Paris Jackson and siblings lead tributes to father Michael on 65th birthday

Paris Jackson and her siblings have led tributes to their father Michael Jackson on what would have been his 65th birthday.

The singer died in 2009 at the age of 50, and Paris said in a series of Instagram Stories that he hated celebrating his birthday.

“So today’s my dad’s birthday, and back when he was alive, he used to hate anybody acknowledging his birthday, wishing him a happy birthday, celebrating it, nothing like that,” she told fans.

“He actually didn’t want us to even know when his birthday was because he didn’t want us to throw a party.”

Going on to criticise pressure from “superfans” for her to acknowledge his birthday, she added: “If you don’t wish someone a happy birthday via social media, it apparently means that you don’t love them, you don’t care about them.

“There have been times where I don’t post anything for my dad’s birthday, and people lose their fucking minds. They tell me to kill myself. And they’re basically measuring my love for my own father based off of what I post on Instagram.”

Paris then shared a clip of herself onstage while opening for rock band Incubus in Colorado earlier in the day.

She then added footage from a show that same day, of her supporting Incubus. On stage, she told the crowd: “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. So I owe everything to him.”

Elsewhere on Jackson’s 65th birthday, his sons Blanket and Prince were spotted in Las Vegas attending a performance of ‘Michael Jackson ONE’ by Cirque du Soleil.

This month, a court of appeals ruled that two men who allege that Michael Jackson sexually abused them when they were children can resume their lawsuits.

Wade Robson and James Safechuck – who featured in the two-part 2019 documentary Leaving Neverland – alleged that Jackson groomed and sexually abused them in the 1990s

A California appeals court said that the case should not have been dismissed to a lower court, and they can now pursue lawsuits against companies owned by the late singer, according to Associated Press.

It’s the second time that the lawsuits, brought by Robson and Safechuck in 2013 and 2014, respectively, have been brought back after dismissal.

The post Paris Jackson and siblings lead tributes to father Michael on 65th birthday appeared first on NME.