Michael Jackson’s Public Memorial…
LOS ANGELES, Calif. — The public memorial for Michael Jackson will take place on Tuesday, July 7, 2009, in Los Angeles, Access Hollywood has learned. The ‘private and public memorial’ will be held at the Staples Center in downtown LA at 10 AM, AEG Live president, Randy Phillips told NBC News.

Phillips said all of the details would be finalised when he met with the Jackson family Thursday afternoon.

“Everything is in preliminary stages, except the place and time,” Phillips told NBC.

AEG Live is the organisation which was behind Jackson’s planned 50-show stint in London.

Should capacity be reached for the nearly 20,000-seat stadium, Phillips said the overflow crowd will be able to watch the memorial on large screens at nearby Nokia Plaza.

Despite reports that the public ceremony will be a funeral, a source close to the situation previously told Access Hollywood executive producer, Rob Silverstein it will actually be a memorial to the King of Pop, who died last week at the age of 50.

Jermaine Jackson: ‘I wish it was me’
NEW YORK – Jermaine Jackson says he would like to see Neverland Ranch as his brother, Michael’s final resting place.

Jermaine Jackson during an interview at Neverland on Thursday morning with NBC Today’s Matt Laurer

In an interview broadcast Thursday on NBC’s ‘Today’ show, Jermaine Jackson also said he wishes he had died instead of his younger brother, and that Michael was “a gift from Allah.”

“He went too soon. I don’t know how people are going to take this, but I wish it was me,” Jermaine Jackson said.

When asked why he felt that way, Jermaine Jackson said he always felt that he was Michael’s “backbone.”

“Someone to be there for him; I was there, and he was sort of like Moses. Things he couldn’t say, I would say them. During the trials, during everything …”

Jermaine Jackson said that when he rushed to UCLA Medical Center last Thursday, where the 50-year-old pop singer was pronounced dead, “I wanted to see Michael; I wanted to see my brother. And seeing him there lifeless and breathless was very emotional for me, but I held myself together, because I know he’s very much alive.

“His spirit is, and that was just a shell. I kissed him on his forehead and I hugged him, and I touched him and I said, ‘Michael, I’ll never leave you. You’ll never leave me.'”

On Wednesday, Jackson family spokesman, Ken Sunshine said a public memorial was in the works, but it wouldn’t be held at Neverland.

A person familiar with the situation told the AP that permits for a burial at the sprawling Santa Barbara, Calif., estate could not be arranged in time. The person was not authorized to speak for the family and spoke on condition of anonymity.

Jackson said Neverland was Michael’s home.

“He created this. Why wouldn’t he be here? I feel his presence.”