September 9, 2003 - Michael’s Words at His Birthday Celebration

The MSN Entertainment website reported Michael’s remarks to his fans at his birthday celebration in Los Angeles last week as follows:

(What a performance... absolutely incredible...) You don’t think so? I want to thank my wonderful fans for making this celebration so incredible. I can’t believe you’ve put so much effort into this amazing party... and from six countries, right? Six countries? Yes—more than six countries came to be here for this celebration. I want to say that I’m so embarrassed, and at the same time deeply moved by your love and truly overwhelmed. I want you to know that I’m grateful to my fans not only for days like this, but for every day of my life. It’s your presence, your faith, and your loyalty that give me tremendous strength in difficult times. You’ve been my inspiration for hard work and for passing that on—I owe you so much.

Over the years, we’ve become a family—all of us. You are my family. In every country I’ve traveled to, people have been so kind and so wonderful to me. My children are your children and all the children in the world are our children, and we are responsible for them. It’s time for people to think about the child that has always lived inside them—and even more importantly, to be grown-up, to have their wisdom constantly enriched, but never to forget their childlike innocence.

Most of what you’ll see from me in the near future will celebrate the joyful imagination of youth that has always been part of who I am—but it also includes the mature perspective of a father, an artist, and a member of our community.

My wish for my birthday is that you, my fans, will join me in a brand-new project, and together we’ll move toward a bright future.

I feel so young, and I look to the future with a very high level of optimism. I’ve hired a brand-new team of kind, loyal, and capable people with completely different backgrounds. They work together with great coordination and with the spirit of a real team—and they’re putting you, the fans, at the top of their list. Give them a little time to show you what I mean: a new official website, a number of official products for sale, an MJ clothing line for all age groups, a fan communication center, and maybe something surprising! We promise you that we’ll make Neverland even more accessible to the fans and that we’ll make it so we can stay in touch even more. Also, we need your opinions and your criticism.

I want to thank you for helping me make sure justice was done regarding Tommy Motolla (the former CEO of Sony Music). This man is a racist, and he (Tommy Motolla used the power of one group to destroy another group—I don’t want to insult anyone—and Sony fired him. It was you—yes, it was you—who stood up with your hearts and took a risk. It was you who stepped forward to defend someone you love. You were there all around the world, and for me you are an army, you are soldiers of love. People ask me, “You always talk about Heal The World and all these things—so why are there always soldiers on your concert stage?” And I tell them: these are soldiers of love.

(The audience, after expressing a lot of emotion, chants about Martin Bashir) Who? Ah, Martin Bashir? He’s a coward! He used us—he used all of us. He broke every agreement you can think of. (He continues in a mocking tone) Oh, Martin is so good!

Whenever injustice was done to me, you were always there for me—and I will always love you for that.

A few hours ago I came here from the recording studio. I’m working on new music... and also a few video clips and a feature film—you’ll see! The only thing I can promise you is that I’m going to make it so that all of you will be proud to be Michael Jackson fans.

Before I say goodbye to you, I want to talk to my fans about a new humanitarian project that’s very close to my heart. The goal of this project is to help young people—some kind of guidance. The world today has so many problems. Solving many of them is difficult. For that, we need money, human power, experience, equipment, and things like that—but above all, we need people whose purpose is to eliminate those problems, people who won’t stand aside until this work bears fruit. I believe in the younger generation—those who are much younger than 45 years old!—so that we can show them those problems and help them find solutions. Solutions that no one has ever thought of before. That’s why I want to push all young people to “Go For Your Dreams.” If they do that, many problems will be solved. With the help of several very skilled people, we will set up a humanitarian organization before the end of the year. Even though I can’t tell you more about it right now, I can tell you its name: Go For Your Dreams (Go for your dreams). You’re the first people I’m telling this to, because I hope you’ll join me and turn this into a worldwide success. It would be a great honor to me if you, my fans, were Go For Your Dreams ambassadors all over the world. But for now, I hope you all enjoy this celebration and have a great time. Life is amazing! You’re the best. But don’t forget—the best is still ahead. Thank you again, everyone. From the bottom of my heart, I love you.