Update: KISS Dropped From MICHAEL JACKSON Tribute Amid Fan Uproar
August 16, 2011, 13 years ago
CNN Entertainment's Alan Duke reports:
Promoters yanked the rock band KISS from the MICHAEL JACKSON tribute show Tuesday after fans called their attention to negative remarks KISS leader GENE SIMMONS made about the pop star in the weeks after his death.
The reversals came a day after Katherine Jackson appeared live on CNN to announce the addition of KISS to the lineup for Michael Forever: The Tribute Concert, scheduled for October 8th in Cardiff, Wales.
"We have listened to Michael's fans and are grateful to have been alerted to these unfortunate statements by Gene Simmons," Global Live Events CEO Chris Hunt told CNN Tuesday.
Fan clubs appeared in open revolt against the tribute show after promoters added the group. Fan websites pointed to published interviews in which Simmons spoke about his suspicions that Jackson, who was acquitted of child molestation in 2005, was a pedophile.
The executors of the Michael Jackson estate also spoke out late Monday, sending a letter to the promoters saying they were "especially disappointed" by the announcement that KISS was in the show. The estate asked promoters to provide an explanation.
"As I am sure you are aware, Mr. Simmons has made numerous disparaging public comments about Michael Jackson after his passing," estate lawyer Howard Weitzman wrote in the letter obtained by CNN. He called media coverage of the controversy "extraordinarily embarrassing."
Read more at CNN.
