31 Million Americans Watched Jackson's Memorial Live

While Michael Jackson’s memorial service, which took place at the Staples Center in Los Angeles yesterday may not have topped Obama’s inauguration in the ratings, it still drew in quite a few viewers, according to Nielsen Media Research.

Reuters posted the numbers stating that 31 million Americans watched the memorial for Michael Jackson live on Tuesday. The story went on to say that Ronald Regan’s burial and Princess Di’s funeral both showed better numbers. I’m cringing a little thinking of funeral ratings as some sort of competition but there you are.

In case you weren’t among the millions of people who watched the memorial yesterday, Hulu has a number of clips and recaps as well as some other coverage of the event posted at their site. Below is one of them:



Just to throw in a bit of Michael Jackson nostalgia, I decided to watch the “We Are The World” video. Surprisingly, the song really still holds up. It also amazes me just how many notable musicians were included in the project. Along with Jackson, you’ll see Ray Charles, Stevie Wonder, Cyndi Lauper, Diana Ross, Kenny Rogers, Willie Nelson, Billy Joel, Bruce Springstein, Kenny Loggins and others.



And I apologize for this off topic bit but I got caught in a youtube flurry (it happens to all of us), and I searched for “Voices That Care,” the celeb-music video made during the Gulf War back in the ‘90’s. While “We Are The World” showcases some of the best musical talent in a generation (or in some cases, longer than that), “Voices that Care”… not so much. The song still holds up despite the random Fresh Prince rap but, seriously, is that Nelson singing that one verse?