Michael Jackson may have passed away over seven months ago, but there’s still a criminal case and surely dozens of lawsuits involving his estate pending. Jackson’s live-in doctor, Conrad Murray, plead innocent to charges, leveled in court yesterday, of involuntary manslaughter. His bail was set at $75,000, which he met. Along with being officially charged in his famous patient’s death, Murray’s license was restricted and he is no longer able to prescribe or administer anesthetics. Jackson’s family, including his parents and brothers and sisters, attended the hearing.

Jackson died from an overdose of Propofol, a powerful anesthetic that is only intended for use in hospital settings. He was being given the drug at home without the use of monitoring devices, like an EKG, that could have saved his life.

The official coroner’s report on Jackson’s death was released yesterday. His death was ruled a homicide caused by Propofol. The reports also contained details of the scene at Jackson’s home, and it’s a sad reminder of all the stories we heard at the time about how the King of Pop lived out his last days.

There are a lot of sordid details, but the one that stuck out for me was that there wasn’t even basic safety equipment in place, like dosage monitoring and resuscitation equipment. I don’t want to recount everything else, and if you’d like to read it you can. (There’s more information, including the report, on TMZ.) It just makes me sad to think about how this world renowned entertainer died. His doctor should definitely be held culpable in his death.

Michael Jackson’s children, Prince and Paris Jackson, accepted their father’s lifetime achievement award at the Grammy Awards on Sunday. The two were on stage with their cousins, Tarryl, TJ and Taj Jackson, of the band 3T. There may have been a very good reason why Prince and Paris were at the Grammys with their cousins instead of their aunts and uncles. Uncle Tito Jackson tweeted that he and his family were not invited to the Grammys and he sounded pretty bitter about it:

“So proud, my brother being honored tonight with the Lifetime Achievement Award,” Michael’s brother and former bandmate Randy wrote on his Twitter page. “My family would love to be there but, truth is, we weren’t invited.

“Do you want more truth? Let me be clear. When I said ‘my family’ I meant my brothers, sisters and parents.”

Michael’s three children — Paris, 11; Prince Michael I, 12; and seven-year-old Prince Michael II — aka Blanket — were there to honor their father but Randy is convinced the children were only invited as an afterthought.

“Randy was incandescent,” a source told Britain’s Daily Mirror newspaper. “He believed the Grammys only thought of including Michael’s children at the 11th hour as dad Joe Jackson complained there was no family representation.

“The brothers were hoping to attend and wear their silver gloves and matching suits to honor their brother. They feel insulted and hurt that they have been snubbed in this way. Michael would’ve wanted them there.

“The Jackson 5 was where the magic began. They’re a huge part of his story and felt they had been horribly overlooked.”

The eldest children took to the stage wearing black suits with red armbands to accept Michae’s award — which he was given for his contribution to the music industry, while Blanket remained backstage with his grandmother Katherine Jackson.

“Michael’s children themselves decided just Prince Michael I and Paris would speak on stage and accept the award on behalf of their dad,” the source said.

[From Showbizspy]

While I understand that Tito and his immediate family felt snubbed by the Grammys, it’s so typical of him and his father to make a big deal out of something instead of quietly sucking it up. If Prince and Paris made an appearance it was obviously approved by their guardian and grandmother Katherine Jackson. Plus the band 3T is made up of Tito’s three sons, who were on stage with their cousins! Maybe the Grammy officials wanted to honor Michael without turning the Grammys into a big Jackson family circus. I also doubt that Tito would have been content to sit on the sidelines and he probably would have made a stink out of not being invited to perform in the tribute.

There’s also the whole issue of the Jackson brothers trying to cash in on his brother’s death with shady business dealings, like a huge memorial concert that was promoted for a certain date, only to be postponed and moved to another venue. Jermaine announced in a press conference that certain artists would appear, after which some of those artists issued statements to the contrary. Tito now faces a potential lawsuit for another aborted memorial concert in Michigan. He was allegedly paid $7,500 for a concert that never materialized. I don’t blame the Grammy officials for trying to shut out Tito and his family. They’ve only shown that they’re only interested in self promotion. After all, Michael’s dad Joe plugged his own record company several times during interviews immediately following his son’s death.

Earth Song, Michael Jackson’s children are in the video below.

A star studded cast consisting of Celine Dion, Usher, Jennifer Hudson, Smokey Robinson, and Carrie Underwood paid musical tribute to Michael Jackson at last night’s Grammy Awards. The five did a virtual duet to Jackson’s hit “Earth Song” accompanied by a 3-D background video made for Jackson’s tour featuring beautiful nature imagery. The thing is, the live audience could view the video in 3-D as they were given special glasses, but the effect was lost on the home viewers, who saw blurry and kind of blueish images. It didn’t matter though, because the song was so incredible. It was a very touching tribute and I found myself getting a little misty-eyed toward the end. Not for Jackson necessarily, but because of the moving lyrics and the powerful way they were sung by so many talented artists.

Michael Jackson’s two older children, Prince and Paris, accepted the Lifetime Achievement Awards on behalf of their father. Like the musical tribute to their dad, they received a standing ovation. Prince and Paris looked so grown up on stage! Prince, 12, did most of the talking and vowed to continue his father’s charity work. Paris came on briefly afterwards and said a very heartfelt few words:

Michael Jackson’s 2 eldest children accepted his posthumous lifetime achievement award at the 52nd Grammy Awards.

Prince and Paris Jackson were accompanied by their cousins Tarryl, TJ and Taj Jackson of music group 3T when they accepted the award from presenter Lionel Richie.

Prince and Paris wore black suits and red armbands, reminiscent of their father’s style. They were greeted by a standing ovation as they walked hand-in-hand onstage.

“Thank you. We are proud to be here to accept this award on behalf of our father, Michael Jackson,” the 12-year-old Prince said. “First of all we’d like to thank God for watching over us for these past 7 months and our grandma and grandpa for their love and support. We’d also like to thank the fans. Our father loved you so much because you were always there for him.”

“Our father was always concerned about the planet and humanity. Through all his hard work and dedication, he has helped many charities and donated to all of them. Through all his songs, his message was simple: love. We will continue to spread his message and help the world. Thank you. We love you daddy.”

Paris, 11, added: “Daddy was supposed to be here. Daddy was gonna perform this year but he couldn’t perform last year. Thank you. We love you daddy.”

Jackson’s third child, 7-year-old Prince Michael II also known as “Blanket,” did not go onstage.

[From ABS-CBN News]

I just wanted to give Paris a hug after that. I really admire these children and hope that they continue to live their lives out of the spotlight. It’s nice to see them at a special event for their dad, but I really hope they don’t end up having careers in show business - especially if their grandfather has anything to do with it.

A taxpayer has filed suit against Michael Jackson’s estate for making the city of Los Angeles foot the bill for the late singer’s $3.3 million public funeral this July. The people of Los Angeles will have to get in line. There are currently over $20 million in claims against the estate from various creditors.

City officials explained during a press conference ahead of Jackson’s memorial that they would pay for the event using taypayer money budgeted for unexpected events. They also asked for donations to help offset the costs. The Jackson estate should have paid for the whole thing, or at least a significant portion of it, but since the city ended up footing the bill someone has inevitably filed a lawsuit.

An alleged do-gooder has filed a creditor’s claim against the Michael Jackson estate, on behalf of the City of Angels.

Jose Freddie Vallejos claims it was illegal for Los Angeles city fathers to underwrite the Michael Jackson memorial last July to the tune of $3.3 million.

Vallejos claims the memorial benefited the estate so the estate should pay the full bill.

He filed the claim as a taxpayer for the City of L.A.

[From TMZ]

Before Jackson’s memorial, the City of LA was so broke they almost canceled a parade for the Lakers ahead of the NBA championship win this summer. Some officials initially said that they wouldn’t be able to afford the parade, but eventually caved after the Lakers took home the title. The memorial was a huge media event and was simulcast around the world. Maybe the press attention offset the cost somewhat, but there are still bills to be paid and things are pretty tight lately.

Photo credit: WENN.com

I like Eminem’s brand of pop-rap, but ever since the guy emerged from his three year self-imposed hiatus there’s been something off about him. He seems to be really angry and resentful, and there was that whole feud with Mariah Carey and her new husband that he refused to let go. Eminem is sober now after a long battle with prescription drug addiction that seems to have been propelled by the death of his best friend, the rapper Proof, in 2006. He spoke to XXL magazine earlier this year about his struggle, and said that he was taking up to 20 Valium, Ambien and Vicodin a day.

In a new interview with Complex Magazine, Eminem is asked if he sees any parallels between his own prescription drug addiction and Michael Jackson’s. He says that he sees the parallels “100 percent” and adds that he had a lot of enablers around him that helped him get whatever he wanted. Eminem has been sober for 18 months now, and he’s lost the weight he gained overeating during his addiction:

So you feel better?
Eminem: [Laughs.] Hell yeah, I feel better. I feel like a human being again. There was one point in time where I felt like…[Sighs.] I don’t know—I felt like plastic.
In what way?
Eminem: I think I looked plastic. My face, fat plastic. [Laughs.] I was eating, but the Vicodin made me hungry because it eats up your stomach lining, so you want to fill your stomach back up, but then it stops you up so you can’t shit, you just—

Jesus.
Eminem: That’s why I was gaining so much weight, I was just so fucking bloated. It’s a trip when people take sobriety for granted. Feeling trapped in my addiction and then getting sober—you appreciate it so much more, because I didn’t know if I would ever know what it’s like to feel normal again, ever.
Are there moments when you feel like you’re being tested?
Eminem: Not with drugs or alcohol or anything like that. I just steer clear of it.

So you’re stone-sober these days?
Eminem: Yeah, it’ll be 18 months on the 20th [of October]. I realized I can’t touch anything, and that’s why I’m clean right now and why I’m going to stay clean. My brain just doesn’t know when to shut off. When I do something I have to do it all the way—that goes for music, with a high-hat, a snare drum, a rhyme, everything. I have to push it to the extreme. That’s how I realized I have addictive behavior. Somebody told me this once, that the thing that makes me bad is the same thing that makes me good at other things.

When the details of Michael Jackson’s death came to light, did you see any parallels?
Eminem: Oh, 100 percent. When you read things about Michael Jackson it’s hard to decipher what the f*ck is true, but there’s the story of how he woke up at whatever time and he needed something to go back to sleep because he had this or that and it didn’t work. That’s exactly what used to happen to me: I would take a couple of pills and I would be up an hour later and I’d want more. Then I’d take more and that would be enough to maybe get me back to sleep for two more hours. Then I’d be wide awake again. So I definitely can relate, and it’s a shame if he didn’t have anybody there to just say, “Michael, you’re an addict, you need help.” It’s one of the pitfalls of fame. I could just say, “Yo, I need this and this and this,” and they’re going to give me whatever I want because—

—because you’re Eminem.
Eminem: Exactly, it’s f*cked up. The worst thing that could have happened to me as an addict was having money.

[From Complex via MTV]

Eminem goes on to explain that he became addicted to running after he got sober and was running as much as 19 miles a day. He saw an episode of Obsessed on MTV featuring a guy who went to the gym three times a day and that helped him cut down his exercise. “There was a point in time when I had to burn 1,000 calories; if I didn’t burn 1,000 calories my day wasn’t complete. But now it’s like I can burn 275 calories and jump off the treadmill, or I can burn 550, and I’m OK with it.”

As for new technology and the Internet, Eminem says he has no clue and barely gets online. “I don’t even know how to turn a computer on and it’s probably better that way.” He says his favorite video game is old school arcade style Donkey Kong. Eminem is much more up to date with the media. He loves the HBO shows The Wire and Entourage and says Superbad is his favorite movie. He claims to have watched it 200 times.

Eminem is now working on his next album, Relapse 2, which he claims will be a more solid album and less pop-oriented. “Making Relapse, I was still working the drugs out of my system, so there was a lot of…just jokey sh*t. It was a lot of punchline-y, funny, shock value—kind of going back to The Slim Shady LP. And that was cool, but I’ve kind of flipped the page. Now I’m going for songs instead of one-liners. I don’t want to make sh*t that you hear once and then the joke’s over; I want to make records that you could play a hundred times, a thousand times.”

He also says he’s not dating anyone right now and that “I just came out of a long relationship, so I’m just kind of coasting right now.” The guy may not have worked out all of his demons, but he seems to have conquered the major ones. It’s probably for the best that he avoids relationships for a while. Judging from his music, women are more of an issue for him than anything else.

Janet Jackson is echoing what many of her family members have said: Dr. Conrad Murray should be held accountable for brother Michael’s death. With the exception of Jack Kevorkian and a few whack jobs, I haven’t really heard anyone say otherwise. It’s shocking to think that a doctor acted with such reckless irresponsibility as Murray did. Janet thinks that Murray shouldn’t be practicing medicine (if nothing else).

Janet Jackson said Dr. Conrad Murray, Michael Jackson’s live-in doctor at the time of his death, is responsible for the demise of her brother, and should no longer be permitted to practice medicine.

“He was the one who was administering,” the Control singer said. “I think he should be responsible.”

Janet said of this past June 25 — the day Michael Jackson died — that she was at her New York home, when an assistant watching CNN informed her that her brother had been hospitalized. She said she then dialed a series of relatives, including mother Katherine, brother Tito, nephew Austin and sister LaToya to confirm the news. “I told them to call me back when they got to the hospital. And I remember thinking, nobody’s calling me back, so I tried calling again and that’s how I found out he was no longer… I couldn’t believe it.

“It just didn’t ring true to me,” she said. “It felt like a dream… its still difficult for me to believe. Its, you know, you have to accept what it is.” She said of Michael that “a day doesn’t go by that I don’t think about him.”

Though he has not been charged, Murray has been in the spotlight since Jackson’s June 25 death, which has been ruled a homicide by authorities. Much of the ensuing controversy has been centered around Propofol, a strong anesthetic Jackson was taking. Murray, through his attorney, has said he didn’t give the Thriller singer anything that “should have” killed him.

[From Radar]

What ridiculousness. Murray didn’t give Michael anything that “should have” killed him? Except that it’s easy to fatally overdose on Propofol, which is why it’s illegal to administer it outside a hospital setting.

LaToya Jackson has been Murray’s most vocal adversary. And while she generally comes across as being totally nutburgers, it’s good someone is saying what everyone else is thinking. It seemed likely that Murray would face manslaughter charges in Jackson’s death, however it’s been several months since the coroner ruled Jackson’s death a homicide, and not much has happened. Hopefully that’s because they’re being exhaustive in their investigation of Murray, and not because he’s going to get off the hook. The guy should lose a lot more than his license to practice medicine – he should lose his freedom.

Here’s Janet making an appearance at The Grove to see 100 dancers practice a routine for her next music video, ‘Nasty Girl’ in Los Angeles on Saturday. Images thanks to WENN.com .

There have always been a lot of comparisons of Michael Jackson to Elvis. When he was alive he encouraged them by marrying Elvis’ daughter and dubbing himself the King of Pop, like Elvis’ King of Rock & Roll. In death the similarities will probably continue: rumors will float around that he’s not really dead but just in hiding; there will be Michael Jackson sightings – and without a doubt, there will be a ton of Michael Jackson merchandising (thanks to his family). I’m sure I’ll have a Michael Jackson clock with swinging legs instead of a pendulum hanging on my wall very soon.

The abuse of Michael’s memory got off to a quick start by his family, but that’s not stopping others from jumping on board. This Saturday, British spiritualist medium Derek Acorah conducted a live séance with (of?) Michael Jackson, along with four of his fans. Basically it involved convincing the four fans that he really was in contact with Jackson, and then trying to get them to have an emotional breakdown as a result.

This is how Michael Jackson: The Live Seance worked. Derek Acorah - he of Most Haunted and Derek Acorah’s Ghost Towns fame - rounded up a group of Michael Jackson fans and took them to a house in Ireland that Jackson had stayed in a few years ago. Once there, he spent 20 minutes doing what he does best: trying to convince everyone that he was being inhabited by the ghost of a dead megastar.

And he was certainly very convincing. Because if you were Michael Jackson and you’d just been gifted an unexpected conduit into the world of the living for the first time since your death, you wouldn’t use it as an opportunity to pass on some personal messages to your grieving children, would you? No, the first thing you’d do would be to give a shout out to your man Quincy Jones. Then you’d mutter darkly about journalists before mumbling endless variations of the word “love” a lot too. That definitely sounds like something that Michael Jackson would do. Can’t see anything wrong with that.

Derek Acorah’s shtick is offensive at the best of times, but the sight of him sitting at a table with four fans - including two who were literally dressed up as Michael Jackson and one who appeared to be on the brink of emotional meltdown throughout the seance - and doing his best to goad them all into crying on live television left an especially bad taste in the mouth. Acorah’s manipulation of the vulnerable was in such bad taste that it couldn’t be seen as entertainment on any discernible level. It was depressing. That’s all it was.

In the coming years, Michael Jackson will be endlessly repackaged and commoditised by people with all kinds of vested financial interests, but I’ll be staggered if anything even comes close to Michael Jackson: The Live Seance. That’s unless Sky One secures the broadcast rights to Michael Jackson: The Live Corpse-Defiling any time soon. It wouldn’t be that much of a leap.

[From The Guardian]

I watched some clips from YouTube, and it was so horrible and ridiculous that I felt a pit in my stomach. It’s offensive on so many levels. Obviously to Michael’s memory, but it’s also offensive to watch these four fans being victimized by this hack. They’re legitimately upset, and though to most of us it seems sort of ridiculous and akin to being upset by a Ouija board, it’s very real to them.

In some related Jackson news, yesterday it was revealed that his private funeral cost over a million dollars and he was buried in a $35,000 suit. It seems like for that amount of money, he’d probably like some peace now too.

Joe Jackson has a unique ability to put his foot in his mouth. Well more than that really, because putting your foot in your mouth implies it was unintentional or you at least take a normal level of care about what you say. Joe does not. He says whatever he feels like, regardless of how it’ll likely come across to others. That’s how we get to today’s example. Joe says his deceased son Michael is worth more dead than alive. How thoughtful.

Joe Jackson says that Michael is making a bigger impact than ever since his June death from an apparent drug overdose.

“He’s worth more dead than when he was alive,” Joe, 80, tells “Extra” in an interview that airs Thursday night. “I’d rather have him alive.”

As Michael’s movie “This Is It” rakes in $2.2 million in the box office, Joe adds, “When he was living, they didn’t show this.” Joe admits he wasn’t on board with the flick at first, which documents Michael rehearsing for his comeback tour of the same name.

“I didn’t know what ‘This Is It’ meant,” says Joe, who spoke to “Extra” in Las Vegas at the unveiling of a celebrity star honoring him and his famous family. But the movie allows him to remember Michael “as I knew him best: performing and dancing on stage. Entertaining people,” he says.

Hearing Michael’s songs make Joe “very emotional,” he admits. He sometimes sheds tears “when I’m off to myself and I start thinking about things that we went through,” he says. “No one will ever see me, though.” He has harsher feelings for his son’s doctor, Conrad Murray, who is currently under investigation on manslaughter charges.

Joe says if he saw Murray, he’d “knock him out.”

[From Extra]

You know Joe has never seen his children as anything other than dollar signs. And he’s not going to bother to clarify what he meant, which I think was that Michael has received a huge amount of renewed interest since his death. Joe chose to phrase it as cruelly as possible of course. But it’s true that Michael has gotten more public sympathy and people have been much more curious about him since he passed away.

But really, all Joe Jackson cares about is how much money he can make off Michael. And I’m sure he’s getting a lot more now that Michael is dead than when Michael was alive. I’d like to say that maybe Joe isn’t in full possession of his faculties anymore, but he’s always been this way, by most accounts. Michael’s memory deserves to be honored, instead of Joe plundering it.

Here’s Joe Jackson being “honored” with a Brenden Celebrity Star at the Brenden Theatres at the Palms Resort Hotel and Casino in Las Vegas last night. Sickening. Images thanks to WENN.com .

Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” opens in theaters worldwide today, and so far it’s getting mixed reviews. No one seems to be totally slamming it, but many watchers point out that Jackson doesn’t seem to have had the same energy that he used to. Well… he was fifty. It’s not often I write “duh”… but… duh. He’s not going to be the same at fifty as he was at 20. Are you? Thought so. Critics point out that there is absolutely no behind-the-scenes footage whatsoever, nor is there any hint at his private life. This isn’t some complex look into Michael the person. It’s very much about Michael the performer, and Michael the professional.

This Is It is a hybrid, half documentary and half concert film – but not quite either. As a documentary, it merely shows process, with little by way of explanation or exploration. As a concert film, we’re offered the practice sessions rather than the finished product. What does come through is that Jackson worked hard, really hard. He looks a tad thin, but otherwise appears healthy and energetic. We see him sweat through difficult dance routines, reach again and again for high notes, and go through complicated production numbers repeatedly until he nails them. He clearly had a vision, and he gently coaxes his musicians and dancers to make it into a reality.

What we don’t see is Jackson letting his hair down (literally, it’s almost always in a pony tail). We never catch him goofing off, blowing off steam or telling stories about his three children. Oh, sure, at times he prattles on about the power of love and his reverence for the environment, but these come off as pop pieties. The real Michael Jackson, at least as seen here, is all business. Ardent fans will be happy to gaze at their idol in action; moviegoers hoping to understand more fully who Jackson was and what made him tick, besides performing, won’t find answers here.

[From People]

Another People writer says it seems like Jackson was just going through the motions, but notes there are “flashes of brilliance.” The film has a 79% aggregate on Rotten Tomatoes, but a lot of the viewer comments come across as major Jackson fans, the kind that are likely to be biased towards him regardless. People also talks about all the big stars who came out for the premiere. Will Smith was definitely the biggest, joined by Paula Abdul, Paris Hilton, Jennifer Love Hewitt, Neil Patrick Harris, and Anne Heche, among others. Jackson’s brothers were in attendance and made mention about how this wasn’t “it,” this was just the beginning. Logically, because we know they’re going to milk every last dollar they can out of Michael’s memory.

Both People and Us Weekly mention that Jackson’s most personal stuff isn’t personal – he goes off about love and the environment, both of which come across as cheesy to the magazines. They also say his performances were great – it’s everything else that seems to be severely lacking. Since his passing, people have truly wanted to understand Jackson better, and this film isn’t going to get them any closer to it. It’s going to remind them why he became famous in the first place. For better or worse, it’s the last we have of him, and I bet it’ll do well anyway.

People choose some really strange stars to mention coming to the premiere – there were definitely A-list caliber celebs there. Pictured below: Jennifer Love Hewitt, Paula Abdul, Ashley Tisdale, Will Smith, Macy Gray, Anne Heche, Jennifer Lopez, Paris Hilton, Jermain Jackson, Rosanna Arquette, Neil Patrick Harris, Lou Ferrigno, and Randy, Marlon, and Tito Jackson. Images thanks to WENN.com .

You know how LaToya Jackson was always considered the most messed up, crazy Jackson? Then Michael passed away and we were supposed to act like we didn’t think that about her. But it’s been about four months, and LaToya has spent much of that time thoroughly enjoying the attention of the press. So it’s time to throw out the kid gloves and say it: LaToya is still crazy.

First off, she thinks it’s totally appropriate to share with the world that Michael’s three children are in therapy. And then go into specifics about what each of their issues are. Heaven forbid we keep anything to ourselves here. Secondly, LaToya honest-to-goodness believes in ghosts, and thinks she’s being haunted/visited by Michael. I guess “haunted” isn’t the right word because that implies it’s unwelcome – and she’s totally encouraging it. But “visited” is a little too “I just stopped by to drop off this casserole.” It’s somewhere in between the two.

First, the details of the Jackson children’s personal sadness, courtesy of Aunt LaToya.

Four months after the death” of their father Michael Jackson, his kids Paris, 11, Prince 12, and Blanket, 7, have turned to therapy to cope with their grief, Michael’s sister LaToya Jackson tells London’s Mirror newspaper. “Prince just doesn’t want to speak about it,” LaToya said. “I do worry about him very much.”

Meanwhile, his sister Paris “thinks and talks about her father all the time. She’s doing very well, writes a lot and she wears his shirts every day,” she said. “They still smell of him and it helps her feel close to him.”

Michael’s youngest child, Blanket, “is just a very sad, shy little boy,” LaToya said. “He cries – he really does cry. It’s so painful for him. No one can bring his daddy back and it hurts so much. They all go to therapy and I truly hope Prince especially will be able to open up.”

LaToya says the whole family is rallying around to raise the kids the way Michael would have wanted. The children, who are home schooled, watch no more than two hours of television a day, limited to the Disney Channel and Nickelodeon. And in an effort to keep the traditions they shared with their father, a huge Christmas celebration is being planned.

“Paris doesn’t know it but she has all the makings of a star,” says LaToya. “If she wants to go into showbiz I can see that happening. The boys like the idea of directing, which is what Michael wanted to do. Kids are resilient. He gave them so much love and that is helping them.”

[From People]

Of all the awful ways the Jackson family has tried to use Michael’s death for publicity, this one bothers me as much as the worst of them. Maybe the most. Children grieving for their dead father – that stuff is beyond private. And to think an aunt would repeat that. Whatever was said to LaToya, whether it came from the children directly or another relative, it wasn’t meant to be passed on to The Mirror. Those kids will never trust her. Using the death of their father to get some press. Despicable.

But it’s hard to hold LaToya completely responsible, since she is clearly 100% insane.

La Toya said, “When I go to his house I say, ‘Hello, Michael. How are you? If you’re here, please, please let me know’. And the lights start blinking. I can feel him. I can smell his Tom Ford cologne and I’ve felt him brush past me. It’s the most wonderful feeling and the biggest smile comes over my face. I tell him I love him so much and ask him to show me he’s here again. The lights blink again. I know he’s there, answering me and knowing he’s watching me is a huge comfort. I never believed that people could speak, hear and communicate in that sense. But I’ve witnessed it several times now and I want to investigate it further. I am certainly open-minded to speaking to a medium. No other members of the family have experienced it. Just me.”

[From the Mirror via Dlisted]

You know why you might still smell his cologne? Because that scent can linger for a long, long time, depending on the fabrics and whatnot. Most homes have their own smell, and it’s a combination of a lot of things, perfumes and colognes being a big part of it. Rarely is it indicative of a ghost. In fact I think the theory goes that ghosts don’t smell, since they don’t have corporeal form. When he brushed past you? That was probably your hair. I’ve startled myself a few times. Of course I didn’t instantly think “Michael Jackson’s ghost!” but more “Ahhhh, a bug!” only to realize it was my hair. And if the lights are blinking, it’s time to pay the electric bill. Just a thought. LaToya until you actually see him, assume you’re crazy. It’s the safest bet; that’s why the rest of us go with it.

Here’s LaToya shopping on Rodeo Drive on October 23rd. Images thanks to Fame Pictures .