BET Awards honour Michael Jackson
Family wants answers about cause of pop star's death
Last Updated: Sunday, June 28, 2009 | 9:13 PM ET
CBC News
Jamie Foxx performed a tribute in honour of Michael Jackson while hosting the 9th Annual BET Awards on Sunday in Los Angeles. (Chris Pizzello/Associated Press)The BET Awards honoured Michael Jackson on Sunday evening, one day after the King of Pop's family sought a second autopsy for more answers.
Dressed in the singer's trademark red leather jacket and sequined glove, host Jamie Foxx sang and danced to Beat It during the opening of the ninth annual Black Entertainment Television awards show in Los Angeles, which was extended by 30 minutes to accommodate various Jackson tributes.
"No need to be sad," Foxx said. "We want to celebrate this black man. He belongs to us and we shared him with everybody."
Jackson's father Joe was also in the audience. Earlier on the red carpet, he told CNN that it has been really tough for his family, thanked fans in a prepared statement read by his publicist, and said he had concerns about the doctor who was with his son when he died.
"I can't get into it, but I don't like what happened," said Joe Jackson, who was also accompanied by the family lawyer and a business partner.
His lawyer said the family will wait for results from the second autopsy before commenting.
Earlier on Sunday, the Los Angeles Times reported on its website that a second autopsy was performed on Jackson's body on Saturday, hours after it was released to his family by the Los Angeles County Coroner's Office.
The coroner's office completed its own autopsy on Friday and said there was no evidence of foul play. But it deferred making a pronouncement on the cause of death until more tests are completed, which could take up to six weeks.
Fans and media surround Michael Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame in Los Angeles on Saturday. (Matt Sayles/ Associated Press)CBC News reporter Jennifer Westaway in Los Angeles said that the Jackson family believed a private autopsy would provide some answers more quickly about the cause of the pop star's death.
On Saturday, civil rights leader Jesse Jackson, who has spent time with the Jackson family since the singer's death on Thursday, asked at a news conference about the possible injection of a narcotic.
"Was he given a shot? If so, was it Demerol? What was the power of it?" he asked. "It raises questions that deserve answers."
The Associated Press reported that the doctor who was with Jackson during his final moments was interviewed by Los Angeles police for three hours on Saturday, citing his spokeswoman, who said he was not a suspect in the death of the singer.
Dr. Conrad Murray "helped identify the circumstances around the death of the pop icon and clarified some inconsistencies", the spokeswoman said, adding the doctor remained "a witness to this tragedy."
Police confirmed they had interviewed Murray and said he was co-operative.
Murray's lawyer, Edward Chernoff, denied reports suggesting Murray gave Jackson drugs that contributed to his death.
Chernoff told The Associated Press that Murray was at Jackson's rented mansion on Thursday afternoon when he discovered the singer in bed and not breathing. The doctor immediately began administering CPR, Chernoff said.
"He just happened to find him in his bed, and he wasn't breathing," the lawyer said. "Mr. Jackson was still warm and had a pulse."
The second autopsy was performed by a private pathologist, the L.A. Times said.
"The second autopsy will give the family a lot more information than they have, right away, within a few days," Michael Baden — a former chief medical examiner in New York City who has investigated or testified in a number of high-profile cases including the trials of O.J. Simpson and Phil Spector — told the L.A. Times.
The newspaper has also reported that Kenny Ortega, the concert director behind Jackson's comeback tour, is planning a tribute to the late pop star in place of the shows Jackson was scheduled to headline this summer in London.
