Michael Jackson's Funeral: Unnecessarily Extravagant?

Michale Jackson
Originally uploaded by Michale Jackson

Now I know that we have a habit in the Caribbean and among black communities in general, that when we bury our loved ones, we bury them, "in style".

The poorest among us have the most extravagant funerals...

...So that the dead person's relatives can say that they put him/her away "good".

Oh, don't mind the huge debt the family incurs to put their loved one away "good"...they just want to know that he/she had the biggest funeral and could out-do the previous "biggest" funeral, reserved for the well known and most-loved members of the community.

Well, its seems that Michael Jackson's family is following this time-honored tradition.

They announced that Michael Jackson's funeral/memorial service will be held next Tuesday..

...And guess what?

1) There were supposedly 11,000 tickets being given away to those fans who wanted to attend...now it's been reported that this number has reached 17,500

2) The funeral will be held at the Staples Center - home to the LA Lakers and the last place Michael performed before his death.

3) The Staples Center have been selling these tickets through their website, which crashed due to the huge demand for them. [That's 17,500 potential/existing customers that can be marketed to and increased brand value for the Staples Center (from free publicity from the funeral), at a very low acquisition cost].

Now I've been wondering the following, since I heard the news:

1) Hasn't it been reported that Michael is indebted to the tune of US $500 million dollars?

2) Who will be paying for Michael Jackson's funeral/memorial service...his family or the City of Los Angeles(LA)?

3) How much money will this memorial service cost?

(It has also been reported that Michael's body will not be at this memorial service for him and that the city of LA is broke and will be stretched thin, should they be the ones paying for this funeral).

Yes, I know Michael Jackson was the king of Pop and yes, many friends, family and fans want to pay their last respects to him...

...But the Staples Center?

Again, I trust that the family/the City of LA has been wise and has struck up a beautiful deal with the Staples Center managers - a deal which is more of a quid pro quo than actual money being fleshed out.

The Staples Center has already benefitted and stands to benefit tremendously from hosting Michael Jackson's funeral:

They will forever be embellished in history...

Additionally, the money they stand to make by making the Center a monument to his death, will more than pay for any costs the family would incur for holding the funeral there.

I hope the family's business managers or the LA City Officials were wise in suggesting this...and did not actually flesh out any money for this venue.

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If it is that his family will pay for this memorial service and it is true that Michael is so heavily indebted:

I think it would be unwise for them to spend so much on the memorial service and:

1) Not attend to Michael's debt problems, first.

2) Not have sufficient money left over for the present and future well-being of his children.

I just hope that Michael's family or the LA City Officials are being wise, level-headed and financially prudent where his funeral/memorial service is concerned.

(I would like to thank Michale Jackson for his Flickr inset photo above).

Gillian

Copyright 2009 Gillian Campbell. All Rights Reserved.

 

Source Include

1) Article, "Massive demand for Michael Jackson memorial tickets" by Bob, Tourtellotte, Reuters, July 3,2009

2) BBC News, July 2,2009