Michael Jackson bows out: The world's media reacts

Michael Jackson fans watch the moment when his daughter Paris-Michael Katherine, centre, made an emotional tribute to her father. Photo / AP

Millions of fans around the world watched as musicians, entertainers, athletes, and other celebrities gathered in Los Angeles to pay tribute to Michael Jackson. Some called it sombre, spectacular, and even elegant – others deemed it strange.

We've rounded up the best commentary on the web from his memorial service.

NY Times
So that's how Michael Jackson's family wants him to be remembered: as a healer, a good Samaritan, a breaker of racial and cultural barriers, a hard-working entertainer, a childlike spirit, a product of Motown and a sensitive, beleaguered soul. Jackson's uptempo, adult side (the dance steps, the rhythms, the self-defining images, the megahits about paternity suits, monsters and gang wars) was only glimpsed on video. For this moment, he was portrayed as saint, showman and near-martyr, and perhaps an object of eternal worship. New York Times

Guardian
He may have led a life that was increasingly eccentric and troubled in later years, but none of that dark side was on display today. His final performance was as flawless and accurate as his teenaged singing had been or his legendary dancing in the 1980s. It meant for just these final moments, Michael Jackson could be remembered for his singing and dancing, as the puppy-faced 10-year-old who appeared on the Ed Sullivan show bearing a pink hat and outrageous lapels overshadowed only by his even more outrageous talent. Guardian

MTV
The King of Pop was memorialized in a global spectacle that the world is not likely to see again...

For one day, at least, the focus turned back to Jackson's music. As Jackson was the first celebrity of his magnitude to die in the modern media era, the memorial was covered like no other event in history. In all, it was a fittingly regal send-off for the King of Pop. MTV


Hollywood Reporter
Balancing the delicate choices about entertainment vs. eulogy, the Michael Jackson memorial worked incredibly well as both without bowing to the expectations of either. Few in the house
could argue its elegance, sense of purpose and breadth of emotions. Overall, there were many more smiles and laughs than tears throughout the two-hour-plus event. There also was a deliberate and noticeable lack of flash, again straddling that line between the show so many craved and the sorrow so many felt. Hollywood Reporter

MSNBC
It was not spectacular, extravagant or bizarre. There were songs and tears but little dancing. Instead, Michael Jackson's memorial was a sombre, spiritual ceremony that reached back for the essence of the man: singer, dancer, superstar, humanitarian. MSNBC

ABC
At his public memorial service today in Los Angeles, the King of Pop finally got his wish: to be treated like royalty. Jackson never got the opportunity to be called Sir Michael Jackson, but after today's memorial, there's no doubt that he was the King of Pop. ABC

CNN
It was entertaining in the most sombre sense. It was a concert. It was a who-is-that-and-how-do-they-know Jackson event. It was a tribute album waiting to happen…. Fans left feeling more moved than when they started watching the service. CNN

Popeater
The star-studded memorial at the Staples Centre had many moments of emotion, including a tear-filled message from his 11-year-old daughter Paris in the closing moments of the ceremony. Jackson's public memorial, watched by millions around the world, struck a tone more spiritual than spectacular, opening with a church choir serenading his golden casket and continuing with sombre speeches and gospel-themed musical performances. Popeater

LA Times
What kind of finale can such a strange, hybrid event have? Well, give it back to the show people. Kenny Ortega, director of Michael's aborted last tour, speaks of the rehearsals: "We were a family, and this was Michael's house." This is not the Michael critics preferred, but it's true to him. LA Times

Seattle Times
Michael Jackson was an entertainment phenomenon both triumphant and troubled, a dazzling performer who transcended barriers, transformed the music world and transfixed fans and non-fans alike in every corner of the Earth. But the memorial was not for that Michael Jackson. Instead, those closest to the legend gave us of a glimpse of Michael Jackson the man. In a poignant and serene service, the portrait they painted was of a human just as remarkable… and accomplished what Jackson could not in life: humanizing a man who for so long had seemed like a caricature. Seattle Times

Independent
They promised a circus, and a circus they got. The King of Pop's famous story was given a show-business ending. The atmosphere throughout veered between saccharine-drenched cliché and the genuinely moving. To justify the hype, and send off a performer who bestrode the world of pop for more than four decades, won 13 Grammy Awards, and in the shape of Thriller recorded the best-selling album of all time, the showbusiness community pulled out some hefty stops. Independent

Washington Post
There were no half-measures for the King of Pop. In many ways, it was more a commemoration of the man's genius than of the man himself. Funerals are not a time for ambivalence, and the one thing everyone could agree on about Jackson was that his artistic contributions were revolutionary, profound and lasting. So it was appropriate to take a day to focus more narrowly – on his generosity; on his ambition; on his vulnerability; on his amazing talent; and on the stunning worldwide reaction to his death, which could only come in recognition of a life that truly mattered. Washington Post

Salon
It's not easy putting on the greatest memorial show on earth.. Rarely do the words "sombre" and "star studded" go hand in hand. But who else inspired contradictory adjectives like Michael Jackson did, a man whose memorial features a traditional black hearse and a pimped out gold coffin? Salon

- NZ HERALD STAFF