2003
On the morning of June 12, 2003, Michael, along with his cousin Jesse Jackson, attended the Rainbow/Push coalition group’s breakfast ceremony held in a church in Chicago, United States. At this event, he signed autographs for the guests who were impressed and took photos with them.
On Monday, June 16, nearly three thousand people attended the funeral ceremony of Gregory Peck. Gregory Peck was a great Hollywood actor and a very close and loyal friend of Michael Jackson. He died at the age of eighty-seven on the night of June 12 at his home in Los Angeles, while he was asleep.
In addition to Michael Jackson, many other famous people including Harrison Ford and Angelica Houston attended his funeral.
On the night of June 24, Michael, along with his sister Latoya, presented the James Brown, the father of soul music, with an award for a lifetime of artistic achievement at the Black Entertainment Television awards ceremony held in Los Angeles. While draping a cloak over James Brown’s shoulders, he said: ”No one has ever impressed me like this man.“
The two of them danced a little together on stage as well.
On July 16, in a survey conducted by the ‘Top Ten’ website, Michael was selected as the third most famous person in the world. The first and second places in this survey were taken by Pope John Paul II and Queen Elizabeth, respectively.
On this website it said: ”Michael is the most beloved performer of all time. With his music, charitable activities, and his voice, he has impressed people on all five continents.“
In this survey, ten of the world’s most famous people were identified in the following order.
1. Pop
2. Queen Elizabeth
3. Michael Jackson
4. Muhammad Ali Clay
5. Michael Jordan
6. Fidel Castro
7. Madonna
8. Cindy Crawford
9. Bill Clinton
10. Nelson Mandela
On July 16, Michael attended his funeral ceremony together with forty people from the family and friends of Barry White. The mourners of this legendary soul singer all boarded a boat that had been rented by Barry White’s children, and they scattered Barry’s ashes over the California sea.
Barry White died earlier that month at the age of fifty-eight due to kidney disease.
On July 21, Michael Jackson, in a statement, condemned the prison sentence for illegal music downloaders via the internet.
The statement said: ”Downloading music from the internet is wrong. But prison cannot be the answer. It is music fans who determine the success of the music industry. I hope this is not forgotten.“
Michael also called on artists, music industry activists, and music page buyers to come together and discuss how to solve this issue.
IBM, on August 5, at a ceremony held at ”Fontainebleau Hilton Resorts & Towers“ in Miami, presented awards to several songwriters, publishers, and producers of hip hop, rap, rock and blues (R&B) songs.
The song «Butterflies», one of the songs from Michael’s new album «Invincible», won Song of the Year.
On August 17, news of Michael’s nomination for two awards at the major Golden Artist awards was announced. The ceremony was held on September 26 at the Hilton Metropole Hotel in London.
The two awards Michael was nominated for were: the award for the legendary male artist and the award for the legendary album for the album «Thriller».
In the evening of August 29, 2003, Michael Jackson, along with his fans and friends, celebrated his 45th birthday in a hall in Los Angeles.
The host of the ceremony was Steve Harvey, the famous comedian and Michael’s friend. Several singers and artists also performed on stage at this celebration, including Mitey G Kids, Remedy, Brett Ratner, Slash, Usher, Bling Dynasty, Nawi, and Raven Simon. The event was broadcast live on the M.S.N. network.
Michael watched the ceremony from the balcony, but came on stage to cut his birthday cake. He also threw a piece of cake into the crowd.
In his speech at this celebration, Michael informed his fans about his upcoming plans and new work he was working on. He said:
”What a performance..... amazing... don’t you think so?
I want to thank all my wonderful fans around the world for tonight. I want you to know that I appreciate my fans not only in situations like this, but every day of my life. It is your presence, your belief, and your loyalty that have given me incredible strength through the hardships and struggles of my life. And it was you who inspired me to work hard and reach the result. I owe you. Over the years, we have become a family. All of you are my family. My children are your children. All the children of the world are our children, and we are responsible to them.“
In his speech, Michael said that he had formed a team made up of the best. He also announced the launch of an official website and said that he intends to make his home, Neverland, more accessible to fans. At the end, he reported that he was working on new songs and music videos and promised: ”I will do something that will make all of you proud to be fans of Michael Jackson.“
Michael ended his speech with this line: ”You are the best. But remember that the best is yet to come. I love all of you from the depths of my heart.“
At the same ceremony, Michael knelt on the ground to put one fan’s shoe back on his foot after it had come off while the fan was passing across the stage.
On the same night, coinciding with Michael’s birthday, the first Persian fan website titled eMJey.com was launched, and the next day BBC Radio announced its opening.
In late August (Shahrivar 82), a wax statue of Michael Jackson was displayed among forty-five wax statues in the Niaavaran Cultural Center gallery in Tehran. These statues were made by Russian artists based on the wax statues of the Madame Tussauds museum in Saint Petersburg. In addition to Michael Jackson, whose wax figure did not resemble him, among the political, scientific, and artistic personalities whose statues were displayed in this gallery, one could mention Adolf Hitler, Napoleon Bonaparte, Peter the Great, Genghis Khan, Christopher Columbus, Albert Einstein, Salvador Dalí, Leonardo da Vinci, Freddie Mercury, Louis de Funès, Marilyn Monroe, Jean-Paul Belmondo, Jean-Claude Van Damme, and Marlene Dietrich.
On September 13, Michael arranged a charity event at his Neverland home. Many famous people such as Nick Carter from the Backstreet Boys, and his brother Aaron, the famous boxer Mike Tyson, Penny Marshall, Pink, Ashanti, and the group Boyz II Men were present at this event, and some also performed songs.
Before Michael began his speech, the international choir Harvost, made up of children, together with fans and guests, sang the birthday poem for Michael in unison.
Then Michael addressed the attendees:
”Thank you all for coming here tonight. In my opinion, the reason you are here is a very special one, and that is the future of us and the future of our children. I will continue fighting for them until the end of my life. I love you. Thank you.“
The Carter brothers presented a birthday cake to Michael. By throwing pieces of this cake into the crowd, Michael started a cake fight among the guests.
Parts of this ceremony were also shown on Entertainment Tonight. The K.S.F.M. network also broadcast the ceremony live.
On the first day of October, Michael attended a charity ceremony held at the Beverly Hills Hotel to help patients suffering from lupus. He appeared on stage together with Dr. Alan Metzger.
On the same day, in the auction in the city of London, a design that Michael Jackson had drawn and signed from Charlie Chaplin was sold for four thousand one hundred and twelve British pounds—three times its actual value.
Later that month, Michael Jackson was among one hundred sixty-five nominees introduced for the Nobel Peace Prize. That year’s Nobel Peace Prize went to Ms. Shirin Ebadi, a human rights and women’s rights activist in Iran.
Being a nominee for the Nobel Peace Prize is a great honor that has happened to Michael three times so far.