Michael Jackson memorial service: 'King of Pop' eulogized as entertainer, humanitarian

 

The Jackson brothers accompany Michael Jackson's casket into the Staples Center auditorium today.

Michael Jackson was eulogized in word and song today in Los Angeles by some of America's most famous entertainers, athletes, and public figures, including poet Maya Angelou, Martin Luther King III and sister Bernice King, Smokey Robinson, Stevie Wonder, Magic Johnson and the Rev. Al Sharpton.

"I do know that God is good, and I know that as much as we may feel, and we do, that we need Michael here with us, God must have needed him far more," Wonder told the crowd of about 20,000 people.

"He will never really be gone," Robinson said. "He is going to live forever and ever and ever and ever."

Jackson's daughter Paris Katherine closed the service, sobbing out a simple heartfelt sentence: "Daddy has been the best father you can ever imagine, and I just want to say, I love you so much."

MARK TERRILL/GETTY IMAGESPrince Michael, right, Paris Katherine, and younger brother Blanket, clutching a Michael Jackson doll, at the memorial service for their father.

Jackson's family attended a private funeral at Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills earlier today, then accompanied the hearse to the Staples Center along streets stripped of rush-hour traffic. His brothers, all dressed in suits with yellow ties, red roses in their lapels and glittering gloves, carried the gilded casket into the arena, and Jermaine Jackson later sang "Smile" for his brother. 

Though Jackson's talent, his humanitarian efforts and his love for his family and friends were widely praised, those who spoke at the Staples Center memorial service did not shy away from the controversy that surrounded Jackson the last decade of his life.

"There wasn't anything strange about your dad," Sharpton told Jackson's three children, Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket, sitting with Jackson's parents. "It was strange what your daddy had to deal with."

At the end of the service, Marlon Jackson told the crowd that no one could ever imagine the pressure of Jackson's outsize fame. "Being judged, ridiculed, how much pain can one take ... Maybe now, Michael, they will leave you alone."

Queen Latifah relayed Angelou's poem, "We Had Him," in which she called Jackson "our bright and shining star" and "our treasure." "Though we are many, each of us is achingly alone, piercingly alone, only when we confess our confusion can we remember that he was a gift to us and we did have him ... Whether we knew who he was or did not know, he was ours and we were his. We had him."

MARIO ANZUONI/GETTY IMAGESLionel Richie, Jackson's collaborator on 'We are the World,' sang 'Jesus is Love'

The Rev. Al Sharpton: "He opened up the whole world ... It was Michael Jackson that brought blacks and whites and Asians and Latinos together." He said Jackson broke barriers and made Americans of different races feel more comfortable with each other, paving the way for Oprah Winfrey, Tiger Woods and even Barack Obama. "Michael made us love each other. Michael taught us to stand for each other."

Before Stevie Wonder's performance of "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer," he told the crowd, "I wished I didn't live to see this day come."

Kobe Bryant praised Jackson's philanthropic efforts, and Magic Johnson threw his support behind Katherine Jackson, who currently has temporary custody of Jackson's kids. "His three children will have the most incredible grandmother to take care of them ... so may God continue to bless this incredible family."

MARK J. TERRILL/AP/MCTQueen Latifah read a poem by Maya Angelou in tribute to Michael Jackson.

Brooke Shields, at times breaking into tears, told the audience that she met Jackson when she was 13. "Both of us needed to be adults very early, but when we were together, we were two little kids having fun ... He was caring, funny, honest, pure, non-jaded, and he was a lover of life."

The playlist: Mariah Carey and Trey Lorenz duetted on "I'll Be There;" Lionel Richie performed "Jesus is Love;" a visibly pregnant Jennifer Hudson sang "Will You Be There," John Mayer performed "Human Nature," Usher sang "Gone Too Soon," and boy singer Shaheen Jafargholi sang "Who's Lovin' You."

Jackson collaborator Kenny Ortega says the London concert series they were prepping for when Jackson died would have been his triumphant return to the world. The memorial closed with members of his touring company singing "We Are the World," soon joined by the day's other performers and Jackson's family, and finally, "Heal the World." 

MARIO ANZUONI/REUTERS/EPAMore than a million people registered for tickets to the public memorial for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in Los Angeles.

MARK TERRILL/GETTY IMAGESProducer Berry Gordy calls Michael Jackson 'the greatest entertainer in the world' at the memorial service.

MARIO ANZUONI/AP PHOTOStevie Wonder performed "Never Dreamed You'd Leave in Summer" at the memorial.

KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGESMariah Carey and Trey Lorenz performed 'I'll Be There' at the memorial.

WALLYL SKALIJ/AP PHOTOJennifer Hudson sang 'Will You Be There'

KEVORK DJANSEZIAN/GETTY IMAGESJermaine Jackson, wearing a spangled right glove, performed 'Smile.'

GABRIEL BOUYS/AFP/MCTMourners grieve at the Staples Center memorial service for Michael Jackson._._,___