Michael Jackson the man wasn’t invincible. But his legacy is now solid as a rock. The late pop icon’s children imprinted some of their father’s most famous accessories—his sparkly glove and shiny black shoes-in the cement in the forecourt of Grauman’s Chinese Theatre today on Hollywood Boulevard. Well over a hundred fans of the King of Pop and celebrities including Justin Bieber and Jackson family members watched the song and dance spectacle performance by the cast of Cirque du Soleil’s ‘Michael Jackson: The Immortal World Tour.’ “It’s a very good celebration and I know if Michael was here he would agree, to see all the friends and loved ones and especially his fans here to celebrate this with him,” Katherine Jackson told the assembled crowd.
Jackson’s daughter Paris, 13, imprinted her father’s iconic silver sequined glove and scrawled his name into the cement, adding a heart in between Michael and Jackson. Prince Michael and his brother Blanket, 9, put their father’s shoe into the cement, and all three left their own handprints next to dad’s. Canadian pop sensation Bieber called him “an inspiration.” “People are going to remember him for his dancing and his singing, but people need to remember him for who he was,” said Bieber. “Everything I do, I look at Michael and I want to be as good as he was,” said Bieber, 17, whose rise to fame was compared to the late singer by Paris as she introduced him.
“Just left the Michael Jackson ceremony…I don’t get nervous usually but I was really nervous. To be with his family. He was the greatest!” Bieber tweeted afterward. “Make it trend. All of us should give him the tribute he deserved. To THE KING OF POP. Michael thank you. #MJ FOREVER.” In addition to Jackson, Grauman’s contains hand, shoe and object-prints belonging to luminaries ranging from Daniel Radcliffe, Emma Watson and Rupert Grint to Marilyn Monroe and Humphrey Bogart.
