CNN.com and Facebook will present live coverage of Michael Jackson: The Memorial, Tuesday July 7, beginning at noon ET. The last time CNN.com and
Facebook partnered for a live event was for the coverage of President Obama’s inauguration. Coverage of the memorial service is to be approximately 6 hours long. Watch the memorial of Michael Jackson on CNN and with Facebook Tuesday at Noon ET. Share your memories with friends and other Michael Jackson fans around the world using Facebook status updates from CNN.com Live.For nearly all of his life, Michael Jackson provided a spectacle for the world’s attention. His memorial service continues that mission beyond his death. The event is to be held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles. Mr. Jackson’s remains will be taken to the memorial. ArtsBeat will be providing up-to-the-minute reports and live video of the Michael Jackson memorial. Refresh this post for the latest updates.
Family Heads to Forest Lawn | 11 a.m. At about 10:57 a.m.. Eastern Time, MSNBC broadcast video of the Jacksons departing their family compound in Encino, Calif., as they make their way to a private funeral to be held at Forest Lawn Memorial-Park in Glendale.
The cable channel tells us this is the same cemetery where celebrities like Bette Davis and Lucille Ball are buried. Amazingly, MSNBC said that some of the 8,750 pairs of tickets to the Jackson memorial service were not picked up by lottery winners and were given to other fans at the Staples Center this morning.The Jackson Memorial | 9:27 a.m. For nearly all of his life, Michael Jackson provided a spectacle for the world’s attention. His memorial service continues that mission beyond his death. The event is to be held at 1 p.m. on Tuesday at the Staples Center in Los Angeles, the same arena where he had been rehearsing for the “This Is It” concerts billed as both a comeback and a possible farewell. Now it will house a state funeral for the King of Pop, who died on June 25 at age 50.
Mr. Jackson’s remains will be brought to the Staples Center for the memorial, said William J. Bratton, the Los Angeles police chief.
The announced lineup for the memorial includes current pop stars Mariah Carey, Usher, John Mayer, Jennifer Hudson as well as a delegation from Motown, the label that nurtured Mr. Jackson as the child star of the Jackson 5. There are also figures from sports (Magic Johnson, Kobe Bryant), politics (Al Sharpton, Martin Luther King III), movies and television (Brooke Shields) and the church (the Andrae Crouch Choir).
Some 17,500 fans and admirers will be in attendance (chosen by lottery from more than 1.6 million applications) with another 6,500 watching a simulcast in the nearby Nokia Theater, some wanting to pay their respects to a beloved performer, others hoping for one final blast of entertainment from Mr. Jackson’s realm of fantasy, razzle-dazzle and perfectionism.
NYTimes will have live video of the event right here in ArtsBeat. The service will also be covered live by all of the broadcast networks, the cable news channels CNN, MSNBC and Fox News, and entertainment channels including MTV, BET and E!. Online social networks like MySpace and Facebook will also be hosting streaming video and inviting commentary. By day’s end, the event will likely be seen a worldwide audience larger than the one that tuned in for the inauguration of President Barack Obama.
Beyond the starting time and the lineup of guests, details about the memorial service remain uncertain. Will it be somber? Celebratory? Personal? Spiritual? Promotional? There’s no predicting. It’s also not clear what plans the Jackson family have made for his private funeral, or how Los Angeles will accommodate the thousands upon thousands of pilgrims who have come to the city for the event.
ArtsBeat will be providing up-to-the-minute reports on the Michael Jackson memorial and its coverage. Watch here for streaming video of the service and refresh this page for updates from Times reporters, critics and photographers.