Tuesday, August 29th, would’ve been Michael Jackson’s 65th birthday, but he probably wouldn’t want you celebrating it. Or at least that’s what his daughter, Paris Jackson, explained in a new video she posted to Instagram defending herself from fans who have harassed her in the past — up to the point of death threats — for not publicly acknowledging the day.
“Today’s my dad’s birthday, and back when he was alive, he used to hate anybody acknowledging his birthday,” Jackson said in the video, posted late Tuesday night. “Wishing him a happy birthday, celebrating it; nothing like that. He actually didn’t want us to even know when his birthday was.”
Continuing, Jackson explained that when she’s tried to not make a big deal out of her father’s birthday, like she believes he would’ve wanted, she’s received undue attacks from folks online. “There have been times where I don’t post anything for my dad’s birthday, and people lose their minds,” she said. “They tell me to kill myself. They’re basically measuring my love for my own father based off of what I post on Instagram.”
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Jackson rejected the toxic, social media-obsessed mindset these “fans” embrace, and countered it by sharing a clip of her doing something more authentic: thanking her father while performing onstage. “It’s my dad’s birthday,” she said in a clip included in the video that was filmed during her opening set for Incubus on Tuesday at the Amphitheater at Las Colonias Park in Colorado. “He put 50 years of blood, sweat, and tears, and love and passion into doing what he did, so that I can stand up here onstage in front of you and scream into a microphone. I owe everything to him.”
Then, utilizing the opportunity to make something positive out of something negative, Jackson ended with a word of advice for those “MJ superfans” who want to honor Michael’s legacy in a way he would’ve appreciated. “There’s always ways to get involved with raising awareness for climate change, doing stuff for the environment, animal rights activism,” she said. “These were things he loved and was very, very interested in. I can’t speak for him… but I’m sure he would’ve loved that.” Watch Jackson’s full video below.
Meanwhile, Jackson has one more date opening for Incubus on their 2023 tour at the closing show in Los Angeles on October 6th (grab your tickets here). In 2022, she shared an EP titled the lost, and sat down with Consequence Associate Editor Paolo Ragusa for an interview talking about her artistry, her vocal technique, her love of grunge, and more.
