Eideard

Daylife/Getty Images used by permission

Fulham chairman Mohammed Al Fayed has told fans they can “go to hell” if they do not appreciate a new Michael Jackson statue at Craven Cottage stadium.

Mr Al Fayed unveiled the statue on Sunday prior to the west London Premier League team’s match against Blackpool.

The statue was commissioned following Jackson’s death in June 2009 and was due to be erected at Harrods before Mr Al Fayed sold the Knightsbridge store…

Outside the stadium, Fulham fan Michael Tune said: “We’re a laughing stock. It has nothing to do with football.”

Another Fulham fan, who wanted to remain anonymous, said: “It makes the club look silly. I thought it was an April Fools joke.”

But Mr Al Fayed said: “If some stupid fans don’t understand and appreciate such a gift this guy gave to the world they can go to hell.

One fan said the Jackson statue made Fulham “a laughing stock“…

“If they don’t understand and don’t believe in things I believe in they can go to Chelsea, they can go to anywhere else,” he added…

The singer was a friend of Mr Al Fayed’s but his only known link to the football club is that he attended one game as a guest of the chairman, against Wigan Athletic in 1999.

As raucous as is the article, the fans were even louder. If Al Fayed had taken the time to attend the match he would have witnessed a number of fans poking fun at his hangup with Jackson.

The trailer for Michael Jackson: The Experience claims the game “will electrify the world.” At the very least, it’ll piss off the downstairs neighbors.

The first video for the new dancing game, released Thursday by gamemaker Ubisoft, depicts people on the street re-enacting the late Michael Jackson’s famous moves, paying particular homage to the iconic video for early ’80s hit “Billie Jean.”

The message of the trailer is that before all the private ugliness and his untimely death, the King of Pop brought smiles to the faces of millions and inspired more than a few to moonwalk.

With the wild success of Just Dance, there’s a chance that Michael Jackson: The Experience could be another smash hit for Ubisoft.

The major stumbling block in my mind is convincing today’s kids to try listening to music that isn’t made by Lady Gaga or Justin Bieber. There’s a good reason that Harmonix’s Dance Central draws, mostly, from the last 10 years of pop: Kids don’t always go for old tunes.

And if you rely on crusty folks who remember the old days to drive sales of your game, you risk a mediocre showing. So-so numbers won’t cut it when you’re licensing expensive music from rights-holders with lots of caveats about how their likenesses can be used.

We’ll find out, soon, won’t we? I think the reviewer is a stiff.

Just look at the tracks that are popular with Guitar Hero. The same people who play air guitar in the bathroom will dance with Michael Jackson in the living room.

Michael spotted in hiding with Elvis

A lock of heat-damaged hair picked up from the floor 25 years ago is to be auctioned off, with bids expected to reach almost £100 per strand.

It belonged to Michael Jackson and was scorched when Jackson’s head caught fire during the filming of a television commercial for Pepsi.

The dozen strands were kept by the advert’s executive producer, who used his own Armani jacket to smother the flames, and they have more than doubled in value since the star’s death in June. The hair is being sold along with the transcript of an interview in which Ralph Cohen recalls how he helped to save Jackson’s life…

Jackson, who died in June aged 50, never fully recovered from the second degree burns. An autopsy reportedly showed he was almost bald.

The collection is being sold by Richard Davie…The hair is expected to fetch £1,000.

Mr Davie said: “This memorabilia has doubled in price since Michael Jackson died … The strands are clearly burnt and were picked up after the incident that left Jackson with second degree burns…

“There will be lots of people who will want to buy these items as souvenirs and those who would like them as investments.”

Rock on!

Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

Michael Jackson’s death has been ruled a homicide.

Eight weeks after the King of Pop was found unconscious, a search warrant of his doctor’s office revealed Monday what had long been suspected – that Jackson was given “lethal levels” of a dangerous anesthetic.

Jackson’s doctor, Conrad Murray, the target of a manslaughter probe, told Los Angeles cops that he had been treating the singer for insomnia for about six weeks, according to the document…

On the morning Jackson died, Murray told cops he tried again to get the singer to sleep without using propofol, the records state.
Murray said on that fateful night he first gave Jackson valium at 1:30 a.m. When that didn’t work, the doctor said he injected lorazepam intravenously at 2 a.m.

An hour later, Jackson was still awake so Murray said he gave him midazolam. Still, Jackson could not sleep.

Finally, at 10:40 a.m., and after Jackson insisted on the propofol, Murray said he caved and gave into the singer’s demands.

And Jackson was doomed.

I wonder if there will be a trial verdict, say, before the next presidential election?

Don’t laugh. You’re not somebody until you have referred
to yourself in the third person AND been made into butter sculpture.

Plans to erect a giant statue of Michael Jackson made from butter at the Iowa State Fair are being put to the vote.

Fair organisers announced their intention to create the butter tribute to the King of Pop just days after Jackson’s death.

But the idea has proved so controversial that they are now to hold an online poll to decide whether or not to go ahead with it.

Spokeswoman Lori Chappell says Jackson was to be part of a sculpture commemorating the 40th anniversary of Neil Armstrong’s moon landing.

You can vote here: Poll:  Should Michael Jackson be turned into butter?

(Iowa asks a lotta questions.)

They might as well call it “Breaking Wind”.

A long time ago, I signed up to receive CNN “Breaking News” alerts. It’s a total joke these days. Here are the two I have received today:

– 1:48 p.m. — Michael Jackson’s golden coffin is placed in front of the stage as his
memorial service gets under way in Los Angeles.

– 3:53 p.m. — At memorial service in L.A., Michael Jackson’s daughter Paris says he was
“the best father you could ever imagine.”

Even my deceased grandfather came back shaking his head over the state of CNN. “Have you seen Nancy Grace?” I asked. “No,” he answered. “Go back before it is too late,” I advised.

CNN would like you to think so.

The biggest showbiz story of the year saw the troubled star take a good slice of the Internet with him, as the ripples caused by the news of his death swept around the globe.

“Between approximately 2:40 p.m. PDT and 3:15 p.m. PDT today, some Google News users experienced difficulty accessing search results for queries related to Michael Jackson,” a Google spokesman told CNET, which also reported that Google News users complained that the service was inaccessible for a time. At its peak, Google Trends rated the Jackson story as “volcanic.”

As sites fell, users raced to other sites: TechCrunch reported that TMZ, which broke the story, had several outages; users then switched to Perez Hilton’s blog, which also struggled to deal with the requests it received.

CNN reported a fivefold rise in traffic and visitors in just over an hour, receiving 20 million page views in the hour the story broke.

Twitter crashed as users saw multiple “fail whales” — the illustrations the site uses as error messages — user FoieGrasie posting, “Irony: The protesters in Iran using Twitter as com are unable to get online because of all the posts of ‘Michael Jackson RIP.’ Well done.” The site’s status blog said that Twitter had had to temporarily disable its search results, saved searches and trend topics.

Of course, Twitter fails if you blow two farts in their general direction. The fact that Google News had a couple of slow patches is still better than crashing on their own – once a month – for hours at a time.

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Have you seen this man?
Daylife/AP Photo used by permission

A doctor who has apparently gone missing after treating Michael Jackson before his sudden death is being sought by the Los Angeles police and coroner’s office.

The doctor’s car, which was left outside Jackson’s rented mansion in Bel Air, has been impounded. A police spokesman said they wanted to talk to Dr Conrad Murray, a cardiologist who practises in California, Nevada and Texas, because he had not signed a death certificate, as is normal procedure. It was reported last night that police were in contact with Murray.

Speculation was mounting that the star’s death may be linked to his longstanding use of painkillers. Family friends have confirmed he was taking drugs to help him deal with the stress of preparing for his series of London concerts.

Last night the Los Angeles coroner said initial examination of the body indicated “no foul play or external trauma”. He said a ruling on the cause of death would be deferred for detailed toxicology and neuropathology tests, which could take between four and six weeks…

Charlie Beck said the doctor’s car was seized because it may contain drugs or other evidence. Beck said officers had spoken to the doctor immediately after Jackson’s death but wanted to carry out “an extensive follow-up interview”…

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Michael Jackson may soon return to the stage, at least for a “special announcement.”

The pop star has scheduled a news conference Thursday at London’s O2 arena, the same venue where Prince sold out 21 nights in 2006, according to London’s Outside Organisation.

Although the short statement announcing Jackson’s news conference did not reveal any details, Britain’s Sky News reported Wednesday that the 50-year-old King of Pop has agreed to a series of summer concerts at the O2.

Rumors have circulated for years about a possible Jackson concert comeback, just as speculation has abounded about his physical and financial health.

Oh golly gee, who knows? Maybe he’s going to announce that he’s having the rest of his nose removed.

This is the poster awaiting commuters this morning in the London Underground