Michael Jackson' s Boo Boys

WAS it really Michael Jackson stood on stage at the World Music Awards? The Express watches as a Jackson-like being sings along to a backing track of We Are The World.

A group of children are on stage with him, and they issue the accepted rejoiner: “We are the children.” But it’s not going to plan. Jackson’s first performance since his acquittal on child molesting charges last year is a “public relations disaster”.

Punters had expected to see Michael singing a live version of his hit song Thriller. The song is performed but by a young American singer whose name we are not told. The length and breadth of Jackson’s show stretches to four lines of his charity hit.

And even then he fails to hit the right notes. The result is that, as the Mirror says, Jackson is booed from the stage. The Express hears the booing and notes that the chorus of disapproval comes from Jackson’s fans. But now there is confusion. Having told us that Jackson was “booed off”, the Mirror’s dire 3am Girls tell their readers Jackson’s mic was turned off.

And this was not because he was awful, which he was, but because the show had run past its 11pm curfew. The mystery thickens. Julius Just, the awards spokesman, tells the Express: “Michael was pumped up, on form and ...read more on Anorak