Michael Jackson’s family delayed his burial by five days as a judge ruled that a touring show of his memorabilia could go on and police raided another pharmacy in their ongoing probe of his sudden death.
The singer’s burial will now take place on Sept. 3 and not on Saturday, which would have been Jackson’s 51st birthday, because some family members did not want him to be buried on that day.
The service for friends and family will still be held at Glendale Forest Lawn Memorial Park, in a suburb of Los Angeles at 7pm local time.
Jackson suffered cardiac arrest and died on June 25. A police investigation into his death appears focused on his use of prescription drugs and on the doctors who treated him.
On Friday, federal drug enforcement agents raided a pharmacy in Beverly Hills that Jackson had used.
Police have previously raided the home and offices of Jackson’s personal doctor, Conrad Murray, who was hired to care for Jackson ahead of a series of London concerts planned for last month and has become a key subject of their investigation.
They have searched the offices of Jackson’s dermatologist, Arnold Klein, in recent months, too.
Meanwhile, a Los Angeles Superior Court judge approved a deal between executors of Jackson’s 2002 will and concert promoter AEG Live for a traveling exhibition of Jackson memorabilia over the family’s objections.
Tensions over the estate’s administration have risen in recent days, in part because attorneys for the late singer’s mother, Katherine Jackson, have said they could file a wrongful death lawsuit against Murray and name AEG, which paid the doctor, as a co-defendant.
An AEG attorney called the idea of filing a wrongful death suit against the company “outrageous” and said it “has only been supportive of Michael Jackson.”
In New York, city officials are looking for a larger place for director Spike Lee to hold his celebration of Michael Jackson’s birthday.
The filmmaker had planned to mark the late King of Pop’s birthday with a block party-style bash in Brooklyn’s Fort Greene park on Saturday. But city officials and Lee are looking at other sites because crowd estimates have grown.
The event’s original permit envisioned 2,000 people attending. Because of nationwide publicity, organizers now expect the crowd to exceed 10,000.
Those who still haven’t had their fill of Michael Jackson news will be pleased to hear that a film built around rehearsal footage left behind after his death will be released in a limited two-week theatrical engagement worldwide.
Sony announced that the release date for Michael Jackson: This Is It has been moved up to Oct. 28, two days earlier than previously announced.
Further down the celebrity food chain, One Tree Hill actor Antwon Tanner has pleaded guilty to selling more than a dozen federal identification numbers for US$10,000.
Tanner told a federal judge in Brooklyn on Friday that he was a middleman, selling numbers someone else provided.
Tanner, 34, is expected to get as much as a year in prison at his sentencing, set for Nov. 20. He was charged in April with selling 16 Social Security numbers and three bogus Social Security cards.
“Octo-Mom” is in the news again. A judge ruled that an advocacy group for child actors can seek to have a guardian appointed to oversee the financial interests for the octuplets of Nadya Suleman, in connection with a television show about the family. The judge ruled that California law allows former child actor Paul Petersen, president of the group A Minor Consideration, to make the financial guardianship petition, even if he has no direct relation to the children.
Finally, in a follow-up to a story previously mentioned in this space, a woman found guilty of snooping at Britney Spears’ house has been sentenced to three years of probation and 240 hours of community service.
Miranda Tozier-Robbins was arrested after deputies found her wearing camouflage, carrying camera equipment and peering into the windows of Spears’ home. She said afterward that she was working on a documentary on paparazzi tactics.
Tozier-Robbins was also ordered to stay away from Spears and her home.
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