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Michael Jackson loved his legions of fans and never hesitated to say “I love you more” in response to fans shouting, “We love you, Michael.”

He basked in the atmosphere when his fans showed up in masses to welcome him to New York’s Time Square during his visit to MTV’s Total Request Live show in 2001, and he jumped atop an SUV and briefly danced for the crowd who showered him with support outside the courtroom for his second child molestation trial in 2004.
So the King of Pop would be displeased to know that an estimated 250,000-750,000 fans who will descend on Los Angeles on Tuesday for his public memorial will be restricted from getting anywhere near the Staples Center unless they win a random raffle for one of 17,500 wristbands to enter the area and the next-door Nokia Theater.


Entry for raffle tickets on www.staplescenter.com ends on Saturday at 6 p.m. Pacific. The pop star’s public memorial is scheduled for 10 a.m. Tuesday and most fans won’t even see it.

Always a crowd-pleaser, Michael would have been heartbroken if he had been performing inside the Staples Center and was told that 90% of his fans were kept outside and restricted from coming anywhere near the building. MJ would probably take the concert to the streets, and we’ve seen what a showman he was when his feet hit the streets. Think “Billie Jean”, “Thriller”, “The Way You Make Me Feel”, The Wiz’s “Ease on Down the Road” and those crazy final minutes of his “Black or White” video.


The city of Los Angeles could have done better than a random raffle that will only satisfy 10% of Michael’s adoring fans who spent money that’s hard too come by in this global recession to travel to the memorial. Sure, the city is struggling with a half-billion dollar debt of its own, but it raised nearly half the cost for a $2 million downtown parade to celebrate the Lakers’ 15th NBA championship.
It’s not everyday that an iconic pop star dies, so why not parade Michael Jackson’s body through the city in a horse-drawn carriage with presidential protection, of course? The city would make the investment back 100 times over from patronage of L.A. area hotels, restaurants and other businesses by the quarter-million to 750,000 fans coming from all across the world.
If the city doesn’t want to put up any money to avoid the outcry of soon-to-be, laid-off government workers, it should consider asking L.A.-based AEG Worldwide to fund the parade. AEG, the world’s largest sports owner/promoter and the world’s second largest concert promoter, backed Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” comeback tour and stands to make at least $100 million from packaging the 100 hours of footage from the pop star’s rehearsals at the Staples Center, including his final practice in the wee morning hours before going home and dying of cardiac arrest.
AEG already threw $30 million into preparation for Michael’s comeback and paid $150,000 monthly to Dr. Conrad Murray, the physician present the entire time when the pop star died at his home. Dr. Murray’s outrageous salary, which comes out to nearly $2 million annually, to monitor the singer is enough to pay for a real public memorial to Michael Jackson.
There’s got to be a better way to honor the King of Pop than this half-baked ticket raffle for a hardly public memorial.

By Teneshia LaFaye

Buy a limited edition I Was There, King of Pop Commemorative Journal featuring many of these stories to remember the positive side of Michael Jackson’s life. The journal went on sale at the pop icon’s public memorial in L.A., and a limited supply is left over. Don’t let this moment pass you by. Get the journal while supplies last as a keepsake for MJ’s passing with spaces for your personal experience and pictures.

To receive your copy, please send $8 per copy in cash or money order to King of Pop Journal, 3832-10 Baymeadows Rd., Suite 205, Jacksonville, FL 32217 and make sure your name and address is on the envelope.

Or you can buy now for $7.35:

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