“It was certainly very sad seeing his daughter [Paris] speak. I was hoping she wanted to speak and she wasn’t getting a finger in the back by Janet Jackson,” Fletcher said.
Jackson’s daughter told the audience, “Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father anyone could ever imagine. I just want to say I love him so much,” before she was overcome with emotion.
The public mourning, the entertainment, Jackson’s sometimes strange and historic life combined to offer up many mixed emotions, Fletcher said.
Fletcher caught himself a few times enjoying the performances of luminaries like Stevie Wonder and Lionel Richie, but then he remembered why they were there.
“I thought, ‘Wow, I’m at a really cool show, but, wait, someone died and it’s really sad,’ ” Fletcher said. “At one point there was a lady sitting next to me talking on the phone while Smokey [Robinson] was speaking and we gave her [a dirty look] and said, ‘ssshhh.’ ”
The Jackson family’s public mourning at the end was equal parts moving and odd, Fletcher said.
“If there weren’t TV cameras there would they all be on stage hugging?” Fletcher wondered. “It all felt show-bizzy, but then again why wouldn’t it be? It’s a family raised in show business.”
Irvine resident Bill Rams was similarly moved and also found himself there by happenstance.
A friend had managed to win the lottery for tickets “and he was gracious enough to let me tag along.”
