Janet Jackson demands retraction, apology

Janet Jackson is demanding a retraction over a story alleging she held up funeral plans for her brother, Michael. Photo / AP

Janet Jackson's lawyer is demanding a retraction from Vanity Fair magazine over a report which suggests the singer delayed her late brother Michael's funeral over a financial dispute.

Lawyer Blair Brown has slammed claims printed in the November issue that Janet held up the burial in 2009 while waiting to be repaid the US$40,000 (NZ$49,000) she gave to cemetery bosses as a deposit for a burial plot.

In a letter to Vanity Fair editor-in-chief Graydon Carter, Brown insists the story, which was an excerpt from Randall Sullivan's upcoming book, Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson, is "untrue" and "outrageous".

"This story is particularly hurtful and distressing because of Ms Jackson's strong desire to serve her brother, whom she loved dearly, and her wish to stand with and support her family," Brown writes.

The lawyer goes on to brand the article "replete with additional false and defamatory statements" regarding Jackson, and demands a retraction.

The Thriller icon was interred at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in California on September 3, 2009 - more than two months after his death.

- WENN