Will you donate to help pay for the security at MJ's Memorial?

I don’t think I would, they will just probably get it from peoples taxes

I would say that whomever sets up the memorial (and I thought it was the Jackson family who OK’d it) should have to pay for it. It seems to me they could then turn around and if they wanted to recoup the costs, they could sell sponsorship rights to companies who wanted to market during the event. Certainly shouldn’t be on the taxpayer dime.

No. I feel absolutely no connection to Michael Jackson, and I don’t see why the people should have to pay for the security at his memorial. People should have to donate for something they’re not going to anyway. It’s complete overkill as is.

LA shouldn’t be absorbing this cost, they just shouldn’t be doing the memorial in the first place. No memorial, no cost. But this is a city that spent 1 million on the LA Lakers victory parade… They need to get their priorities in order and put the people they are in debt to first.

@dalepetrie – I agree. It should not be on the taxpayer’s dime, at all. I read another article – I’m trying to remember where, but it appears that the money will be coming out of the overtime fund for officers – which, at the moment is “flush” with money; however, if something big happened, say a natural disaster, there could be a problem.

I just am floored that so far, the Jackson family has said nothing. Not a word about whether or not they will be helping pay the cost.

Is the family not paying anything? I don’t understand why they’d throw such a large memorial when the guy was in such severe debt.
Oh, and no..I’d never donate to something like that. Rich people don’t need donations.

Maybe the Jackson family doesn’t want the memorial to be this big, and that’s why they’re not paying…

I think it is a joke. Cant believe California is going to pay for part of the circus. I like MJ. But this is nothing but the royal treatment. And MJ is not royalty.
The Jackson trust should be paying for every cop and fireman that is being used.

@dverhey Evidently, there has been a lot of division within the family on how the Memorial should be staged. Joe Jackson and the brothers wanted more of a show, Katherine (hope that is the correct spelling) wanted more of a religious service.

@ChazMaz….The Jackson Trust. Hah. Have they ever found where any paperwork has been filed to create such a trust?

And if thats the problem, why don’t they just not pay the service people. And the family should atleast donate some of the much money they have.

Well, trust or not they either pay for the service. Or do it in their back yard.

I would not pay for a memorial service. If they family wants a memorial for MJ then they can pay for it. Even if the economy wasn’t down it wouldn’t be right.

hey…its not like the family can’t afford it!!! i didn’t know that the costs would be so ridiculously high, but this definitely shouldn’t be taxpayer money…even though I’m not even American, this is ridiculous!

Guys when I said that they would probably get the money from the taxes I wasn’t really sure, I just assumed it

Who usually pays for a memorial service when someone dies? It’s the family, right?

I just found out you can watch it live here

I don’t like that the taxpayers are stuck with the cost and that vital services like fire ad police depts are pulled away from their regularly duties to tend to this.

What is happening to all the money being paid for tickets to the memorial? Doesn’t at least some of it go for security? That is how it works down here when someone holds an event in our convention center.

@Darwin I believe tickets were free, and given out by lottery.

Well, that would seem to be something the city decided to do on its own, so I guess the city should have looked at its budget first. Who planned it anyway? If the family did, then they should pay.

There’s no way I would pay. The family has to. The police was for their benefit as well as anyone else’s – or would they have preferred that the masses pull souvenirs off and in the coffin and sell them on ebay?

This is ridiculous. Truly.

he had enough money, no I would absolutely not.

I read that LA asked people for donations to cover the police etc from the Lakers parade for winning – and people paid.
They area again asking for the public to donate.
Frankly, the family should have to pay. Who paid for the use of the Staples Center? If I wanted to use it I bet they would have handed me the bill while walking out the door.

wish we would give this much attention to useful things like fixing the economy, healthcare, environment , ...

Nope, I liked him as a musician and an artist, but his funeral expenses are his family’s obligations. Besides, I’m too busy donating money to the Disabled American Veterans Association. That is a far more worthy cause. Those people came back crippled from fighting for our freedoms and don’t have 200 unpublished songs in the vault to support them.

to be crude, fuck the hypocrites who put on the memorial, the man is dead, let him be. Half those ‘stars’ gave MJ grief or ridiculed or just plain ignored him when he was alive, now they all act like they were his best friend. My money goes to the folks still alive and suffering every day, like our veterans.

@evelyns_pet_zebra – Here! Here! If I could give you more lurve, I would.

holy crap…his coffin was made outta gold…as were the metal program guides handed out to people, and a lot of other items at the event!! theres no way the government must have paid for all the shiny shit, its gotta be the jackson’s themselves!!