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CNN Live Today

Michael Jackson Turns 45

Aired September 01, 2003 - 11:50   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: All right.
The King of Pop celebrating his 45th birthday. Fans threw Michael Jackson a big and loud birthday bash this weekend at L.A.'s Orpheum Theater. But this is not tape of the party. That's still under wraps. I'm not sure we'll be getting that.

But our guest did have a back stage view of that party. Michael Corbett is a correspondent for the entertainment show "Extra." He's joining us now this morning from Los Angeles.

All right. So gives us the skivy. What happened?

MICHAEL CORBETT, CORRESPONDENT, "EXTRA": It was a big event. It was a monstrous party -- 2,000 fans and well-wishers crowded the Orpheum Theater. And it was an amazing turn out.

Of course, the big question that everybody was asking is will Michael attend? And not only did he attend his own birthday party, he ended up being one of the biggest parts of the evening.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: I'm sorry.

CORBETT: The show started out with a giant marching band from USC, and as the band was playing, Michael made his grand entrance into his private balcony. And as you can imagine, the audience went absolutely wild.

COLLINS: That's right. David, wee do have a -- I'm sorry, Michael. We have a couple pictures here from the actual party. Michael looking very surprised at first. Then giving the peace sign here, we're looking at him up on the balcony. There was an awful lot that went on. But who showed up for this?

CORBETT: There were -- of the fans -- obviously, the fans as well as some celebrities that performed were Jay Kid, Mario Van Peebles, Brian McKnight. The host of the show was Steve Harvey and he emceed the show.

What some of the, you know, fun things that happened were that there were a lot of Michael Jackson impersonators, a lot of wonderful young talent. And, you know, from being back stage, I would watch Michael and he literally would jump out of his seat when some performances were going on because he was so excited and having such a great time. So he had a wonderful time.

COLLINS: Well, that's good to hear. He also spoke to the audience. I guess it was a quite lengthy address, about 20 minutes or so. What did he talk about?

CORBETT: He came down onto the stage. He did a little costume change backstage first, and then came out to the stage. Talked a lot about -- first about his year, some of the problems that he had with Sony. He also talked about -- really basically thanking the audience for supporting him in this time as well as some of the projects that he's going to be taking on this year. He's talked about he's going to be launching a clothing line. He's going to be launching a resort or resort hotel. He 's also do some short films and a feature film this year. So he made a lot of big announcements as well.

COLLINS: And there's another announcement to be made about another party at Neverland. This one at his home, yes?

CORBETT: Yes, exactly. There's another big, big event coming up on September 13, which is going to considered the Michael Jackson open house tour, where the Jackson camp is going to be hand selecting 250 people as well as they're going to be selling tickets for $5,000 a pop -- pardon the pun -- for entrance to this giant party. And it's an all-day at Neverland.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we will talking to you once again for that.

CORBETT: Great.

COLLINS: Are you going that?

CORBETT: Yes, absolutely.

COLLINS: OK. Michael Corbett, thanks so much.

CORBETT: My pleasure.

COLLINS: Entertainment correspondent for "Extra." We appreciate your time.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com







Aired September 1, 2003 - 11:50   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
HEIDI COLLINS, CNN ANCHOR: All right.
The King of Pop celebrating his 45th birthday. Fans threw Michael Jackson a big and loud birthday bash this weekend at L.A.'s Orpheum Theater. But this is not tape of the party. That's still under wraps. I'm not sure we'll be getting that.

But our guest did have a back stage view of that party. Michael Corbett is a correspondent for the entertainment show "Extra." He's joining us now this morning from Los Angeles.

All right. So gives us the skivy. What happened?

MICHAEL CORBETT, CORRESPONDENT, "EXTRA": It was a big event. It was a monstrous party -- 2,000 fans and well-wishers crowded the Orpheum Theater. And it was an amazing turn out.

Of course, the big question that everybody was asking is will Michael attend? And not only did he attend his own birthday party, he ended up being one of the biggest parts of the evening.

(CROSSTALK)

COLLINS: I'm sorry.

CORBETT: The show started out with a giant marching band from USC, and as the band was playing, Michael made his grand entrance into his private balcony. And as you can imagine, the audience went absolutely wild.

COLLINS: That's right. David, wee do have a -- I'm sorry, Michael. We have a couple pictures here from the actual party. Michael looking very surprised at first. Then giving the peace sign here, we're looking at him up on the balcony. There was an awful lot that went on. But who showed up for this?

CORBETT: There were -- of the fans -- obviously, the fans as well as some celebrities that performed were Jay Kid, Mario Van Peebles, Brian McKnight. The host of the show was Steve Harvey and he emceed the show.

What some of the, you know, fun things that happened were that there were a lot of Michael Jackson impersonators, a lot of wonderful young talent. And, you know, from being back stage, I would watch Michael and he literally would jump out of his seat when some performances were going on because he was so excited and having such a great time. So he had a wonderful time.

COLLINS: Well, that's good to hear. He also spoke to the audience. I guess it was a quite lengthy address, about 20 minutes or so. What did he talk about?

CORBETT: He came down onto the stage. He did a little costume change backstage first, and then came out to the stage. Talked a lot about -- first about his year, some of the problems that he had with Sony. He also talked about -- really basically thanking the audience for supporting him in this time as well as some of the projects that he's going to be taking on this year. He's talked about he's going to be launching a clothing line. He's going to be launching a resort or resort hotel. He 's also do some short films and a feature film this year. So he made a lot of big announcements as well.

COLLINS: And there's another announcement to be made about another party at Neverland. This one at his home, yes?

CORBETT: Yes, exactly. There's another big, big event coming up on September 13, which is going to considered the Michael Jackson open house tour, where the Jackson camp is going to be hand selecting 250 people as well as they're going to be selling tickets for $5,000 a pop -- pardon the pun -- for entrance to this giant party. And it's an all-day at Neverland.

COLLINS: All right. Well, we will talking to you once again for that.

CORBETT: Great.

COLLINS: Are you going that?

CORBETT: Yes, absolutely.

COLLINS: OK. Michael Corbett, thanks so much.

CORBETT: My pleasure.

COLLINS: Entertainment correspondent for "Extra." We appreciate your time.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com