Michael Jackson’s fans are still in a state of shock over the King of Pop’s sudden death on Thursday.
So some were a little rankled when Michael’s father, Joe, turned up at the BET awards in Los Angeles on Sunday night and worked the red carpet, speaking of his late son AND plugging his latest business venture: a record label.
In a red carpet interview with CNN reporter Don Lemon, Joe said of the funeral arrangements: “We haven’t gotten to that yet.” When Lemon asks about how his bereaved wife and children are doing, Joe responds curtly “they’re all doing fine.”
“But I want to make this statement, this is a real good statement here,” Joe says next as he introduces his business partner, Marshall Thompson. “Marshall and I we own a record company called Ranch Records.”
Thompson then steps forward to explain that Ranch Records, which will employ Blu-Ray technology, is the “next step” for Joe Jackson. A seemingly confused Lemon then changes the subject.
At a Monday morning press conference to address his son’s second autopsy and plans for a funeral, Jackson explained that he only brought up the record label because he was asked.
“I was asked a question last night about the record company,” Joe said. “What I’m doing is I established a record company with Marshall and the company is called Ranch Records …,” he said. “So we have a lot of good artists fixing to come out.”
Photo: Joe Jackson arrives at the BET awards on Sunday night (Reuters/ Phil McCarten)
