now the speculation (everything is speculation,isn't it?)about the identity of their biological fathers.You just couldn't make it up!Poor kids. '

Prince Harry has seen his fair share of that as well ;-)

well, one thing is for true. MJ can hardly be their biological father, they are white he is black.

and as for prince harry, he so looks like james hewitt

His daughter showed the probeby only genuine emotion of the day... but her eulogy made me uncomfortable,  not the fact that she was crying and clearly very upset....but the fact she had the Jackson family pushing and poking  her to , telling her to  "speak up darling"    through her distress.



I too found that distressing to watch, it did look as though she were being coached to say it, but we don't know!

For all we know Paris may well have begged the family to say something about her father infront of all the people who loved him, I know very well that one of my nieces wanted to speak at my grandfathers cremation, she asked if she could, she was 14 at the time, she wrote everything down and stood up at the alter (is that what it is called) said two lines and fell apart sobbing infront of us all, it was more distressing than the cremation, my brother and my sister-in-law went up and put their arms around her reading her words for her, she managed to say the last few lines, it was beautiful and had us all in tears weeping buckets, but the same could have been of Paris, she may well have wanted to do that and the Jacksons were surrounding her to give her the love and strength she needed to finish, it is very important for children to be allowed to speak if they wish at this time.

So again I don't feel we should judge what happened, we don't know what went on that day between the family, and I doubt we ever will.

I just found the whole thing totally inappropriate to be honest. It was a show not a memorial and felt the way they paraded those children was so wrong.

Children have a place in funerals but not to be paraded as they were. It felt like they were grooming them after the what the Motown Chap went on and on about how he managed them :-(

> Prince Harry has seen his fair share of that as well ;-)

I forgot about that.It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he were James Hewitt's son.

Oh well, now the circus really begins, his sister is saying he has been "murdered! !!!

I don't think he was murdered in the true sense, but it does seem that people would not say no to his needs of prescription drugs and purchased them under their names for him. 

Re. the children, would you say they were white?  I actually thought that the daughter was quite dark and I have to say in some ways around the mouth looked a bit like Janet??

>I actually thought that the daughter was quite dark

Me too.

http://images.google.co.uk/imgres?imgurl=http://madnews.files.wordpress.com/2008/02/michaelkids.jpg&imgrefurl=http://madnews.wordpress.com/2008/02/01/pic-of-the-day-michael-jackson-with-off-spring/&usg=__c4iPVt4KnPy7D3MGp480U87S8qs=&h=315&w=490&sz=28&hl=en&start=12&sig2=CyKXfcAQG02_p4xe0kdNwQ&um=1&tbnid=W8Aet9czygtZTM:&tbnh=84&tbnw=130&prev=/images%3Fq%3Dmichael%2Bjackson%2Bchildren%26hl%3Den%26client%3Dfirefox-a%26rls%3Dorg.mozilla:en-GB:official%26sa%3DN%26um%3D1&ei=-r9ZSs7HAt24jAe1nLC2Cw

http://img206.imageshack.us/img206/2540/gracekidsrarebi0yb9.jpg

not if you check these pictures.
they looked white in the recent photos as well

Re. the children, would you say they were white?  I actually thought that the daughter was quite dark and I have to say in some ways around the mouth looked a bit like Janet

Re- his daughter,  she has bright blue eyes ,(and not sure her mother has blue eyes either) and although slightly olive skinned, I dont think she or her brother resemble any of the Jackson family.

Re- her resembling Janet, not sure how  that could be seen, as with the trend of some of the Jackson family they have had so much plastic surgury and skin whitening, you can hardly tell what they originally looked like

At the memorial she was a very similar colour to the woman beside her.

jackbox is right. you have to take into account alterations the jackson's have made to themselves over the years

re the memorial picture, i cannot see she looks the same colour as the woman next to her at all.

i agree it might be deceiving though, due to the dark lighting and the rows of dark skins combined with dark clothing.
but you can closely observe that the face, arms, and then legs of latoya or janet (i think its one of them?) is much darker than those of the girl.

look closely at where the girl is holding the end of the arm of the lady - that is the big give away,
as the hand is up front in the shot, so not affected by the lighting and shading of the rest of the photo.
as a further proof, the black guy two down holding the mic: just like the girl, his hand is up front in the shot, now compare both hands.

> the black guy two down holding the mic:

He doesn't have a white mother, does he? I wouldn't expect him to have the same colour skin as the girl.

I've always thought that LaToyah has a paler skin to most of the Jacksons.

There are no white parents for them so they wd be darker, she still doesn't look white to me and anyway even different races can produce white or black children if it's in their ancestry.

> It wouldn't surprise me one bit if he were James Hewitt's son

I can't imagine that the Royal Family would have allowed Princess Diana to remain Princess of Wales for as long as she did if Charles wasn't Harry's father. If they wanted to get rid of Diana what better excuse than to have the proof of her adultery ? Then Charles would have been seen as the innocent party. Harry is third in line to the throne. Would they really leave him there if they knew that he was not Charles' son ??

Daisy

[iIt wouldn't surprise me one bit if he were James Hewitt's son]  There are redheads in Di's family also so why should he be James Hewitt's son.  Is it me or is William starting to look like his dad?  He definitely did on the TV the other day.

I've always thought that LaToyah has a paler skin to most of the Jacksons.

Unfortunately as she has succumbed to the same disease as Michail (wanting white skin) it is not surprising,  to much Plastic surgury and  skin whitening.

Jeangenie

    > the black guy two down holding the mic:

He doesn't have a white mother, does he? I wouldn't expect him to have the same colour skin as the girl.

You've missed my point.
I was replying to the posts that say the girl looks a similar colour to the lady next door (latoya) and pointing out several bits of evidence on the photo to the contrary.

Not to mention all the other photos i linked earlier, which clearly show white kids.

And Latoya and her skin whitening.

Im not denying the girl has a white mother, im denying that MJ is the bio father, the most obvious reason being she isnt black.

I know you can get throwbacks, one friends have one (Polynesian), but that's quite rare and grabbing at straws, when their is a more straightforward likely reason: MJ just aint the bio dad (but still the father, nonetheless).

I can't imagine that the Royal Family would have allowed Princess Diana to remain Princess of Wales for as long as she did if Charles wasn't Harry's father. If they wanted to get rid of Diana what better excuse than to have the proof of her adultery ? Then Charles would have been seen as the innocent party. Harry is third in line to the throne. Would they really leave him there if they knew that he was not Charles' son ??

Daisy

I can.

All that's being going on the Royal Family for centuries.
Its very questionable whether The Royal Family is even actually The Royal Family (but i support them nonetheless).

I know that I didn't say that she was the same colour skin, I said that she resembled Janet around the mouth.  Can't actually see where anyone stated she was the same skin colour myself/  Or am I misreading something?  There are of course ways that he could be the biological father of course.

It would be absolutely awful if a load of people came out of the woodwork claiming to be their parents!

What a mess the whole thing is.A big,sad,mess.

And is it really anything to do with any of us?   The children have lost the man they knew and loved as their father .   They are children who have lost a beloved parent.

Over this weekend, eight parents have lost beloved sons in Afghanistan......I'll do my grieving over these parents.

But may they all rest in peace - and may these lads not have died in vain.   May peace and stability be the legacy that they leave behind.

And they're off!!!!

A book coming out from some sad on the make writer, that Michael was gay and his sources (yeah) say he dressed as a woman to meet a gay builder he had the hots for in a run down motel as he was so poor he couldn't afford anything better.

Er.......... did he not see where he was living!

How many MJ lookalikes are out there, how many people get fooled and bedded by lookalikes I'm sure over the next few weeks MJ will suddenly have thousands of lovers and liars coming out, (a dead man can't sue) I think I shall give the papers a miss over the next few weeks, it is going to be horrendous. :-(

> he was so poor he couldn't afford anything better.
>

Does that mean MJ was so poor?He's been rich since he was 5,hasn't he?Oh how hideous these people are,who come out of the woodwork with all the tittle- tattle.Even if if was true,I detest kiss and tell stories.

Carrington - change the papers you read!  Don't see anything about MJ in the Western Mail :-)

Nor the Telegraph. :-) Once described by an aaquaintance as being "full of news and politics - no gossip so not worth reading".

Ah that's our other paper - no wonder I don't get any gossip!  Times on Sunday! 

I REALLY DON'T BELIEVE this: http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,531940,00.html
Well well! Don't need the telegraph for gossip - just use Twitter!

We get 4 newspapers in our house and 3 of those are going in the bin for the next 2 weeks. I can't bare to read these stories anymore. I hope this one is a load of Twitter ceejay. :-( I'm sure the Jacksons will not allow the vile Joe to have any control over those poor babes, would anyone really want to see something like that, so abhorant to their fathers wishes it would be like kicking him in the teeth.

Why do any of the Jacksons let that man have any say in anything. (If it's ture)

I'm kind of believing the rumour that MJ's mum and Debbie Rowe are coming to an agreement though, just to make sure that the Grandfather has no say at all.

Sorry Carrington - best if I keep off Twitter too so we don't have to read this sort of hogwash.  We have 2 papers in our house (3 when we get the local weekly) and I barely manage to flick through one these days.  I am off to do some reading!