Will Michael Jackson's comeback performance become a “freak show”?
That's what some worried when the singer announced that he will perform next week at the World Music Awards in London next week.
Jacko has told organizers he is planning to do a live recreation of the graveyard scene from his “Thriller” video to close out the show — his first performance since his messy child abuse case last year.
He was acquitted of those charges, but the trial had dire consequences for his career. He has appeared publicly only one time since the trial, at the MTV Video Music Awards in Tokyo, but has spent most of his time in seclusion in Bahrain and, more recently, in Ireland, where he’s said to be working on his comeback CD.
“He looks dreadful and hasn’t performed for years — I fear it’s going to be a humiliating freak show which he will regret,” a commentator wrote in the London Sun.
Jackson is scheduled to start rehearsals early next week, but some music industry insiders are betting that rehearsals won't go well and Jackson will come down with a case of that old standby — “dehydration."
Notes from all over
Before he learned that Britney Spears was , K-Fed told Blender.com that he was planning to buy his wife a go-cart for Christmas. ... Is Victoria “Posh Spice” Beckham pregnant again? A source says that the pop star, who is married to Brit soccer star David Beckham, spent more than $3,000 on “really expensive stuff” at posh kiddie store Petit Tresor in L.A. “Soft cuddly Kaloo toy, cashmere sweats, ultrasuede blankets,” says the insider, who adds that the clothes didn’t seem like they were for Beckham’s other kids. . . . Joan Jett is hoping that Butterball’s Thanksgiving is a real turkey. The frontwoman for The Blackhearts, who’s a longtime vegetarian, has recorded a message for PETA’s Holiday Hotline, saying that the poultry biggie abuses birds, and gives not only veggie recipes, but also Butterball’s phone number so angry animal lovers can complain. . . . Mr. Big did his civic duty on election day. “I went to the voting place today to register my vote, and after I got in line I heard this deep voice give his name behind me to the polling official, ‘N-O-T-H, Noth, Chris,’” a source told The Scoop, saying that the “Sex in the City” actor was in line to vote. “His hair was all mussed and he had clearly just gotten out of bed. Still, he was supremely sexy and smiled and chatted with the little old ladies who asked if he was in that ‘Sexy in the City’ show. I was too terrified, or else I would have asked him to sign my... ballot.”
Jeannette Walls Delivers the Scoop Mondays through Thursdays on MSNBC.com