Janet Jackson blames Dr. Conrad Murray for Michael's death

Janet Jackson has been staying pretty quiet since her brother Michael's death, but in an interview with ABC's Robin Roberts, the performer demands that MJ's doctor, Conrad Murray, be brought to justice. As if handing out a surgical anesthesia (possibly illegally) is something that warrants criminal charges!

"He was the one that was administering," Janet says in the interview, which will air Friday at 10 p.m. "I think he is responsible."

She also talks about how she feels about Michael's death, saying that when she heard the news, she was floored, and has been trying to cope ever since.

"It just didn't ring true to me. It felt like a dream," she said. "It's still so difficult for me to believe. It's, you know, you have to accept what is. But it's hard. You have to move on with your life. You have to accept what is and I understand that."

Luckily it sounds like Janet's largely been staying out of the estate fight her papa Joe has been waging. Not that she's given to believe accusations that Joe was an abusive father.

"You have to keep in mind that I'm the baby," Janet said, noting she's the youngest of nine siblings. "I think it's old-school. And that may extrapolate into, ah, being a little abusive. Do you understand what I'm saying?"

we understand that you just didn't witness it. So then how does she know that and then is so sure Murray is responsible for Michael's death? Oh, such circuitous logic!

[Photo: Getty Images]

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Michael Jackson's funeral cost more than $1 million

While celebrity medium Derek Acorah was busy pretending to contact Michael Jackson in a seance late last week -- the King of Pop was singing Heal the World when he started complaining that he wasn't buried near Marilyn Monroe -- the L.A. Times was busy parsing out the fact that MJ's funeral cost more than $1 million. So much for feeding starving orphans.

Records show Jackson's crypt at Forest Lawn cost his estate $590,000, the Times says. Security for the September event, including the luxury cars to ferry his family around, ran $30,000. Flowers cost $16,000 and the funeral planner earned a cool $15,000. The "funeral repast" at an Italian restaurant in Pasadena was so good, it fetched a $21,455 bill.

Jackson was well dressed, with funerary attire ringing in at $35,000. Invitations for "guests" like Elizabeth Taylor, Macaulay Culkin and Quincy Jones totaled a mind-boggling $11,716.

The records were released by a probate judge who appointed entertainment attorney John Branca and music exec John McClain as executors of MJ's estate. We're assuming that's because the family made such horrible financial decisions at the funeral.

[Photo: Getty Images]

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Michael Jackson's family fights over putting kids on TV show

The family of Michael Jackson is battling again, this time about the inclusion of his three children in a new A&E reality show, Us and TMZ report. Who would ever think this family would fight over how much they should exploit children?

Michael's oldest sister Rebbie "feels Michael would spin in his grave if he knew his kids would be on this show," a source tells Us about putting Prince, Paris and Blanket on The Jacksons: A Family Dynasty. Younger sister Janet is ready to put 'em on the small screen, though.

But while Us says mama Katherine "is just going along with things," TMZ reports she told the site Michael would have never allowed it. Seeing as how she's their legal guardian, we'll take her word for it, but we'll still be subjected to several episodes of this regardless.

[Photo: Getty Images]

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Paul Anka gets 50 percent profits from new Michael Jackson single 'This Is It'

Not long after we told you about Monday's new Michael Jackson single This Is It, there was a copyright claim, which makes perfect sense, because nothing has gone smoothly in this tangled web of greed and deceit. But the good news is the whole thing has been taken care of, and all long after the Eastern time zone quit paying attention to the West Coast. If only it were all so easy.

Songwriter Paul Anka noted that he co-wrote the song with Jackson way back in 1983 for a duets album Anka was recording. He noted as much to Jackson's estate, which was quick to award him 50 percent of the single's profits, perhaps because an extended court battle would have held up the upcoming concert movie of the same name.

"They did the right thing," Anka said. "I don't think that anybody tried to do the wrong thing. It was an honest mistake. ... There's nothing but honorable people here."

Well, we'd take issue with that, but Sony put its money where its hits are. The origin of the song was a mystery, since it was found in a box of tapes with only a Spartan piano and vocal arrangement. Jackson's brothers added backing vocals and an orchestral accompaniment was layered on posthumously.

Maybe they should have listened to more freestyle in 1990, when Safire, nee Wilma Cosme, recorded it with Jackson and Anka writing credits as I Never Heard on an album called I Wasn't Born Yesterday, which actually enjoyed heavy rotation in The Juice* boombox back in the day (listen to it below for comparison). True story.

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New Michael Jackson single 'This Is It' hits airwaves

Michael Jackson returned to the airwaves Monday with a new song, following in the footsteps of musical giants like Elvis Presley, Otis Redding and yes, Tupac Shakur. Not bad for a guy who died on June 25.

The mid-tempo This Is It, with backup vocals from his brothers (listen to it above), is played during the closing sequences of the documentary of the same name, which opens worldwide Oct. 28 for a limited two-week run, the AP reports. the movie features rehearsal footage shot shortly before Jackson's death, reminding everyone of what a good time they didn't get to see.

The song is available on Jackson's official Web site and was being sent to radio stations. It will also be part of the two-disc CD set that will accompany the movie, continuing the onslaught of media saturation that has plagued us all summer.

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Tina Fey's Palin to return; New 'Pirates' you should spurn; MJ's doc has no money to burn; Nick Nolte's son Brawley needs to learn

• Tina Fey told Harper’s Bazaar that it’s likely her Sarah Palin wig will have to “come out of the closet,” since the divisive former veep candidate has published an autobiography, Going Rogue. We can only hope a future Saturday Night Live skit will include a reference to Levi Johnston posing nude for Playgirl.

• The next Pirates of the Caribbean movie will be titled On Stranger Tides and will be adapted from an unrelated Tim Powers book about a pirate named Jack searching for the fountain of youth, Cinematical.com says. They should have Johnny Depp search for ways to make the movie less than four hours long.

• Michael Jackson’s beleaguered doctor, Conrad Murray, faces a possible arrest warrant for not paying $13,000 in child support to a California woman, the AP says. In this case, we can almost understand if it slipped his mind.

• Nick Nolte’s son Brawley King Nolte was arrested for DUI and possession in Santa Monica after hitting another vehicle during a lane change, TMZ reports. With Nick as a dad and a name like Brawley, that’s already two strikes against him.

Michael Jackson's mom get's $86,000 a month for kids

Back in August, L.A. Superior Court Judge Mitchell Beckloff approved a monthly stipend from Michael Jackson's estate for Katherine Jackson, since she was going to take care of his three kids. But it wasn't until Thursday that we knew she was getting a whopping $86,804 a month! Although to be fair, MJ could blow that on one trip to Chuck E. Cheese for his spawn.

Over the course of a year, Jackson's mother and children are slated to receive more than $1 million in support from the estate, the AP reports. Mom Katherine's monthly allowance is $26,804, since she is one of the primary beneficiaries of her son's estate; the children's allowance is $60,000 per month. The terms had been sealed until this week.

That $26,804 per month pays for an assistant, housekeeper, driver, utilities, clothing, grooming and other expenses. Some $315,000 per year is being spent on employees caring for the children, and another $160,000 is being set aside for entertainment and other expenses, court records show.

The stipend may be revisited later to see how the money's being spent. Considering these kids are used to having dad hire geneticists to grow unicorns and purple dinosaurs for them, we think the court should check to make sure they're not starving.

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Will he cover 'Beat It?' ... Chris Brown to headline M.J. tribute show

What's more bizarre: That the big official Michael Jackson tribute concert will take place in Vienna, Austria? Or that the disgraced Chris Brown is the headliner? 

Also on the bill are Mary J. Blige and Natalie Cole, says the AP. Madonna could also join the show, which ultimately could include up to 25 performers. The show is set for Sept. 26 outside a 17th-century palace in the Austrian capital.

Jermaine Jackson has said Vienna was chosen as the venue because his brother "loved castles," and because Jermaine was impressed with how a smaller tribute held in July outside a mothballed nuclear power plant was organized.

And Chris Brown, who admitted to beating his girlfriend Rihanna, was chosen to perform because ... well, because the Jackson family is clearly nuts.

[AP photo]

Michael Jackson will be buried near Larry the Stooge, Walt Disney

Could it be that Michael Jackson is finally going to be buried? We'll know for sure Thursday night, when the King of Pop is due to be laid to rest next to Larry Fine of The Three Stooges and Walt Disney, the New York Post reports.

The funeral, set for the evening at Forest Lawn Memorial park in Glendale, Calif., will take place at the Freedom Mausaleum. Disney is buried in a garden outside the builsging, while Fine is on the first floor. This is different from the original plan to inter Jackson at the Great Mausoleum, but the Jacksons decided to put him next to the pair of MJ's idols.

"The family believed this is what Michael would have wanted," a source told the paper. As long as it's an end to this whole sad saga, that's all we can ask.

[Photo: Getty Images]

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That Michael Jackson video was a big hoax

Last week our pals at Stuck in the '80s told us about a video online that purported to show Michael Jackson alive and well, emerging from an ambulance that left the L.A.coroner's office (watch it above). Now German broadcaster RTL has come forward to say the whole thing was a hoax aimed at showing how quickly disinformation can be spread across the Internet. Does it count if we didn't believe it in the first place?

"We wanted to show how easily users can be manipulated on the Internet with hoax videos," spokesman Heike Schultz of Cologne-based RTL told the AP. "Therefore, we created this video of Michael Jackson being alive, even though everybody knows by now that he is dead -- and the response was breathtaking."

The original video was posted on YouTube for one day and got 880,000 hits before being removed. Other sites (including us now) picked it up, and some doofuses out there actually believe it was real. Yeah, and there is a Bigfoot, crop circles are real and Saddam Hussein was behind Sept. 11 -- people believe that stuff, too.

Schultz said they deliberately "tried to create the video in a way that every normal user can see right away that it is a fake." The video was shot near Cologne, and the network admitted the fakery way back on Aug. 26, but things like the truth take a little while longer to get here, apparently.

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