i don't see the issue here. i've been to two funerals in my life where a young child spoke regarding the death of a parent. granted the deceased was not a celebrity but i don't see a problem here particularly when it can be cathartic to express such emotions in public at the last public farewell..

just my two cents.

Sorry thought I was on the wrong site. Why don't you take off your cynical hat and watch how she came to deliver her words. I would give her the benefit of the doubt in this case. It appears you are upset at in giving in to your true human emotion when you witnessed her words, but please don't clutter the blogsphere by drumming up a hurtful slant to this beautiful moment because you discovered you can be touched by the truth.

They've been exploiting kids since the early '70s, and doing so made Michael into the absolute train-wreck he became. It's no surprise they're trying to do the same to his children...

I feel sad that now that Michael is dead YOU are focusing on his kids as basically showing fake emotions while on their dead dads memorial. Stop trying to over analyze everything. This kid has a right to cry and even get on stage and say how much she loves Michael. Jesus can we end this fucking obsession?

Michael's life will be sorted eventually. Leave his kids alone.

I'm not certain I'm right on this (but that won't stop me from sharing my opinion), but maybe it's a black thing. We (I'm black as the ace of spades) tend to be much more public with our grief. I've attended enough funerals of family and family of my white friends to notice a difference. At services for my grandmother, mother, sister and uncles, the anguish was palpable. Even a reserved negro like myself had to wail. Such public displays may seem odd, but for me it was cathartic.

This theory might be bullshit, but maybe we should accept the fact that people grieve in different ways. Is it right to question their motives without cause?

Salon has had too much prominent fluff lately: Sanford, Palin, Jackson... It's too much.

I enjoyed the weekend junk food. Now I feel a little sick and would like something healthy. How about something on health care, Iraq, Afghanistan, the economic situation, Chinese dissidents, science, or....something? Please?

The kid was a prop.

Something tells me Judy Berman and other people commenting on this "story" have never lost a parent as a child.

I was 10, almost 11 when my mom died. I didn't cry. You're confused, you're in shock, things have suddenly changed, people are hovering over you, talking about you (when you're right there!), and while you're heartbroken and sad, grief manifests itself in a lot of ways - particularly when losing a parent as a child, and especially when this is the first "close to you" death of another human being. Kids haven't yet been conditioned how to grieve and absorb death yet.

Leave this beautiful, poignant girl alone. Sure, her dad was in the public spotlight a lot, but at the end of the day, Michael Jackson was her dad. You don't know why the kids weren't crying - maybe they still haven't been able to digest all that's happened, or maybe they cried so fucking much that they, physically, couldn't muster up any more tears. If you've never experienced this phenomenon, consider your life pretty fucking awesome. Be thankful, and quit dissecting the lives of people whose pain you couldn't possibly imagine...

They are already counting, and probably spending the money she will make as the next "Britney Spears" poptart.

Dancing and singing lessons ASAP!

We can fix that in post.

They are already counting, and probably spending the money she will make as the next "Britney Spears" poptart.

Dancing and singing lessons ASAP!

We can fix that in post.

Not only is the entire basis of your article based on a false choice, a simple-minded duality that you invented; it is pure conjecture and nothing more, with no merit.

As another reader mentioned, the exploitation I can clearly identify is your article.

And even if Jackson wasn't a pedofile, he was a narcissist of the highest order. Why do people suddenly act like he was a decent human being? I don't believe for a second that he was. I also think an 11 yr old whose pedofile-father just died won't express her true emotions--or rage-- until she's older. And then-- watch out.

i think you are the one doing the exploiting here!

it was genuine and she loved her daddy.

end of story.

What else can you criticize and pick apart about this man and his family? I am just appalled that this is what Judy Berman chose to be cynical about and then write. My niece was 4 when my grandmother died and she wanted to speak at the funeral. Was that exploitative? She and her parents lived with our grandmother and since the rest of the family was speaking about her to the gathering, my niece wanted to say her piece. Paris Jackson's understanding of her father was probably very different than that which was being spoken about at the memorial. She no doubt also heard about the vile things being said about her dad. Daddy's girls (I'm one) don't like people speaking bad about our fathers. It doesn't seem strange to me that she would want to speak up for her dad and give testimony to her love and relationship. I give the child kuddos for having the boldness to do it. Unlike her uncles and aunts, she was not brought up showbiz and doesn't have the same need to "entertain". As for the mama who said those were fake tears, you don't know that child and not every child cries the same.

Are you trying to go all Huff Post on us? Broadsheet seems to like to wallow in fluff, but this post really struck a new low. If you're going keep this kind of crap on the site, could you at least try to reserve the top home page spots for articles with more substance? Judy Berman, are you serious? Whether she was nudged or not, why do you care? Why should we care? You're really scraping the bottom of barrel trying to find ways to keep MJ on the front page.