No, that was not a series of typos. I don’t think so anyway. You read right. The funeral of Michael Jackson, which will be held at the Staples Centre in Los Angeles and not Neverland, will involve ticket sales and a $25 admission.
Fans who wish to attend Michael Jackson’s star-studded memorial service at Staples Center will have to shell out $25 to sit in the stands, Radar Online has learned exclusively. Family, friends and VIPS will have seats on the main floor for The Tuesday, July 7th Staples service, first reported by RadarOnline.com, while the general public will be plucking down $25 to sit in the stands.
The memorial service will feel like a concert production featuring guest speakers, a lot of music and video screens inside and outside of Staples, a source close to the planning tells RadarOnline.com. (Radar Online)
Not sure how I feel about this, but pretty sure it makes me feel stabby.
This man’s entire life was about people making money off him. And though money may not be the primary motive for involving ticket agencies in all this, that will be a byproduct. Whomever is organising it may have done it to monitor attendance numbers or stem the flow of the freeloading vultures (press or whatever). But, you’ve gotta admit this smells like last week’s leftovers. Rotten.
WTF?!? charging for a funeral? even in death this guy can’t catch a break. *SIGH* this is just appalling. I’m speechless
I had the same reaction… but this appears to be true. Radar are akin to TMZ. Not wholy credible, but rarely wrong on this kind of thing.
It’s appalling and so are his debts.
But really, Amy, the reason why I schlepped over to your site (other than your writing turns me on something serious) is this little nugget from a well-respected journalist on both sides of the Pond. And he’s got witnesses and corroborating evidence.
I remain convinced in my convictions. Just like TMZ, MY gaydar/trannyrar is NEVER wrong.
To wit, linketh post haste here:
http://blog.mysocalledgaylife.com/?p=1674
Thanks for the link and the compliment *blushes*…
I am well-aware of Bashir. Though at one point he was well-known for his MJ and Princess Diana Interviews, he has barely worked on years and in the UK is no longer really liked or respected. That said, while he was active, the man did good work and did get some things very, very right. We shall see. If MJ did have lovers, should not take TMZ et al long to find them.
Martin Bashir has been the host of ABC New’s Nightline here in the U.S. since the ouster of Bernie Koppel.
The guy’s been quite active here in the U.S. over the last few years.
OMG! I will NEVER read anything by Martin Bashir because he is THE REASON why Michael unjustly went through his molestation lawsuit in 2005.
I watched the entire documentary and the boy “victim” was utterly confused when he was asked about Michael touching him and etc. After the episode aired, conveniently the boy’s fraudulent mother sued Michael for molestation.
Also, as a journalist major, Bashir IS NOT a journalist. His “documentary” was biased propoganda and it contributed to the stress in MJ’s life which contributed to his untimely passing.
I can’t wait until Bashir dies. It couldn’t happen soon enough.
Sheeeeeet. I knew there was something he did that meant essentially no UK news agency has wanted to touch him since. It was his documentary with that kid that made everyone go crazy. MJ soon after released a video of his own footage – taken at the same time… but the damage was done. 10 out of 10 for having a better memory than me FC.
Well I’m pretty sure Staples isn’t letting them hold the funeral there for free…maybe the $25 a ticket is just going to cover the costs because they could’ve easily charged much more, and people would’ve paid it…besides, parking’s going to probably cost about $30 anyway so it’s really going to be about $55 for one person to attend the viewing.
Hi Darren, welcome to the site and thanks for commenting. I’m not familiar with Staples whatsoever, so thanks for pointing that out. I mentioned that profit was probably not the main goal, so you may have hit the nail on the head.
I think they should charge money for the memorial considering that it’s at the Staples Center.
It costs a ridiculous amount to rent that baby out and I wonder if the $25 cover will even cover the rental cost?
Maybe it’s just to avoid going in the red. Like the bare minimum they can charge for x amount of people. Given Darren’s comment, yep, that seems the most likely reason.
God Bless
Firecracker, you are way off. Bashir investigated AFTER the allegations became public. He would have no way of knowing unless they had.
It’s a journalist’s profession to investigate news. Even when the news is not pretty and, yes, even when that news is connected to people we admire.
To Bashir’s credit, he flatly denies that any of those allegations were true. His assessment after his investigation was that all of the molestation charges were baseless and were motivated by greed.