According to The Sun, people are now saying that Macaulay Culkin ("Home Alone" star) donated sperm to help Michael Jackson produce his son, Blanket, with an unknown surrogate mom. Macaulay Culkin told friends that he will not comment on this matter publicly out of respect for Michael Jackson. Culkin shared a close relationship with Michael Jackson as is evidenced by the fact that Culkin bravely took the witness stand to defend Jackson during his 2005 child molestation trial. Culkin serves as the godfather of Michael Jackson's other two children, Paris and Prince. In 1991, Michael Jackson selected Culkin to star alongside him in the music video for his hit song, Black Or White. Culkin was also a regular guest at Jackson's Neverland Ranch.
The speculation surrounding this matter will continue to grow.
Sony Pictures is in final negotiations to acquire the film that will be made out of Michael Jackson's rehearsal footage from the ill-fated This Is It concerts.
According to reports, the price for the project is $60 million, above initial projections reported elsewhere. Sony and AEG Live have announced that the film will be released on Friday, October 30. The split on the money is 90% to the Michael Jackson estate and 10% to AEG Live.
Furthermore it was reported by Billboard.com that Michael Jackson's father Joe Jackson's efforts in conjunction with promoter Leonard Rowe have "muddied the waters" in the Michael Jackson Estate and AEG's attempt to close a TV network deal for the presentation of the original This Is It production.
The This Is It special has been conceived as a tribute to Michael featuring Janet, The Jackson 5, and other major performers.
Enthusiastic fans visited the website of the Los Angeles Staples Center in droves of 120,000 people-per-second for their chance to snatch up free tickets to Michael Jackson's memorial.
The rush of people began Friday morning after a press conference announcing fans could register for free tickets for tomorrow's tribute via the site.
In a true testament to Michael Jackson's star power, over 500 million people had visited the website within the first 90 minutes the tickets became available.
The site subsequently crashed a few times and an additional server had to be employed to accommodate the amount of traffic.
Registration for the tickets closed on Saturday at 6 p.m. and the 8,000 winners were announced yesterday (July 5).
The thousands of fans will converge at the Los Angeles Staples Center and Nokia Theatre on Tuesday, July 7.
Numerous media outlets were releasing information from Michael Jackson's supposed autopsy report, including damaging details suggesting drug abuse, the coroner's office now says is completely false. According to various sources including The Sun, Michael Jackson's bald body was filled with needle marks on his hips, thighs, and shoulders, says TMZ.
It was also being said that the fallen pop icon had several broken ribs and a stomach full of pills.
Since the arguably distasteful unveiling of the condition of Jackson's body, the Los Angeles County coroner has come forward to dismiss the claims as a complete fabrication.
"The report that is being published did not come from this office. I don't know where the information came from, or who that information came from. It is not accurate. Some of it is totally false," a statement from the coroner read.
As previously reported by Yo! Raps, Jackson passed away after suffering a cardiac arrest late last week.
Whether fans or just collectors, people have been making the trip to the store to buy Michael Jackson albums in record numbers. In the same vein as with Tupac Shakur and Notorious B.I.G., the demand for Jackson's work has become so high that stores are selling out and forming waiting lists.
Music outlets like Best Buy are reporting they are completely out of Michael Jackson albums, while Amazon.com says their supply of the 25th anniversary edition of Thriller has run dry.
"This is simply unprecedented," said Bill Carr, vice president of music and video at Amazon.
"We've seen the death of Johnny Cash and Frank Sinatra and many other artists, but none of them compare to what we're witnessing today," he continued. "In the last 24 hours, we've actually sold more Michael Jackson albums in our MP3 and CD stores than we have in the 11 years since the launch of our music business."
LOS ANGELES – Michael Jackson, the sensationally gifted child star who rose to become the "King of Pop" and the biggest celebrity in the world only to fall from his throne in a freakish series of scandals, died Thursday, a person with knowledge of the situation told The Associated Press. He was 50. The person said Jackson died in a Los Angeles hospital. The person was not authorized to speak publicly and requested anonymity. The circumstances of his death were not immediately clear. Jackson was not breathing when Los Angeles Fire Department paramedics responded to a call at his Los Angeles home about 12:30 p.m., Capt. Steve Ruda told the Los Angeles Times. The paramedics performed CPR and took him to UCLA Medical Center, Ruda told the newspaper. Jackson's death brought a tragic end to a long, bizarre, sometimes farcical decline from his peak in the 1980s, when he was popular music's premier all-around performer, a uniter of black and white music who shattered the race barrier on MTV, dominated the charts and dazzled even more on stage. His 1982 album "Thriller" — which included the blockbuster hits "Beat It," "Billie Jean" and "Thriller" — remains the biggest-selling album of all time, with more than 26 million copies. He was perhaps the most exciting performer of his generation, known for his feverish, crotch-grabbing dance moves and his high-pitched voice punctuated with squeals and titters. His single sequined glove, tight, military-style jacket and aviator sunglasses were trademarks second only to his ever-changing, surgically altered appearance. By some measures, he ranked alongside Elvis Presley and the Beatles as the biggest pop sensations of all time. In fact, he united two of music's biggest names when he was briefly married to Presley's daughter, Lisa Marie. As years went by, he became an increasingly freakish figure — a middle-aged man-child weirdly out of touch with grownup life. His skin became lighter, his nose narrower, and he spoke in a breathy, girlish voice. He surrounded himself with children at his Neverland ranch, often wore a germ mask while traveling and kept a pet chimpanzee named Bubbles as one of his closest companions. In 2005, he was cleared of charges he molested a 13-year-old cancer survivor at Neverland in 2003. He had been accused of plying the boy with alcohol and groping him. The case took a fearsome toll on his career and image, and he fell into serious financial trouble. Jackson was preparing for what was to be his greatest comeback: He was scheduled for an unprecedented 50 shows at a London arena, with the first set for July 13. He was in rehearsals in Los Angeles for the concert, an extravaganza that was to capture the classic Jackson magic: showstopping dance moves, elaborate staging and throbbing dance beats. Hundreds of people gathered outside the hospital as word of his death spread. The emergency entrance at the UCLA Medical Center, which is near Jackson's rented home, was roped off with police tape. "Ladies and gentlemen, Michael Jackson has just died," a woman boarding a Manhattan bus called out, shortly after the news was annunced. Immediately many riders reached for their cell phones. In New York's Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when a screen flashed that Jackson had died, and people began relaying the news to friends by cell phone. "No joke. King of Pop is no more. Wow," Michael Harris, 36, of New York City, read from a text message a friend sent to his telephone. "It's like when Kennedy was assassinated. I will always remember being in Times Square when Michael Jackson died."
