Now we’re hearing that Joe Jackson plans to file for a court hearing. Why? Apparently he feels entitled to a monthly allowance of over $20,000 to cover “living expenses”. Riiight. 20 grand? It sounds like ol’ papa here has been living high on the hog. What exactly does that cover?

Thank you LA Times for this little layout of Joe’s monthly expenses.

The filing does not specify the amount Joe Jackson seeks, but a monthly budget included in the court papers lists more than $15,000 in expenses, including $1,500 for rent, $2,500 for eating out and $5,000 for hotels and air travel.

OK, I’ll give him the rent. Housing isn’t cheap. But what is this $2,500 for eating out? Or $5,000 for traveling? Where is he going that he needs to spend 5 grand a month on hotels?

Really, the point here is that Joe didn’t treat Michael right when M.J. was a boy, and now he’s getting his comeuppance.  Michael made a will for a reason. He wanted to use his money to take care of the people who cared about him. His children are taken care of, along with his mother who is reportedly getting $26,000 a month.

That’s what he wanted.

Notice that Joe was not included. So why does he think that he is automatically entitled to his son’s money?

The judge in charge of this case denied a hearing at this time.

“He’s worth more dead than when he was alive,” Joe, 80, tells “Extra” in an interview that airs Thursday night. “I’d rather have him alive.” (Extra)

Hmmm…sounds like pop here doesn’t mind so much that his son is dead. And I don’t think anyone is fooled by his poor attempt at fixing his little faux pas by saying that he’d “rather have him alive”.

Too late, Joe! You said it!

He went on talking trying to smooth over that horrifically cold comment by stating things like, hearing Michael’s songs makes him “very emotional”, and that he gets teary thinking about the “things that we went through”. Riiiight.

This guy is so full of it that I have to wipe the B.S. off my screen.

Michael Jackson’s ex-wife Debbie Rowe is suing a woman for nearly $500,000 (£316,000) over claims she wanted money rather than custody of her children.

Rebecca White told the US TV show Extra that Ms Rowe was not interested in access to her two children with Jackson – Prince Michael, 12, and Paris, 11.

Ms Rowe sued over the comments in July, but Ms White failed to respond.

Her lawyers are now seeking a default judgment. A court hearing to decide the outcome is scheduled for November.

In legal papers filed in Los Angeles, Ms Rowe’s lawyers claim she should be awarded $490,000 (£300,000) in general and punitive damages.

The defamation and invasion-of-privacy action is seeking to recoup any money that Ms White may have been paid for her interview, Lawyers have estimated the fee to be $100,000 (£61,000).

They are also seeking $100,000 for emotional distress, $45,000 (£27,000) for medical and legal fees and $245,000 (£150,000) in punitive damages. Read on…

The city’s records reveal that Gary forked over $5,000 to pay for air fare for father Joe Jackson as well as the 1970s musical group the Chi-Lites in order to attend the ceremony. The money came out of the donations collected on behalf of the MJ memorial.

Gary’s mayor Rudy Clay adamantly points out that the payment was for Jackson’s  air travel, rather than a payment to attend the ceremony. Sure, we guess the former is a little bit more palatable than the latter. But come on Rudy, there a lot of better things that the event planners could’ve spent the $5,000 on.

Read more details over at the LA Times.

According to MSNBC, LaToya says that she can’t devote herself to the show considering how soon it is to Michael’s death and the fact his death investigation is still ongoing…But if that’s the case, why did she even start talking to the producers at all? Was this just a publicity stunt?

La Toya Jackson won’t be putting on her dancing shoes this season.

“I’ve been approached to do ‘Dancing With the Stars’” Jackson told Access Hollywood’s Tony Potts exclusively on Thursday. “The fact of the matter is, I won’t be doing it, simply because of the circumstances that (are) going on at the moment.”

The singer, who was three years older than her late brother, Michael Jackson, who passed away on June 25 at the age of 50, said she can’t even think of joining “Dancing” while so many questions remain unanswered regarding her brother’s death.

(From MSNBC)

The eight remaining Jackson kids vary a lot in fame and talent, so it’s tough to get them all together for a series of gigs without running into complaints about different pay scales, air time, and perks. Janet, the only other Jackson who seems to have a solid career as a solo artist, will reportedly make $4 million if she does the tour. Compare that to Rebbie, who’s stuck with a comparatively paltry $250,000.

Will money and fame tear this family apart, or can they keep it together to pull off this tour? The Daily Beast has more:

The latest point of contention, these associates say, is a 10-city U.S. “Jackson Family Reunion Tour” involving all of Michael’s siblings. The Daily Beast has obtained a proposal from New Jersey-based AllGood Entertainment, a concert promoter that claimed it had a similar concert plan in place in June when it sued Michael for allegedly breaching that agreement, and my sources confirm that the Jackson family is seriously considering this new offer. The guaranteed collective payday for the clan: more than $12 million, including a $1 million advance upon acceptance. And it indicates that this new grouping—call it the Jackson 8—will have Janet fronting in her big brother’s place.

The biggest holdup with a concert tour, or other deals, are sibling rivalries, as each brother and sister weighs individual deals, while family matriarch Katherine Jackson preaches for a long-term family-size agreement which will provide security for everyone. The details of the proposed pay split among the family members illuminates both the opportunities for the surviving Jacksons following their famous brother’s death and their competing—and not equal—prospects.

The tour pay scale in the proposal is specifically broken out as follows:

Janet Jackson — $4 million
Jermaine Jackson — $1.5 million
Jackie Jackson — $1.5 million
Randy Jackson — $1.5 million
Marlon Jackson — $1.5 million
Tito Jackson — $1.5 million
La Toya Jackson — $500,000
Rebbie Jackson — $250,000

We’ve pulled up a  couple parts of the interview that were the most interesting. Here, from CNN, Jermaine discusses the allegations of Jackson’s drug addiction:

Jermaine Jackson told King he had no reason to believe his brother was addicted to drugs, a suspicion that detectives revealed when they requested a warrant to search Dr. Conrad Murray’s Las Vegas, Nevada, home and office.

“I have never seen him act abnormal around me or never known anything like that,” he said. He said he never talked about drugs with his brother “because it never came to my mind.”

While the coroner’s report on what killed Jackson has been delayed indefinitely, evidence emerged that he shopped for a doctor who would give him the drug investigators suspect led to his death.

In addition to denying the drug abuse rumors, Jermaine also dismissed the suggestions that Jackson’s three children were not his biological heirs. He doesn’t, however, know what to make of the rumors of Michael’s  “fourth child,” Norwegian music star Omer Bhatti.

When King asked if there was a chance the children might have show business careers, he said “there’s a great possibility.”

“They love film and they love movies and they know a lot about animation,” he said.

The arrangement for Debbie Rowe, the mother of the two eldest children, to have limited visitation with them is “perfect” and “wonderful,” he said. “We’ve talked about horses, she has a ranch.”

He disputed suggestions that Michael Jackson was not the biological father of the children.

“People come forth and say things just to get attention, but those are definitely Michael’s children.

“You can look at the kids and tell that they are Michael’s kids,” he said.

Jermaine said he did not know if Omer Bhatti, a 25-year-old Norwegian performer, was his brother’s son.

According to the LA Times, the estranged father of the King of Pop wants to build a shrine for Michael in Las Vegas for fans to come and remember him. Fashioned along the lines of Elvis’ Graceland or Michael’s own Neverland Ranch, the proposed shrine would immortalize the pop singer. But will anybody listen to Joe? He’s already been pushed out of the chance to raise Michael’s kids. We have a feeling mommy Katherine’s running the show in the Jackson household. We’ll have to see how she feels about this idea.

Michael Jackson’s father said he supports building a shrine to the pop star along the lines of Neverland Ranch in Las Vegas, where Jackson lived for several years.
Joe Jackson told E! that his son has not yet been buried but that he would like to see Jackson memorialized in Las Vegas with some sort of facility like Neverland, Jackson’s compound in Santa Barbara County.
“I think Vegas would be great,”  Joe Jackson said. “The fans would come.”

According to MSNBC, several people close to the King of Pop are talking to producers about competing on the next season of “Dancing with the Stars.” We’re guessing that the “Stars” part of that title is a pretty loosely defined term, because the people in question include sister LaToya, brother Jermaine, and MJ’s personal trainer Lou Ferrigno.

Would all of these people be on the producers’ radar if Michael Jackson’s unfortunate death hadn’t catapulted the Jackson name back in the headlines? Maybe not. Does anybody’s 15 minutes of fame ever run out?

The ninth season of “Dancing With the Stars” could end up resembling a reunion of Michael Jackson’s family and friends.

Lou Ferrigno, Jackson’s personal trainer and the onetime star of “The Incredible Hulk,” said he’d “definitely be interested” and has been in talks to join the show.

LaToya Jackson, Michael’s sister, is also now in discussions to become a part of “Dancing.”

“She’s a big fan of the show, and being from a musical family, it would be a good fit,” her rep told Us Weekly.

And finally, brother Jermaine Jackson, never one to let an opportunity pass him by, is throwing his hat in the ring.

“He doesn’t just think he should be on the show, he thinks he could win it all. It’s not as if he doesn’t know how to work an audience,” said a source close to Jackson. “It’s also a steady job for a while. He hasn’t had any traction with the other projects and reunion shows he’d hoped for. This could be great for him.”

(From MSNBC)

Ever since Michael Jackson’s death in June, we’ve heard conflicting reports about who the biological mother and father of his three children really are. Today, another man enters the fray, claiming that Paris Jackson is his biological daughter. Former child star Mark Lester told reporters that he donated sperm for Debbie Rowe, the mother who gave birth to Paris and Prince. He says the 11 year old Paris bears an uncanny resemblance to his own daughter, and he’s willing to take a paternity test to prove his claim.

This comes on the heels of a custody claim by another man, dermatologist Arnold Klein, who is also rumored to be the Jackson kids’ real daddy. When is the madness going to stop? These kids need a chance to be normal, and that’s never going to happen if they keep getting dragged into custody fights.

ABC News has more:

Less than a week after Jackson’s 79-year-old mother Katherine Jackson was awarded custody of his three children a former British child star has come forward saying he believes he’s the father of Jackon’s 11-year-old daughter, Paris.

“I believe that Paris could be my daughter, and I would be willing to take a paternity test,” Mark Lester, star of the 1967 film “Oliver,” told British tabloid News of the World.

Lester, 51, said that he donated sperm for Debbie Rowe, mother of Jackson’s two oldest children, Paris and Prince Michael I, 12. He contends that Paris bears an uncanny resemblance to his own daughters, particularly his 15-year-old.

“Looking at pictures of Harriet and Paris, there’s a very strong resemblance between the two of them,” Lester, also the children’s godfather, told News of the World,” “Paris has blue eyes, pale complexion and high cheekbones.”