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Dad Slams Michael's Grueling Tour Sked

'I was worried about his health,' says Joe Jackson

By Mary Papenfuss,  Newser Staff

Posted Jul 14, 2009 5:07 AM CDT
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(Newser) – Michael Jackson's dad yesterday blasted the grueling schedule of 50 concerts planned for his son, saying "no one" could have delivered that package. "I was worried about his health," Joe Jackson told ABC News. "I knew Michael couldn't do all those shows without some rests." Michael told him he only wanted to do 10 performances, Jackson said. The late singer's financial adviser insisted Jackson was physically incapable of performing the concerts, and that his weight had dropped to 110 pounds.

Michael Jackson thanks the audience during the Radio Music Awards at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas in 2003.
Michael Jackson thanks the audience during the Radio Music Awards at the Aladdin Hotel in Las Vegas in 2003.   (AP Photo/Joe Cavaretta, file)
Host Jamie Foxx pays tribute to Michael Jackson to close the 2009 BET Awards in Los Angeles last month.
Host Jamie Foxx pays tribute to Michael Jackson to close the 2009 BET Awards in Los Angeles last month.   (Getty Images)
Joe Jackson leaves the Jackson family home, Sunday, July 5, 2009, in the Encino section of Los Angeles.
Joe Jackson leaves the Jackson family home, Sunday, July 5, 2009, in the Encino section of Los Angeles.   (AP Photo/Mark J. Terrill)
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COMMENTS
Showing 3 of 3 comments
Yourself
Jul 14, 2009 5:16 AM CDT
grueling? so grueling that he hadn't even started the tour yet? i think what was grueling more then the tour was the drug addiction!
sache
Jul 14, 2009 3:02 AM CDT
Michael rest in peace. Joe, shut up.
Bambi
Jul 14, 2009 2:34 AM CDT
Michael's need, bless him, to unburden himself from 400 million (plus) debt was a monster of his own making due entirely to his unbelievable lifestyle excesses. Nevertheless, how (potentially) fortunate for Michael that there was still enough public interest in him after a 40+ year career that he may have been able to balance his daunting financial picture-- during a world economic crisis, no less--by merely committing to a (granted) oppressive performance schedule for one summer. A father's anguished comments in mourning are to be understood as more emotional than analytical to be sure. That Michael's personal foibles (remedial maturational development, perfectionism, vanity, substance abuse, etc.) were incompatible with the pressures of meeting the call of this monumental payback led to tragic consequences. Joe's search for a scapegoat is understandable, particularly as it may deflect from his own culpability as the father of such a sweet and gentle, but otherwise runaway dysfunctional personality as Michael's. But in the end, Jackson's excesses, and the personality dysfunctions which produced them, were tantamount to a cancer. As with a cancer patient, there is no consolation in blame when the disease finally causes life-sustaining mechanisms to fold against each other, and a victim is finally claimed.

 
exhaustion • Michael Jackson • comeback • concert tour • Joe Jackson

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