UPDATE FRIDAY 11PM: The fundanything.com page for “Remembering Michael” is kaput, gone, vanished from the company’s website completely. So much for this latest attempt to exploit Michael Jackson’s memory.
EARLIER FRIDAY The end may be near for Katherine Jackson’s FundAnything appeal. I told you first and exclusively that Mrs. Jackson (with silent partners Sonia Lowe and Howard Mann) had put up a crowdfunding drive to raise money for a documentary called “Remembering Michael.”
The appeal offered donors several different options from $10 up to $6,000. For different amounts, donors could receive in exchange a Michael Jackson baseball hat, or more elaborate memorabilia like photographs or online access to the doc.
Alas, it is all gone now. All the items have been removed. All that’s left is a chance to donate to the film. So far Mrs. Jackson has raised a paltry $4,275– and a lot of ire. Jackson fans, who are very astute at this point, regard the whole thing as a scam. They say so in the comments section of the FundAnything page.
What a crazy plan this was: Mrs. Jackson doesn’t own the rights to Michael’s image or his music. She tried an end run around the Estate–John Branca, John McClain, and Howard Weitzman. Why didn’t she have her attorney set up a meeting and ask the Estate to help her do this? These things always end in tears and recriminations. I don’t think it will be long before the appeal is removed altogether.
