Our Views: Service was pretty creepy
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On many levels, pop star Michael Jackson was a pioneer in the music industry. The service in his memory at the Staples Center in Los Angeles pioneered what could become a troublesome trend:
Funerals as entertainment venues.
Jackson was a singer, so it seemed appropriate that music was part of the service. But staging the ceremony in an arena filled with 17,500 ticket-holders couldn’t help but make the service feel like a circus. That under-the-big-top sensibility was brought home by the hawkers outside the arena selling all manner of merchandise.
We cringed a bit when one featured performer sang directly to Jackson’s casket. The maudlin display seemed a sad extension of Jackson’s often-creepy private life.
Jackson was a gifted entertainer, but his troubled life should be a cause for quiet and somber reflection.
Some reticence is in order in the wake of his passing, but what we got at the Staples Center was as flashy as Grammy night.
We’re afraid we’ve just seen a new standard for funeral ceremonies that the families of other late celebrities will try to match — and even outdo.
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