She is a courageous little girl. It was the most touching moment of the tributes. When she is older, I think that she will be glad that she did it.
I loathe Jackson, but Paris had every right to speak as she wanted to, and I think it was obvious that she loved her father. Poor girl.
And as Zoe said, I’m sure that someday, she’ll be glad she did.
This poor child was at the funeral of her FATHER.
The only father she has had. Who has loved her for her whole life and whom she has just lost.
I too was a child when my father died, and had to stand over his grave and was required to throw in the first shovelful of dirt; traumatic for me then and still something I remember with sorrow so many years later.
Give this poor child a break.
She just lost her most loving parent.
Remember your Father well little girl, he surely loved you a lot.
Remember, Michael Jackson came onto the scene when he himself was only 6.
Why the hell does Paris Hilton have to show up everywhere there’s a mic? Doesn’t she know…
What?
Oh.
Um, for those poking sharp sticks at Stoid (or appearing to poke sharp sticks at Stoid), note that the OP wasn’t really an angry screed but more of an IMHO-type conversational question. Especially note two key quotes:
and
(emphasis added)
I didn’t watch the service, I only saw the clip of Paris on the news. And it was the most honest and natural grief I’ve seen expressed in the whole loony spectacle that’s been going on since the man died. What’s gross is the ghoulish coverage, publicity seeking, and profiteering (scalping tickets to a funeral? Seriously?)
Everybody else there may have lost “the world’s greatest entertainer” but Paris just brought it all crashing back to earth that she and her brothers lost their daddy. I think they’ve got the worse part of the deal, really.
This was my thought, actually. I giggled a bit, as I was wiping away tears at the little girl about to speak, because they were just so . . . Jackson. It was sweet, I thought.
Not a weirdo here. I was at a doctor appointment with kaylasmom while the service was going on, and was tuned to KPCC on the way home. We heard “live coverage” of the tail end of the service, and every now and then Larry Mantle would break in to tell us who was singing or speaking. I thought to myself “why is he talking over the audio?”
Then he said: “Let’s go over to Frank Stoltz who’s live inside Staples Center.”
I turned to kaylasmom and said: “Were we just listening to a radio announcer watching TV?”
Well, maybe that’s a LITTLE weird…
ETA: And yes, Paris breaking down kind of destroyed me, too.
What I always wondered was why didn’t MJ and Lisa make a superrockstar baby while they were together? MJ’s kid, Elvis’s grandkid–awesome genes. (Or it could have been tone deaf with no rhythm, since it’s all a crapshoot. Worth a try though.)
Yeah, I liked that she was surrounded by relatives who really seemed there for them, and that Janet gave her a big hug at the end and was comforting her. Even though these kids have lost their father, it’s good to know they’ve got people who love and care for them.
Lisa Marie said later in an interview that she had young children herself already and wanted to focus on them. Plus, she said, the thought of a custody battle over some quickly conceived children early in the marriage if everything crumbled terrified her.
You must have never listened to his music… the kid is not his son.
But I thought she said that he was the one.
Well, Billie Jean is not his lover.
I don’t get it you Dopers making fun.
Paris saw her Father’s coffin and saw and heard him eulogized.
This was the poor child’s FATHER being laid to rest.
Whatever you may think of him has no relevance at this time.
She and her siblings had the misfortune to see their only known parent buried.
Where is your compassion for them?
Is there some new law requiring an empty line between each sentence we type?
I hadn’t heard about that yet.
Cite?
It’s what we do here. Also, all your base are belong to us.
In front of every celebrity they could find as well as twenty thousand of his [del]closest[/del] luckiest fans and those who bought tickets off of Ebay.
At the STAPLES CENTER.
As we’re nothing but a bunch of anonymous weirdos over the internet, it doesn’t have much relevance at any time. We share anyways. We’re nice like that.
Which is tragic.
Sorry there wasn’t a thread titled “Those poor Jackson kids” to balance this out.
For me, what’s gross isn’t that Paris spoke. It’s gross that she had to do it in a ridiculously public setting surrounded by celebrities, fans, and professional camera whores (I’m looking at you Al Sharpton) in a place where the Lakers, Clippers, and Kings play basketball and hockey. I’m fucking surprised that the red carpet for the funeral wasn’t covered by Joan Rivers.
Oh.My.Gawd! Did you see Jermaine Jackson’s hair? What is that? SPRAY PAINT? I need to paint some lawn chairs, do you think he’ll lend me some of that? And LaToya, her career’s so dead she tried to sneak it into the coffin. And then there’s Janet. Janet’s been out of the news so long she was planning another “wardrobe malfunction” during the eulogy. OH.MY.GAWD!!! Don’t get me started!
Plenty of people have expressed sadness for the children, even stating that they were crying while watching Paris speak.
It does not make him any less dead is people don’t jokingly post a line or two from his songs that fit nicely with the conversation.
I’ve never understood the need to separate grief from laughter so completely. Grief and joy are two valid emotions, equally genuine, equally human. It’s not a zero-sum game.
The issue is not putting her up to the mike. The issue is the insane amount of airtime being given to Michael Jackson’s death. His life seems to be best described by the term “freak show”. His death deserved mention on the day it happened and nothing more.