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Jackson Service Sunday, Not Everyone Wants to Go

Wed., Jul. 1, 2009 5:52 PM PDT by Ted Casablanca

Michael Jackson, Mourners, Fans, Holmby Hills

MARK RALSTON/AFP/Getty Images

We're just days away from Michael Jackson finally being laid to rest, as the "private family service" is expected to take place this Sunday in Los Angeles, someone who's been invited tells us.

"[The Jackson family]'s just making calls now," says the invitee himself. "They're deciding where right now." (The burial itself will take place at Forest Lawn Memorial Park in the Hollywood Hills.)

But the media frenzy around the King of Pop's death is anything but over.

A close-knit Jackson family companion shares with us that even though he was invited to the service, he's actually debating whether or not to attend.

Why wouldn't he, you're wondering? There are thousands of M.J. fans who would love to pay their respects—and that's exactly the problem:

This M.J. amigo wants to honor Michael, but thinks Sunday's service, despite whatever funeral locale is decided, will be the absolute worst possible way to say goodbye to his good friend. "It's gonna be a circus," our invite holder says, with the media, fans and everything in between, as opposed to any semblance of a modest funeral.

Even Jackson's lifelong pal Quincy Jones isn't going anywhere near it.

There certainly should be a public memorial service to take some of the attention off the funeral, and ya never know, it could happen any moment—at the L.A. Coliseum, at the Staples Center or some other unknown location most likely in Los Angeles.

Indeed, Radar's reporting the whole shebang's at Staples on Tuesday. But why then, are select Jackson friends being called, as we speak, to set aside Sunday for a private service? And we're kinda shocked Jackson's team didn't preplan how to handle such a memorial, since there's no way a legend like Michael Jackson would pass on quietly without media and fans insisting on tagging along.

Regardless, we were never onboard with it being at Neverland Ranch—even though we're hearing that's still a distinct possibility. How unfortunate and ironic. Why the hell was the Jackson family even considering Neverland for a millisecond as the memorial location at all? Not only are the narrow, winding paths to the place totally insufficient for the hundreds of thousands of fans to flock to, after the last trial when cops pulled a surprise search on the ranch, M.J. swore he'd never return to Neverland.

And he never did.

So why bring him back there when he has no say in the matter?

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