Current Events

Remembering Michael Jackson - Michael Jackson's Memorial

by Eric Tilden

Published: 2009-07-07, Tue 18:33:52

Michael Jackson was remembered today, on television, in front of the whole world. The coverage began at 1pm, Eastern Daylight Time, but the memorial did not begin until nearly 1:30pm. The show hosted over twenty speakers, some singing a tribute song, others, relating their experiences with Michael.

• Mariah Carey sang, I’ll Be There
• Barry Gordy spoke about his experience with Michael at Motown
• Queen Latifa pointed out the inspiration that Michael gave all African Americans
• Lionel Richie sang the song, Jesus is Love
• Stevie Wonder sang I Never Dreamed You’d Leave in Summer
• Colby Bryant and Magic Johnson relayed their experiences with Michael; Colby’s inspiration, and Magic Johnson’s long friendship
• Jennifer Hudson sang the song Will You Be There?
• Reverend Al Sharpton spoke his thanks for Michael’s life and said that there was nothing weird about Michael, speaking to his children
• John Mayer played a guitar version of Human Nature
• Brooke Shields spoke about how they used to laugh; how Michael was very mischievous and how they sneaked into Elizabeth Taylor’s room to see her wedding dress before the wedding
• Jermaine Jackson sang the Charlie Chaplin song, Smile
• Martin Luther King III spoke
• Reverend Bernice King relayed a story on how Michael called from the Middle East and spoke to their mother after she had a stroke about how he was praying for her.
• Representative Sheila Jackson Lee of Houston, Chairperson of the Congressional Black Caucus presented a humanitarian award to Michael Jackson, stating, “On June 25th, the House of Representatives stopped...”
• Usher sang Gone Too Soon
• A short performance from Michael Jackson of Who’s Loving You preceded Smokey Robinson’s speech, followed by Shaheen Jafargholi’s performance of Who’s Loving You
• Kenny Ortega, the choreographer from the Dangerous tour, spoke
• Jermaine Jackson stated he was Michael’s backbone
• Marlon Jackson spoke at great length about having a lot of smiles from Michael over the years
• Paris Jackson thanked her dad for being the “Best dad ever”
• Marlon thanked the audience

The family and all the performers gathered to sing We are the World and Heal the Word at the end of the show.

The broadcast ended at 3:43 p.m. EDT with the exiting of the casket, covered in red roses and layered in shiny brass or gold.