By Reneé Jackson
You can't tell me the King of Pop is dead, because I ran into him at least 15 times at the baddest birthday party in history, hosted by director and Jackson friend Spike Lee. Despite the rain, thousands of adoring fans flocked to Prospect Park in Brooklyn on Saturday (August 29) to wish Michael Jackson a happy 51st birthday.
Before making my way in, I stopped to sign the memorial wall where fans were leaving heartfelt messages for the late pop icon. I even put an MTV stamp on the wall to show our appreciation for how Jackson revolutionized music videos (after all, will anyone ever top "Thriller"?). As I made my way through the crowd, I was overwhelmed by a plethora of Michaels: Red leather jacket "Thriller" Michael, white tank top "Dirty Diana" Michael and sequined "Billie Jean" Michael, but my favorite was a six-year-old boy with his hat hung low over his eyes like "Smooth Criminal" Michael. The signature sequined glove covered the hands of thousands of fans both young and old, with most rocking MJ T-shirts, buttons and hats.
Spike opened the festivities by introducing Al Sharpton, who proclaimed "This is Brooklyn at its best ... Michael Jackson style!" Ed Lover, former host of "Yo! MTV Raps," was joined on stage by Tracey Morgan and former "106 & Park" host Free, and the group danced on stage building the momentum. Finally, it came: DJ Spinna dropped "Thriller" onto the turntables and every sequined glove went up in the air, waving in unison imitating the gothic figures from the classic video.
"P.Y.T. (Pretty Young Thing)" and "Wanna be Startin' Somethin'" followed immediately as fans wildly waved bright orange and black signs with the song's famous tag line.
Sharpton nailed the tenor of the day when he said, "We will never forget Michael Jackson. Michael, rock me one more time!"
In an interview published this morning in the U.K.'s Guardian newspaper, badass cowboy/cop actor and Oscar-hoarding director Clint Eastwood indicated that fellow filmmaker Spike Lee should just "shut his face" when it comes to criticism of Clint's "Flags of Our Fathers."