Michael Jackson's Private Funeral Almost Didn't Happen

because the executors of Michael's estate were acting funny with the money, forcing Janet to cough up nearly $50,000.00 at the last minute. After the public memorial for Michael Jackson at the Staples Center in July, the family scheduled a private ceremony at the Forest Lawn-Glendale Cemetery. Three days before the September 3rd internment Ms. Katherine petitioned the estate saying if payment was not received by the funeral home and the Glendale Police Department by Sept. 1, “the funeral will not proceed.” In the mean time Janet had to step in with $50,000.00 to make sure the funeral would not be canceled. The estate eventually repaid Janet and the balance on the funeral which hovered around $900,000.00.

Partial list of the funeral expenses: $35,000 for burial garments; $1,975 for wardrobe for the family; $2,000 for usher costumes ; $3,682 for framing of a photograph of Jackson next to the casket; $959 for embroidery; $11,716 for invitations and programs; $16,000 for flowers; $30,000 for cars and security; $15,000 for a funeral designer; $21,455 for the repast at a restaurant after the ceremony, and not to mention the $5,000 a month they were charged for holding the remains in a temporary vault during the period that the family waited to bury Michael.

Sammy Admits to Bleaching

Sammy Sosa went on Univision's "Primer Impacto" talk show and spoke about the dramatic change in his appearance admitting, "It's a bleaching cream that I apply before going to bed and whitens my skin some. It's a cream that I have, that I use to soften [my skin], but has bleached me some. I'm not a racist, I live my life happily." Sammy would not name the cream divulging only that it came from Europe and that, "I'm going to market it, I'm a businessman."

Michael Jackson Andy Warhol Silk Screen Sold at Auction for $812,500

but you can right click and save this one for free.

Katt Explains The Burglary Still Sounds Crackish

This Ain't It

Yesterday this cover art for Alicia Keys' new cd circulated the Internet and was lambasted so thoroughly Alicia took to Twitter to distance herself from it.

Joe Jackson Shut Down

One of the legal legs Joe Jackson was trying to stand on to wrangle a $15,000 a month stipend from Michael Jackson's estate has been kicked out from under him. When Joe filed papers contesting being left out of the will, one of his objections was that the day Michael "allegedly" signed his will in LA he was actually in NY, therefore rendering the document a forgery. Not so fast. The judge told Joe forgery or not, since he's not even mentioned in the will he has no grounds to contest it. Oh, and Katherine is standing by the ruling. And one more thing, the estate just paid back the $49,000.00 deposit Janet put down on Michael's $1,000,000.00 funeral.

Michael Vick Gets to Keep Millions in Bonuses

After Micheal Vick was convicted on felony dog fighting charges and banned from the NFL, his former team, the Atlanta Falcons sued him trying to recoup $16 million in signing bonuses. Nice try, but the judge ruled in Vick's favor ruling that because he'd earned the bonuses before he was convicted he's entitled to keep them.

Nick Cannon Goes in on The YBF

Call it celebrity backlash. The usually mild mannered Nick Cannon must be feeling some kind of way about blogger Natasha at The YBF because he tweeted the above comment and this link to her picture shortly after it was announced that Shaquille O'Neal's wife had filed for a legal separation two days after The YBF posted emails that exposed Shaq's longtime affair with Gilbert Arenas' fiance.

Shaq's Wife Just Filed for Legal Separation

in Los Angeles even though they live in Florida. Can you say half?

Diddy's Pants Fall Off He Keeps Dancing

It Wasn't Not Funny

They say a gang of people walked out on Tracy Morgan's stand up at Carngie Hall Friday night, not because he wasn't funny, but because he was too raunchy. Addressing the steady stream of concert goers leaving the venue Tracy called out, "You want clean Tracy? Turn on your TV."

Ok, then.

Lil Boosie Sentenced to 4 Years in Jail

Baton Rouge rapper Lil Boosie is going to jail for a lot longer than originally expected. Back in September Boosie was sentenced to serve 2 years on a 10 year suspended sentence after being convicted on third offense marijuana possession charges. In between the time of his sentencing in September and his appearance in court yesterday, he'd been arrested on gun charges and his ankle bracelet recorded several violations to the terms of his supervised probation. So the judge sentenced Boosie to 4 years and he was taken to jail immediately.

Katt Williams Accused of holding 17 year old against his will

Katt Williams got arrested for burglary while staying at the estate of Aaliyah's uncle [and R Kelly's former manager], music producer Barry Hankerson in Coweta, GA while he's working on a film about Barack Obama. It's also the estate he's accused of burglarizing, which Katt dismisses as "a misunderstanding between me and two stupid detectives." On Sunday night one of the estate employees called the police and reported Katt had used a crowbar to break into a guest house and stolen some jewelry. The jewels have not been recovered and the alleged Katt burglar was released on a $41,000.00 bond. That explains that: But what about this freaky 911 call on November 3rd from a 17 year old boy, who describes himself as Katt's friend, claiming Katt was preventing him from leaving the estate? What's that about?