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.

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.

The King of Pop will reportedly be buried at  Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, though the exact burial spot hasn’t been revealed. Now that fans know the date of the funeral, we’re guessing swarms of them will show up at the cemetery at the end of the month to catch of the glimpses of the proceedings.

Joseph Jackson says his son Michael will be finally laid to rest on Aug. 29, on what would have been the King of Pop’s 51st birthday.

Speaking to New York’s Daily News, the Jackson patriarch said the burial would take place at Los Angeles’s Forest Lawn Cemetery at 10 that morning, some two months after Michael’s June 25 death.

Jackson, 80, said that these arrangements had only been finalized recently, says the News. He also said that his wife Katherine, from whom he lives separately, has been particularly hard hit by their son’s death and suffers crying jags.

(From People Magazine)

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.”

At the beginning of the week, a custody plan between Rowe and Katherine Jackson was finalized, giving the Jackson matriarch custody of Paris, Prince, and Blanket. NY Daily News reports that Rowe, the surrogate mother of Michael’s two older children, was “concerned” about father Joe. Joe Jackson has been dogged for years by allegations that he abused Michael.

So the Jackson clan jumped into damage control mode, with Joe preparing a court declaration that promises he won’t meddle in the childrearing decisions of his grandkids. As part of the deal, Joe got barred from living at the family compound, where the kids will stay. Let’s hope Katherine Jackson knows what she’s doing!

More from the NY Daily News:

Joe Jackson has promised a judge he will step aside in the raising of Michael Jackson’s three kids.

“I do visit the family residence from time to time and will continue to do so; however, I will not be involved in raising the children,” the patriarch said in a two-page court declaration.

He said all “decision-making authority” will rest with his wife, Katherine Jackson.

Joe Jackson can’t live at the family compound in Encino, Calif., under the custody deal between Katherine and Debbie Rowe, biological mom of Michael’s two eldest children.

Rowe was concerned about Joe’s influence because Michael had accused his dad of physical abuse, a source told the Daily News.

Joe Jackson has confirmed that a 25-year-old aspiring rapper from Norway, is actually Michael Jackson’s fourth child.

In an interview posted on NewsOne.com, Joe Jackson talks about Omer Bhatti and told the reporter that he knew Michael had another child.

“Yes, I knew he had another son, yes I did,” Jackson said in the video.

He also discussed Bhatti’s dancing abilities and his resemblence to the Jackson clan. “He looks like a Jackson, acts like a Jackson, can dance like a Jackson,” he said.

As a child, Bhatti often traveled with Jackson and even lived at the singer’s Neverland ranch.

Court records show Bhatti was living at Neverland when authorities raided the estate in 2003 looking for evidence of child molestation.

Bhatti was briefly interviewed by investigators and was initially on the defense’s list of prospective witnesses.

But he was never asked to testify.

Is this just another example of Joe Jackson going off message, or is he telling us something that Bhatti and others don’t want us to find out?

Responding to the abuse claim, Joe Jackson said, “That’s a bunch of bull-s….I raised him just like you would raise your kids, you know? But harm Michael, for what? I have no reason. That’s my son. I loved him and I still love him.” (source)

Here is a short clip from his interview with Larry King. Joe is practically interrupting Larry just to get his empty words out. I’m not convinced by his claims that he was a good father. And why on earth is he dragging slavery into this?? What does that have to do with beating your child? Obviously he’s just trying to distract and get himself off the hot seat.

Michael Jackson’s upbringing was shaped by two very different parents.

His mother, Katherine Jackson, has been portrayed by her children as the loving glue that bonded the family together, while her husband, Joe, was the harsh disciplinarian whose iron hand not only shaped one of the most successful musical families in the world, but also elicited enough fear in his superstar son that it sometimes made him ill.

Now the couple of 60 years stands at the center of a custody drama surrounding their grandchildren.

Michael Jackson’s will, filed in 2002, designated his mother as caregiver for Prince Michael, 12, Paris, 11, and “Blanket,” 7.

It is the latest installment in the many trials that have tested the Jackson family, not least of which has been the unexpected loss of its most famous member.

“[Katherine's] taking it real hard,” Joe Jackson told ABC News about his wife’s coping with their son’s death. “When you start talking about Michael, she starts crying.” Read on…