Word: michael
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Dates: during 2000-2009
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...most striking statement at Michael Jackson's memorial service was not his daughter Paris' tremulous and wrenching goodbye. It was not Berry Gordy's declaring Jackson "the greatest entertainer that ever lived," nor was it the Rev. Al Sharpton's assertion that Jackson's fame made a generation of white kids comfortable with electing a black President. It came before the encomiums and music began, after Motown singer Smokey Robinson took the stage, read testimonials from Diana Ross and Nelson Mandela, walked...
...rarity: an utter hush. Broadcast and cable news alike took a breath - for the first time, it seemed, in a week and a half - and let the darkened arena and the stilled crowd tell the story. It was an unintended tribute, and a blessed relief. (See TIME's full Michael Jackson coverage...
Indeed, between the memories and goodbyes, much of the memorial was about the media. A clip reel displayed tabloid headlines, and several speakers portrayed the singer as the victim of sensationalism. "Maybe now, Michael, they will leave you alone," his brother Marlon said. "Wasn't nothing strange about your daddy," Sharpton told Jackson's children. "It was strange what your daddy had to deal with." (See the top 10 Michael Jackson moments...
Given the big ratings, clearly not everyone thinks the coverage is too much. The traffic on Twitter showed that the public was generating its own Jackson media. That's the easy media defense: People want it! To paraphrase Michael, we can't stop 'til you get enough. (See 5 media myths that Jackson's death debunked...
Jackson's farewell service was, in a sense, a rerun. For days, TV had been cycling the same clips, remembering the same songs; some speakers had been on TV sharing the same thoughts. Yet hearing brother Jermaine deliver "Smile," Michael's favorite song, to a crowd whose hearts were breaking had an entirely different effect than Jermaine's singing it to Matt Lauer. Hearing Gordy recall Michael's childhood audition was more moving than the dozens of bio reels that had sought the same response...