Fans Bid Final Farewell to ‘King of Pop’

JIM LEHRER:

And finally tonight, as you may have heard, there was a huge farewell tribute to Michael Jackson today that was televised live around the world. Special correspondent Jeffrey Kaye has our report from Los Angeles.

JEFFREY KAYE:

Nearly two weeks after the death of pop legend Michael Jackson, family, friends, fans, and notables from the music world participated in a memorial tribute broadcast around the world from Los Angeles.

Pallbearers, each with a single sequined glove, carried Jackson's gold-plated casket to the stage. The event was part concert, part eulogy, featuring, among other musicians, Lionel Richie, Stevie Wonder, and Mariah Carey. She performed one of Jackson's biggest hits.

MARIAH CAREY, musician (singing):

I'll be there…

JEFFREY KAYE:

The very public memorial at the Staples Center followed a private family service. The Reverend Al Sharpton, a family friend, said Jackson was a trailblazer for black America.

THE REVEREND AL SHARPTON, civil rights activist: He put on one glove, pulled his pants up, and broke down the color curtain where now our videos are shown and magazines put us on the cover.

JEFFREY KAYE:

1.6 million people participated in an online lottery for 17,500 free seats, two-thirds of them inside the stadium, the rest in an adjoining theater that broadcast the event on giant screens. As people with tickets passed through police lines, the mood was somber.

MICHAEL JACKSON FAN:

Even though I want to celebrate his life, I still have that sadness that he's really gone.

JEFFREY KAYE:

Inside the emotional tributes focused on Michael Jackson the person and the performer, family friend and Motown founder Berry Gordy remembered Jackson this way.

BERRY GORDY, founder, Motown: From the first beat of "Billie Jean" and the toss of that hat, I was mesmerized. But when he did his iconic moonwalk, I was shocked. It was magic.

JEFFREY KAYE:

The memorial came after days of legal wrangling over Jackson's will and over custody of his three children. It also followed disclosures about police investigations into Jackson's use of prescribed drugs.

Such news seemed of little consequence to fans. Since Jackson's death, tens of thousands of fans have descended on Los Angeles. Many went to the site of a makeshift shrine at the family home. Others came to sign billboard-sized posters outside the Staples Center.

Thousands of reporters from around the world covered and fed the frenzy. City officials, worried about the possibility of unmanageable crowds, closed streets in a two-block perimeter around the venue. The message from the city was: If you don't have a ticket, stay out.

The message worked. The large video screens outside the arena did not broadcast the memorial. Instead, they showed a photo montage of Jackson's life. Only about 1,000 ticket-less fans came to stand outside the perimeter.

With millions of people around the world watching the memorial, the reaction to Jackson's death has turned into an epic global spectacle. Among the fans who came into Los Angeles, there was a sense of devotion. For many of the faithful who traveled thousands of miles to get here, this was more than a tribute. It was a pilgrimage.

Lynne Johnston flew in from Scotland.

Explain to people who may not understand why someone would come 6,000 miles for a memorial.