A DAY AFTER Michael Jackson’s memorial service was watched by millions around the world, plans for the dead singer’s burial remained a mystery.
Jackson’s body was transported from Forest Lawn cemetery in the Hollywood Hills on Tuesday to the memorial service at the Staples Centre in downtown Los Angeles. After the service, the Jackson family gathered at a Los Angeles hotel but the whereabouts of Jackson’s coffin, which did not return to the cemetery, remained unknown yesterday.
Investigators were yesterday still holding part of Jackson’s brain, and a death certificate issued after the memorial service failed to state the cause of his death. The certificate listed the cause of death as “deferred” pending toxicology tests to determine what drugs might have been administered to him.
Investigators found the powerful sedative Diprivan, which is usually administered by anaesthetists in hospitals, in Jackson’s home and media reports have suggested that there were numerous track marks on his arm, suggesting intravenous drug administration.
Jackson’s dermatologist said yesterday that he had sedated the singer in the past for painful medical procedures but insisted that he had never given him dangerous sedatives such as Diprivan.
"I was not one of the doctors who participated in giving him overdoses of drugs or too much of anything," Dr Arnold Klein told ABC's Good Morning America.
The Drug Enforcement Agency has joined the investigation into the singer’s death, and any doctor who administered drugs to Jackson without a proper prescription could face a lengthy jail sentence.
Jackson’s memorial service was generally hailed as a dignified tribute but conservatives have started a backlash against what they see as excessive veneration of a flawed public figure.
Irish-American Republican congressman Peter King has promised to resist a congressional resolution honouring Jackson as an American legend, musical icon and world humanitarian.
Texas congresswoman Sheila Jackson Lee has introduced the 1,500-word resolution, which has the support of much of the congressional black caucus.
In a YouTube video this week, Mr King described Jackson, who was acquitted of child molestation charges in 2005 but settled an earlier child abuse claim out of court, as “a pervert” and “a paedophile”.
Black leaders, who see a double standard in such harsh public commentary about Jackson, have condemned Mr King’s remarks.
“How dare Representative King utter such scandalous and outlandish comments about Michael Jackson, when he has never opened his mouth to criticise his own colleagues who have been . . . accused of morally reprehensible, criminal or indecent acts and were forced to resign from public office,” said Illinois congressman Bobby Rush.
“Michael Jackson was found innocent of the allegation against him and has never been classified in any court as being a paedophile.”