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American Morning

Michael Jackson Autopsy Scheduled Today; Remembering Michael Jackson's Life and Legacy; Iranian State TV Reports that Mousavi Is Barred From Leaving Iran

Aired June 26, 2009 - 07:00   ET

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


CAROL COSTELLO, CNN ANCHOR: Oh, it's just nice to hear the music. Good morning everyone, and happy Friday. It's June 26th. I'm Carol Costello sitting in for Kiran Chetry this morning.

T.J. HOLMES, CNN ANCHOR: And good morning to you all. I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in for John Roberts. You will be hearing a lot of that Michael Jackson music. And you just can't help but to bob your head a little bit when you hear it.

COSTELLO: I know. It's so danceable.

HOLMES: It all is. But, unfortunately, we're celebrating the music but still the sudden death of Michael Jackson is making headlines around the world this morning. We're going to get you caught up right now.

His body is at the medical examiner's office in Los Angeles. The autopsy scheduled in just a few hours from now. His family getting together in Los Angeles as well.

Overnight, his sister, Janet Jackson, releasing a statement saying she is "grief stricken and devastated at the sudden loss of her brother." Also, fans from around the world have gathered to remember his extraordinary life and career, gathering from the Apollo Theater in Harlem, New York, to his childhood home in Gary, Indiana, as well as gathering in Los Angeles. They are all expressing the same sentiments.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: The Twitters and the Facebooks just blew up with the news, and we're all devastated. It's kind of like my generation's Elvis.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: He's the reason African-Americans are on MTV today. They refused to play black music until Michael Jackson. We really should respect that.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I saw him live in concert in India when I was 12. I mean, that's how universal he is. I'm from 21,000 miles away and I just grew up in his music. I was on "Heal the World," you know. Make it a better place. It just keeps ringing in my ears all the time.

(END VIDEO CLIP) HOLMES: And we are, of course, covering this story like only CNN can. We are live across the globe. We're in New York, in Los Angeles as well. We have a team of reporters fanned out standing by with fan reaction.

COSTELLO: Yes. Like Don Lemon, he's in Los Angeles. He's standing by the coroner's office. Of course, that will be a big focal point of the story today. Exactly how did Michael Jackson die?

Don, any new news this morning?

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: I do have some new news. And you're right, that is a big question. The new news, I just spoke with someone from the coroner's office who told me just a short time ago that they're going to start that autopsy 7:00 or 8:00 a.m. local, which is 10:00 or 11:00 Eastern Time. So pretty soon they're going to start and they expect, according to the coroners, to have some type of result or at least some information for that sometime this afternoon. And that seems pretty fast as most people have been alluding to here.

And, of course, the big question surrounding, as we said, how did it happen? Why did it happen?

Some people who were close to Michael Jackson have been saying that there was possibly -- he possibly had a problem with prescription drugs. Maybe some pain killers, some injuries. We certainly don't know for sure, but we'll find out from the coroner's report.

As we have been here throughout the evening, we have been watching people come by and pay tribute to Michael Jackson, Michael Jackson whose body is laying at the coroner's office right behind me.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON (voice-over): In death as in life, Michael Jackson draws a massive crowd. Outside the UCLA Medical Center, shocked and grief- stricken fans simply wanted to be near the king of pop.

MILO LEVELL, MICHAEL JACKSON CHOREOGRAPHER: It's hard to believe and the first thing that came to mind was he gave his life to people. And we, you know, we should have been able to take care of Michael better.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Michael was such a good guy. And it's so sad to hear that he died. And he was just coming back. He's an icon. You know, he's like our Elvis Presley, and it's really sad to hear that he's gone.

LEMON: Inside, some describe the surreal and chaotic scene with the sounds of Jackson's hit songs "Thriller" and "Beat It" echoing through the halls. Thursday afternoon, Jackson collapsed at his home. His personal physician tried to resuscitate him, and he was rushed to UCLA Medical Center.

JERMAINE JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S BROTHER: It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death was unknown until results of the autopsy are known.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: That's the L.A. County sheriff rescue helicopter AR-5, Air Rescue 5.

LEMON: His body was flown by helicopter to the coroner's office where an autopsy is scheduled. Police are also launching an investigation and plan to talk to Jackson's relatives and friends, but stressed there is no evidence of criminal wrongdoing.

LT. GREG STRENK, LAPD: The Los Angeles Police Department handles death investigations every day. Robbery homicide was assigned to this because of the high-profile nature of it. Don't read into anything as it relates to my team being here.

LEMON: But talking to CNN, a family attorney painted a much darker picture, saying he believes Jackson was abusing medication.

BRIAN OXMAN, JACKSON FAMILY ATTORNEY: The people who have surrounded him have been enabling him. If you think that the case of Anna Nicole Smith was an abuse, it is nothing in comparison to what we have seen taking place in Michael Jackson's life.

LEMON: A life filled with controversy, a career on the verge of a comeback.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

LEMON: And that gentlemen you just heard from is a family attorney for Michael Jackson. And he says that he has been concerned about Michael Jackson's alleged prescription drug use for a long time and that he had spoken to the family about it. So he said if something happened to Michael Jackson that he would have no qualms in speaking up about taking those prescription drugs.

Also, I just want to tell you again, new information from the coroner's office. Seven o'clock or 8:00 a.m. local time, 10:00 or 11:00 a.m. Eastern Time, is when they're going to start to look at Michael Jackson's body and shortly after that, they believe, they said they should have some sort of information about what might have led to Michael Jackson's death.

It is 4:00 a.m. here in Los Angeles, and people have been out here all evening. Sort of winded down a little bit, but starting to pick back up, and you can see more people come out.

About 2:00 or 3:00 in the morning, less people. People started to go home. But now, they're starting to come back. And as daylight comes, more people will probably come into the coroner's office as they are, I'm sure, on the Hollywood Walk of Fame where my colleague, Dan Simon, is.

Dan?

DAN SIMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hi, Don, good morning. Already quite a scene out here. We've seen people move from the hospital to here to the Hollywood Walk of Fame where you can see Michael Jackson's star behind me.

This is outside the Grauman's Chinese Theatre. Obviously, a very famous place. Michael Jackson's star in a very prominent position. And you can see people dropping off candles and flowers. Crowds here expected to be very thick.

One person who is out here very early with us is Cory. He's from Seattle. It's 4:00 in the morning. Tell us why you're out here.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, Michael Jackson, at 3:30 in the afternoon when I was in sixth grade, "Thriller" came out. And I loved the guy, I love the man, I love all his music. He transcended race. Richness or poorness, he made everyone happy.

SIMON: And, obviously, very sad out here today. What do you make of the crowds this early?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: When I first walked up, when everyone was setting up here, there was a little bit of travesty, you know. People mocking his star on Hollywood Boulevard. And I've been here before. And I have a picture actually from earlier, like four years ago, in front of his star.

And people were making fun of it, taking pictures going, oh, yes, Michael Jackson is dead. And I didn't like that one little bit. You don't mock somebody who has just died who gave the world so much.

SIMON: For the most part, people pretty respectful, though, I had to say.

Let's turn the camera around to Althea -- Althea Bourn (ph) in Louisville, Kentucky, now lives here in Los Angeles. You were out at the clubs earlier tonight.

ALTHEA BOURN (ph), MICHAEL JACKSON FAN: We went to karaoke. Instead, why don't we go see Michael Jackson's star.

SIMON: What did Michael Jackson mean to you?

BOURN (ph): Michael Jackson was the epitome of pop, soul. I just loved his music.

SIMON: That's what we're hearing repeatedly out here outside at the Hollywood Walk of Fame. We should note that Michael Jackson's star was covered earlier because there was a Hollywood red carpet premier going on for the film "Bruno" starring Sasha Baron Cohen.

We should tell you, interestingly, there was actually a scene in that film that makes reference to Michael Jackson. And out of respect for the Jackson family, that scene was edited out of the film for the premier. Not sure if it will actually be in the movie when it comes out at the theaters nationwide. At least last night, it was edited out.

Don, back to you. LEMON: All right. Dan, thank you very much. And, Dan, just between the last little bits since you have been speaking, I want to tell you we are getting reports. This one is from "the L.A. Times" that is saying that Michael Jackson was supposed to be rehearsing at Centerstaging (ph). It was a Burbank sound stage at the time that he collapsed.

This Johnny Caswell who's a principal at the Centerstaging said Jackson had been rehearsing. He had watched him many times on the run throughs, and said he was absolutely shocked by the performer's death. Jackson, he said, was very frail but approached the rehearsals, including one the night before his death, that witnesses at the Staples Center called triumphant, with boundless energy. He was working hard, according to Caswell. And again, 7:00, 8:00 a.m. local time, 10:00 or 11:00 Eastern Time, they will start Michael Jackson's autopsy.

T.J., Carol?

COSTELLO: You know, it's interesting you say that because when you read the blogs this morning, they say when Michael Jackson was practicing for his upcoming concert tour, he seemed lethargic. And in looking at Michael Jackson, he was very thin. And it leaves to my untrained eye, he didn't look all that healthy.

LEMON: Yes. Well, you know, Michael Jackson is -- I'm not sure of the extent of this, you know, alleged prescription drug use. But Michael Jackson is 50 years old and a lot of the tapes that we are looking at is years old, you know, when he was 10 years old, 20 years old, 30 years old. And so he's not a man of youth anymore but if there was some sort of prescription drug use, that would add to that.

And you heard from the family spokesperson. I just want to show you this real quick, read this to you.

Brian Oxman who said that he warned of drug use. And he said he warned the family, he warned Michael Jackson. He said where there is smoke, there is fire. And according to him, this is a quote from him. He said, "This is a case of abuse of medications."

So, I mean, Carol, you do have a point there. When a performer is on stage, something comes over them when the red light goes on and they start to perform. But you can be hazy, as we all know, and still perform. Many entertainers do that as well. So we shall see. We'll have to hear from the coroners to find out exactly what happened.

HOLMES: All right. Don, we appreciate you. We'll be checking in with you again.

And we'll just go ahead and pick up on that point that you guys are kind of hitting on. Anybody's untrained eye, he looked frail. He just not look like a healthy -- did not look like a healthy man.

Our Sanjay Gupta is standing by for us right now. And, Sanjay, we're going to get into some other things about what this possible cardiac arrest was and things like that. But just tell me, first of all, just looking at this man and we do forget sometimes, given how he looked and maybe the whole setup and the whole outfit and how he was presenting himself, that he was a 50-year-old guy. But looking at him and how we always hear about him being frail, I mean, what kind of shape did he appear to be in to you?

And I know you weren't his doctor, didn't examine him or anything. Just your experience in just looking at him.

DR. SANJAY GUPTA, CNN CHIEF MEDICAL CORRESPONDENT: Well, you know, it's very hard to make an assessment just based on looking at a static image. So, you know, you have very thin people who are not in very good health at all and vice versa, people who are seemingly obese who may be in actually pretty decent health.

So -- but over time, you're absolutely right, T.J. I mean, you saw a difference in him over time. Certainly becoming increasingly thin, increasingly frail. At times using a cane, using a wheelchair. It is hard to know what that means exactly. Hard to know how you piece that together with a sudden cardiac arrest.

But, you know, you also heard that he was able to perform with a high degree of energy. So, I'm not sure that I would read too much into that, at least at this point. You know, there might be other pieces, clues that sort of emerge that you can piece together. But that alone, I just don't know what to make of it.

HOLMES: Well, let's talk about this other part here for a second -- the cardiac arrest. Fifty-year-old guy, cardiac arrest. And now, we're hearing prescription drugs thrown into the equation.

We don't know what he might have been taking. That stuff is going to come out later. But how could medication play into it? And as a 50-year-old guy, is this something that could come up, a cardiac arrest for a 50-year-old who should have been healthy?

GUPTA: Yes, you know, 50 years old is pretty young. There's no question about it. But to your point, there are lots of different thing that can cause a sudden cardiac arrest, which basically means that the heart has just stopped, either stopped beating all together or just sort of quivering in place. Bottom line, not doing its job. It's not pumping blood through the rest of the body.

A heart attack is one thing that can cause a sudden cardiac arrest, but there are lots of different things including possibly some medications, certain -- when certain chemicals in your body get out of whack, like your sodium and your potassium, that sort of thing can happen as well.

There are about 300,000 cardiac arrests every year in the United States, so it's a fairly common thing. And we also know that someone can be resuscitated from a cardiac arrest if a little bit of electricity, for example, is placed on the chest with defibrillators. You can sort of shock the heart back into a normal rhythm. Who knows if that was actually done or not?

Each minute that passes after a cardiac arrest has begun, you really start to precipitously drop off in terms of your likelihood of having some sort of meaningful recovery. And as you know, T.J., sort of putting the timeline together, you know, there was a fair amount of time between the time EMS was actually called and the time he was actually at the hospital and subsequently pronounced dead.

COSTELLO: May I just throw this by you? Because there were -- I mean, there was always rumors going about. Michael Jackson was thin, some say, because he was anorexic. When you're anorexic, that could have an effect on your heart, right? So I guess that's why I say looking at how frail and how thin he was, maybe after years of abuse and not eating, maybe that affected his heart as well.

GUPTA: Yes. Right. I mean, that's another possibility. And specifically what happens in situations like that is someone -- that you have several different ions on the body that are regulating all the chemical reactions in your body, your sodium, your potassium. Someone who's anorexic, someone who's malnourished for some reason, those numbers can sort of get out of order and that can cause the heart to have an abnormality in terms of its electrical rhythm.

But as you said, Carol, it is -- you know, who knows. At this point, it's just speculative if that had something to do with it.

He did have a lot of operations as you know, Carol. And the reason I bring that up is, typically, before these sorts of operations, doctors check a lot of things. They check lab work. They check someone's overall health to see what kind of shape they're in, make sure they're ready to have surgery. So, you know, this is someone who's probably examined quite a bit. His doctor was at the house.

COSTELLO: Sanjay Gupta, thanks so much.

HOLMES: Thanks, Sanjay.

COSTELLO: Well, of course, we'll know more later.

HOLMES: The autopsy result that we could get sometime early afternoon, we're told.

COSTELLO: Yes. Of course, we'll keep you posted.

Of course, you know, Michael Jackson was supposed to perform in London like millions of people -- I should say thousands of people bought tickets to his concerts. We're going to take you to London to get reaction there and to see what happens now because a lot of these people have already paid for their tickets.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: That was my favorite one.

HOLMES: Yes. You know --

COSTELLO: "Billie Jean," that was my favorite song.

HOLMES: That probably is. If you took a poll of people, that will probably come out as people's all-time favorite.

COSTELLO: And the video was cool, too...

HOLMES: Yes.

COSTELLO: ... when he set on the tiles and they lit up.

HOLMES: Yes. Oh, Michael Jackson. We are talking Michael Jackson this morning. Remember the extraordinary life and career of this man.

He was just weeks away from a comeback, actually. He was starting a series of 50 concerts in London. Well, Billboard magazine estimates the ticket sales alone were worth at least $85 million.

COSTELLO: Oh, that's just mind boggling. Zain Verjee is tracking reaction in the British capital for us this morning.

Zain, I know it's in every paper here. What about there?

ZAIN VERJEE, CNN CO-ANCHOR, "CNN TODAY AND WORLD NEWS": It's in every paper here too, Carol. At least the tabloids, the "Daily Mirror" saying Jacko dead, King of Pop killed by heart attack at 50. "The Sun," which is another tabloid paper here -- Jacko, dead. Overdose fear, a star killed by heart attack. And then the "Times" here says Michael Jackson, King of Pop dies at 50.

There were supposed to be 50 concerts just starting a couple of weeks from now. About a million people bought tickets. Instead, they're reading these headlines. We took a walk around London to really get a pulse and a sense of what people are saying. And here's what they told us.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALES: ABC, 1, 2, 3, baby, do-re-mi. ABC, 1,2,3, baby you and me, girl.

VERJEE: What do you think of when you think of Michael Jackson?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Well, he is my idol. Whenever I close my eyes and think about what's going to be the world forever. Michael, we will miss you forever.

VERJEE: We're walking down Carnaby Street in London, and people are remembering Michael Jackson by blaring out his songs in these shops.

What was your reaction?

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I was really upset by it. He's definitely kind of a main -- he's actually the reason I became a musician.

VERJEE: You make me feel --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: You're really absurd (ph). (END VIDEOTAPE)

VERJEE: We spoke to one woman whose family moved to London. They were from Bangladesh. And she said they could not speak a word of English. They could only say two words, Michael Jackson. Back to you.

HOLMES: And, Zain, another part of this story over there is, in fact, these concerts. I think he was only supposed to have a few. They sold out so quickly. They kept adding dates. It got up to 50.

So what about this big concert, this big comeback? What happens to all those ticket holders? What happens to the concert organizers now?

VERJEE: Well, you know, those tickets sold amazingly fast. Eleven tickets sold every single second. There, about $85 million went into buying those tickets. The bottom line is people are going to want their refund, and the concert organizers by law have to pay that money back.

What they're going to have to do is try and fill up the O2 Arena that was supposed to be the venue Michael Jackson was going to play at here from July right the way through to March. The key thing for them now is they stand to lose millions of dollars. But they're going to have to wait and see what the autopsy report comes up with because the cause of death is really going to be critical to them being able to claim for whatever insurance they can. So one executive said it was either going to be horrible or very horrible -- T.J.

HOLMES: Wow. Zain Verjee for us on the streets of London. Thank you so much.

COSTELLO: We talk a lot about Michael Jackson and his legacy of music. But he did a lot for African-American performer as well. I mean, when you watched TV, MTV back in the day, you really never saw African-Americans performing until Michael Jackson.

HOLMES: Michael Jackson.

COSTELLO: We're going to talk to Brian Hiatt from "Rolling Stone" magazine to talk more about how Michael Jackson changed music in many different ways. We'll be back.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK)

COSTELLO: Michael Jackson spent his last weeks in rehearsal for 50 already sold out shows at London's 02 Arena. It sold 360,000 tickets in eight hours, but many were already postponed. There were questions about whether one of the greatest entertainers of all time had yet another comeback in him.

The new issue of "Rolling Stone" magazine features a story on Michael Jackson's tour and offers this assessment. "The singer's upcoming 50 concerts will make him rich again if he holds up." Brian Hiatt is the associate editor of "Rolling Stone" magazine and he joins us live now.

Welcome.

BRIAN HIATT, ASSOCIATE EDITOR, "ROLLING STONE" MAGAZINE: Good morning.

COSTELLO: So why did you guys think that? Did you think that he possibly wouldn't show up at these concerts within London?

HIATT: A lot of people really wondered whether he could pull off 50 concerts, unfortunately. I think it just seemed one concert seems hard enough.

I mean, he hadn't appeared in public. He seemed frail. He was troubled. So it seemed very strange to book him for that many shows when, you know -- and to sell them before he performed a single one of them seemed a little odd.

COSTELLO: I remember years ago, there was supposed to be this Jackson Five reunion.

HIATT: Yes.

COSTELLO: And I actually interviewed Jermaine Jackson about it. And he was very excited. But, of course, it never happened.

HIATT: Right. Right.

COSTELLO: And so, was this the same sort of thing?

HIATT: Well --

COSTELLO: You know, the promises made, we're going to do it, but --

HIATT: Well, no, this went farther than that. He booked and sold these shows, 50 shows, for millions and millions of dollars. So this was -- backing out of this was never going to be easy, especially it was a little frightening actually to try to imagine what might happen.

COSTELLO: He was practicing, right? I mean --

HIATT: He was. There were rehearsals. I mean, there's usually a lot of different things. Some people say he was there and he was enthusiastic. Some people say he was there and lethargic. Some people say he wasn't there at all for some of the rehearsals.

One thing was sort of -- was a very elaborate show they were going to do. And some people wondered whether it's going to be the kind of elaborate show where the main performer doesn't have to do that much.

COSTELLO: His voice -- I mean, had anyone heard him sing during these rehearsals? Was his voice as strong as ever? HIATT: I talked to someone who was actually -- he was working on new music, actually. And I talked to a producer named the RedOne, who's Lady GaGa's hot producer, and he was working on Michael Jackson's new songs. He claimed that he was singing very well. And, of course, singing very well is one thing. Being able to perform 50 concerts is another.

COSTELLO: Especially if you're going to dance.

HIATT: Yes. Yes.

COSTELLO: I mean, you're right. I mean, if he didn't dance, maybe it would be easier for him.

HIATT: Right.

COSTELLO: These new songs that you mentioned that Michael Jackson was singing, were they recorded, do you know? And will they be released?

HIATT: We're looking into that. Yes, no, I mean, hard to say. I would say that it's an interesting question. I would say that unfortunately they're more valuable now than they were the day before yesterday.

COSTELLO: And I wanted to ask you about the phenomenon of Michael Jackson and what he did for African-American performers. Because, you know, MTV back in the day, they didn't feature black performers until Michael Jackson.

HIATT: Yes, it's hard to imagine that that's true. And just sort of through his sheer presence, through his sheer greatness and some intense and justified pressure from his record company, and to be what they imagine themselves a white rock 'n roll station played Michael Jackson videos and changed everything, changed -- you know, I think that was a really important musical moment, a really important cultural moment. So --

COSTELLO: Yes. And MTV found out they could make money from performers like Michael Jackson.

HIATT: They sure did.

COSTELLO: Now that's the cynic in me.

HIATT: It sure does. Yes.

COSTELLO: My good friend (ph), Michael Jackson. Thank you for joining us this morning. Fascinating stuff.

HIATT: Absolutely. Thanks for having me.

COSTELLO: It is 28 minutes past the hour.

(COMMERCIAL BREAK) HOLMES: All right. You are listening to one of the sweetest songs Michael Jackson maybe ever made. This is, I guess one of the more recent hits, if you will, "You Are Not Alone." But you are seeing a picture at the Apollo Theater. We saw really a celebration break out in front of the Apollo Theater there in Harlem. But this went up yesterday in memory of Michael Jackson, a true Apollo legend there on 125th in Harlem here.

COSTELLO: You know, what's really amazing is out in Los Angeles, what, it's 4:00, 4:30 in the morning, people are gathering at Michael Jackson's star. And they are laying flowers and talking to reporters and paying tribute. That's amazing.

HOLMES: Some of those folks just going into the night, some of them. They are wrapping up the evening, some of them just getting up. Hello. Bottom of the hour here. Welcome back to the special edition of AMERICAN MORNING. If you are just waking up I want to get you caught up on what we have been talking about and what really everybody around your office is going to be talking about today. The life and legacy of Michael Jackson, the king of pop, dead at the age of 50.

The news of his untimely death set off memorials and tributes around the world. Almost every corner of the planet, people knew the man, knew his music at some point. An autopsy scheduled for some time today. You actually might get the results of that by the afternoon. That announcement coming to us from Jackson's brother, Jermaine, came during a tearful press conference. Take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

JERMAINE JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S BROTHER: My brother, the legendary king of pop, Michael Jackson, passed away on Thursday, June 25th, 2009, at 2:26 p.m.. It is believed he suffered cardiac arrest in his home. However, the cause of his death was unknown until results of the autopsy are known.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And again, that autopsy expected today out in Los Angeles. Our Don Lemon says it's supposed to start at 7:00 out there on the west coast. So here, in the next few hours, we could know something. We, of course, have been hearing from a lot of people. Everybody has a reaction, no matter who you are, a reaction to this, but our show blog, AM Fix and also from i-reporters at ireport.com, people are, you know - everybody wants to celebrate this man. But at the same time they can't help but be just sad about how this all came to a tragic end. Take a listen to some of them. Go, go...

COSTELLO: No, no, I was just going to say, just an example of how many people are expressing their sorrow with this. Twitter, 5,000 tweets a minute at one point yesterday. Kind of like the system broke down after a while. That's how many people want to comment on Michael Jackson. So here are some of them.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

MELISSA FAZLI, CNN IREPORTER: This is just a very sad day here in California. This is very, very sad.

JIMMY DEOL, CNN IREPORTER: My experience was "Thriller, " as a kid it captured my imagination. Michael, peace be with you. You will always live, like Elvis lives. God bless.

KAREN, CNN IREPORTER: My first exposure to Michael Jackson was the "Thriller" album. It was just the way he looked on that album. Laying back in his nice, white suit -- I was like, there I was, just a preteen at the time and I fell in love with Michael Jackson.

VOICE OF EGBERTO WILLIES, CNN IREPORTER: I grew up on Michael Jackson. I loved Michael Jackson. I hated Michael Jackson. I was ashamed of Michael Jackson. I was proud of Michael Jackson.

VOICE OF PETER MAIYOH, CNN IREPORTER: He was there before Tiger Woods, before Michael Jordan. Even before Barack Obama. He had done what nobody else has done.

VOICE OF RANY IBRAHIM, CNN IREPORTER: Regardless of his strange behaviors and questionable events that happened in his life, let's remember him as a great entertainer he was. Michael Jackson, you will always be remembered.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: And we want to continue to hear from you as well. You can share your thoughts, you can go to our show web site, cnn.com/amfix.

COSTELLO: You know, Michael Jackson is a legend, but he certainly leaves behind a complicated legacy. Because the spotlight was not just on his music, it was also on his misstep. As you know, that included legal troubles, financial troubles and really some outright bizarre behavior.

Jason Carroll joins us now for what else Michael Jackson will sadly be remembered for. You know, I think people separate his music legacy and this legacy of bizarre behavior he leaves behind.

JASON CARROLL, CNN CORRESPONDENT: And it's so sad. Because he really did do so many great things. When I think of Michael Jackson, you know, he broke the barrier, the color barrier basically. On MTV, there was a time they didn't want to play black artists. But "Thriller" changed all of that.

But the reality is, he is also known for a lot of other things, as well including his insurmountable amount of debt. Jackson was actually millions of dollars in debt. One report saying he was trying to dig himself out of a $400 million hole. Over the years, many of his legal battles were at the core of his problems.

(BEGIN VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL (voice-over): His talent, unquestionable. Michael Jackson was the King of Pop. But it wasn't his abilities on stage causing him problems over the years. It was his life off stage. DIANE DIMOND, JOURNALIST AND AUTHOR: The greatest legal obstacle had to have been himself. The lawsuits didn't come out of nowhere. They came out of bad choices that Michael Jackson made.

CARROLL: In 1993, he was accused of sexually abusing a 13-year- old boy. Allegations he denied.

JEFF TOOBIN, CNN SENIOR ANALYST: Michael Jackson was acquitted but he admitted sleeping in the same bed with children who were not his own. He was repeatedly accused of improper relationships with children. The acquittal didn't end the sense that there was something wrong there.

CARROLL: In fact, Jackson paid an estimated $25 million in an out-of-court settlement. But his legal problems did not end there. In the summer of 2002, Jackson hit the streets of New York, publicizing his album "Invincible." And making allegations against Sony, his long-time record label. He accused Sony's chief, Tommy Mottola, of being a racist and alleged the record company did not threat black artists fairly.

On CNN's "Larry King," Mottola was gracious in remembering the legend.

VOICE OF TOMMY MOTTOLA, FORMER WORLDWIDE CHAIRMAN AND CEO, SONY MUSIC: Dealing with any artist is always a challenge. Certainly, Michael, you know, Michael being the perfectionist that he was, was always challenging.

CARROLL: Also in 2002, Jackson dangles his baby, Prince Michael II outside of a Berlin hotel window for fans below. Many were outraged. And Jackson apologized saying he made a terrible mistake. Then, the following year, Jackson found himself facing child molestation charges once again. It was a different 13-year-old boy. And once again, Jackson denied all the allegations. After a four- month circus like trial, Jackson was acquitted of all charges.

But by 2006, his legal problems turned into financial ones. The pop star was about to lose his Neverland Ranch after reportedly spending so much, he had gone into default on the $24.5 million he owed on the lavish estate. Jackson ended up selling the ranch but despite all of his legal problems, he remained a revered figure to those in the record industry and to his fans.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I am very touched. I am very hurt by what happened. He's going to be missed.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: We just had fun with his music. You know, it's like put a smile on our face. It's sad.

(END VIDEOTAPE)

CARROLL: Well, even in death, there is still may be legal problems associated with Jackson. He has three children. And there is a question of who will get custody of them, the mother of his two oldest gave up her parental rights some time ago. And in addition to that, despite his mounting debt there, he still did have assets. There is now a question of who will inherit what.

COSTELLO: Well, his kids will probably inherit most of his assets. Of course, creditors will get a lot of it. Wouldn't the kid go to the Jackson family?

CARROLL: Well, you know, again, it's sort of not clear at this point. Again, because Debby Rowe, the mother of the two oldest gave up her parental rights and so -

COSTELLO: She may resurfaced.

CARROLL: But who in the Jackson family as well? Who in the Jackson family?

COSTELLO: Janet, Janet Jackson. She's the most -

CARROLL: It's a question mark.

COSTELLO: OK.

CARROLL: Yes.

COSTELLO: We'll leave that to legal experts and the courts.

HOLMES: And Jeffrey Toobin. We'll be talking to him about it. All right. It's 39 minutes past the hour.

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COSTELLO: Brings you back, doesn't it? It brings back certain events in your life that you wish you could go back to.

HOLMES: What event does this remind you of?

COSTELLO: I can't say -

HOLMES: OK then.

COSTELLO: But it was good.

HOLMES: I see.

COSTELLO: We are talking about Michael Jackson's sudden death. You know, it shocked his fans across the globe that gathered together from Portland, Oregon to Hong Kong, holding these impromptu vigils, singing his songs, remember his music. Let's listen to some of their reactions. Let's start in Japan.

HOLMES: Of course.

COSTELLO: And remembering where they were at that time. Let's listen to some of their reactions. And let's start in Japan.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP) UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I listened to his music all the time in my teens. I can't believe it. Is it true? I still can't believe it. Michael Jackson was a musical hero in my adolescents. We can't avoid him when we talk about our youth.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I loved "Thriller" very much. It had a big impact on me. I feel such pity as he was a very talented musician.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I'm surprised about his death. But I understand why he had a short life. He doesn't look like a happy person.

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: In the same way that Marilyn Monroe is -- he would 100 percent be -- where everything he had done (inaudible).

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: It's a loss to the pop world, obviously. Because he is the founder of a lot more than pop. So a big loss to the world itself.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I think everyone is feeling strange about it at the moment. Like a few people crying before. And some don't even know how to react, to be honest with you.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

HOLMES: I tell you, everybody, as you said, you remember something from your youth about that music. So everybody had some kind of - everybody can sing every lyric at least one of a Michael Jackson song.

COSTELLO: The thing about Michael Jackson, as you know, he was 10 years old and he had hits and it brings you back to that day. And then when he got older, he had more hits and it brings you back to that day. So, it's a fascinating career he had.

HOLMES: It is nice to hear the music this morning. So we will continue, of course, covering what's happening on that story. A lot of fronts to cover on that story including questions about what happened to him and what caused his death. Autopsy being performed today. We won't be too far from that story.

But we do want you to get you caught up on some other things happening around the world, including in Iran where Iranian state television is saying that an aide to opposition leader, Mir Hossein Mousavi has been prevented from leaving the country. CNN has not been able to confirm that report independently. Since there are crackdowns on what the foreign press can do in that country. So the disputed presidential election there, at least 11 of Mousavi's campaign workers and 25 members of his newspaper staff have been detained.

Also to North Korea now, a top U.S. and South Korean defense officials meeting today to discuss the North's nuclear and missile threats. The U.S. wants international support for aggressive U.N. sanctions against Pyongyang which conducted a second nuclear test last month. Also, in Washington, President Obama meeting with German Chancellor Angela Merkel. They are expected to discuss the Iranian government's crackdown on protestors. Other topics will likely be Germany's role in the war in Afghanistan, also the global financial crisis.

COSTELLO: It is 45 minutes past the hour. We will be right back.

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COSTELLO: I could just listen to the music all morning.

HOLMES: Everybody we are talking to and everybody around say they are just enjoying hearing all the music this morning. But we are remembering the extraordinary life and career of this man. And also particularly we are taking a look at this outpouring of grief for Michael Jackson. It's coming from all around the world and also coming from some of the biggest celebrities in the world, some close friends of his, Liz Taylor actually saying she was too distraught to even release a statement. We are also hearing heartfelt words of admiration for the legend from many other stars.

Our guy in Los Angeles right now, Don Lemon, keeping an eye on the story. Good morning to you again, Don.

DON LEMON, CNN CORRESPONDENT: Hey, good morning to you, T.J. and Carol. You know, you can just play that music. That is the one good thing about this is that we will always have Michael Jackson's music. And in many ways, his music is timeless. You can put a Michael Jackson song on any time and it still goes with whatever is happening. It puts you in a good mood. If you want to be, you know, in a mood to be with your partner or whatever, he's got that too.

Michael Jackson was just an amazing, an amazing, an amazing performer. As you mentioned, heartfelt tributes coming from all over from, you know, everyone. I want to read one really quick before I play the sound bite here. One from Dick Clark. And you know Dick Clark has seen it all. And you know, I used to watch Michael Jackson on Dick Clark's show, "American Bandstand." Don Cornelius' "Soul Train," they would perform the Jackson 5 on that.

Dick Clark said, Michael Jackson, this is just one of the things he said. "Michael was the most outstanding, he says, of any entertainer" DENESTHE(ph) capitalized. Don Cornelius said there will never be another Michael Jackson. He was simply the firmest personal and the finest entertainer that he has ever seen. Also coming in, heartfelt greeting from someone who knew him very well. The man who actually gave him his start, right after Gary, Indiana. And then they came out to California and then made it big. Berry Gordy, take a listen.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

BERRY GORDY, FOUNDER OF MOTOWN: He was like my son. He had warmth, sensitivity, and two personalities. You know, when he was not on stage, he was loving and respectful and shy. When he was on stage, he was so in charge. You would not believe that this is the same person.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Michael Jackson performed with everyone one, including another legend Cher. He was actually on the "Cher Show" with Cher back in the 1970s along with his brothers. Cher had this to say about Michael Jackson.

(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

CHER, PERFORMER: He was a great teenager. He was a great optimistic, adorable, not very confident though. I mean, he was so beautiful and adorable, but he didn't have --

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Why on earth --

CHER: -- any confidence in that. When I think of him, I think of this young boy, that teenager that I first met, this, like, adorable boy that I met who, you know, loved to look at my beaded socks and you know, said to me once, Cher, do you think we could just go to the movies and we looked at each other and we went, nah, I don't think so.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

LEMON: Cher, a friend of Michael Jackson's and honestly she did in that same interview say to Larry King she was concerned about Michael Jackson's behavior later on working with him on a couple of different things. And she said but she will always remember him as that young guy, that young friend that she remembered when they first performed together. The big question, how did it happen? That's going to come from the autopsy that's going to start very shortly here in Los Angeles. T.J., Carol?

COSTELLO: You know, something interesting, he hasn't talked to Paul McCartney for what, 20 years, because he outbid Paul McCartney for 200 Beatle songs. Apparently, Contact Music is reporting that in his will, he has left these 200 songs to Paul McCartney because he wants to repair the riff even after death. I mean, we'll have to wait if that's really true. Because, as you know, details of his will will inevitably be released. But it's interesting, I mean, he was concerned about Paul McCartney not talking to him because they did that great song together.

HOLMES: And that got ugly between those two over those, that Beatle catalog, as they say. But we'll see if that's true. That's interesting that he would do that.

COSTELLO: Yes. We're also going to talk to Jeffrey Toobin about Michael Jackson's legal woes. What he was $400 million in debt at one point. That's mind boggling. We'll ask Jeffrey Toobin like, so what happens to the rest of the money? Does Michael Jackson's kids get the money, does the creditors get the money? And who do the kids go to? We'll be right back with answers to those questions.

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HOLMES: Good morning, everybody. Yes, it is Friday, June the 26th. A sad day that a lot of people are waking up to hear, finding out about the death of Michael Jackson that we saw yesterday. But hello to you all, I'm T.J. Holmes sitting in today for our John Roberts. That's his name, yes, John Roberts. Sorry, John.

COSTELLO: John's going to come after you for that.

HOLMES: Yes, he will. Probably.

COSTELLO: I'm Carol Costello sitting in for Kiran Chetry this morning.

Lots of questions surrounding Michael Jackson's death. Lots of questions surrounding too some of his legal problems that he's left behind. We want to bring our legal analyst Jeffrey Toobin in now to talk about some of that.

I mean, supposedly he's left behind $400 million in debt? At least he had that at one point. That's mind boggling.

JEFFREY TOOBIN, CNN LEGAL ANALYST: Well, let's remember the context. Michael Jackson led an extremely chaotic financial and legal life. He was surrounded by some of the sleaziest, most unethical advisers who came in and came out and he has had a tremendous amount of litigation in his life. So one thing you know for sure, alas, is that his death will be followed by a great deal of further litigation about who owns what, who owes what, and of course, what happens to his children.

HOLMES: That is the question there. Because Debbie Rowe, the mother of two of his children gave up her parental rights, the other was through a surrogate. Who, there's no like an easy answer, an obvious answer as to who would get these children.

TOOBIN: Well, the first question you have to ask is, did he have a will? And if he did have a will, what did the will say? Because a lot of people provide for care of their children, instructions in the will. So that would be the first question. But, you know, given how chaotic his life was -

HOLMES: Maybe not.

TOOBIN: Did he even have a will? If he didn't have a will, it's very hard to know.

COSTELLO: Debbie Rowe, I mean, she gave up her parental rights, sure. But couldn't she resurface and say I want my kids back?

TOOBIN: Certainly any court that is looking at that sort of question will say if the father dies, who's the mother? And would we consider giving the children to the mother? Now, as I understand it in later years after a substantial amount of time when Debbie Rowe didn't see those children at all, she started to have a relationship with him again. So she'd certainly be an obvious candidate for custody of those two children.

As for the third child, blanket, the mother I think is not someone who has been in the child's life. So there the question of custody would be even more up in the air.

HOLMES: This is going to turn into yet even in his death now, this could turn into another fiasco, another court battle, another mess in the courts, a fight over the children.

TOOBIN: And the sad thing is about that is if it does, it will be part of a pattern. Those of us who followed Michael's life saw, which is that lots of people making a living. Lots of people with no talent, with none of his charisma, with none of his spirit, lawyers, publicists, hangers on who made money off of his earnings continuing after his death. And that would be a very sad thing.

COSTELLO: And it's just sad that his kids could lose so many of his assets, right. And you know, we don't know where the children were when they found Michael Jackson unconscious in the home. We don't know where --

TOOBIN: As far as I know, we don't know yet.

COSTELLO: For all we know they witnessed something terrible about their father. They have not lived a "normal life." They often were in public with their faces covered.

TOOBIN: With the masks. They never lived in one place. For a while not too long ago, Michael Jackson was living in Bahrain. Then he lived in Ireland for a while, now he's back in L.A.. He used to live in Neverland. And remember, Neverland is north of Santa Barbara. Neverland, it's pretty, two or three hours north of L.A.. So it's not the same place at all. So they've bounced around, they were in Las Vegas for a while. To say they have not led a normal childhood is an understatement.

COSTELLO: Yes, I guess so. And I guess reports are they're with their grandmother, Mrs. Jackson, right now. So, we'll see what happens.

HOLMES: Jeffrey Toobin, thank you so much helping us sort through all of these legal questions. Thank you, as always.

TOOBIN: It will not be over today. I assure you it will last.

HOLMES: All right. Thank you.