Tuesday, Aug. 29, would’ve been Michael Jackson‘s 65th birthday, but instead of celebrating it, some have been criticizing his daughter, Paris Jackson, the 25-year-old shared in a video posted to Instagram.
“Today’s my dad’s birthday and back when he was alive, he used to hate anybody acknowledging his birthday, wishing him a happy birthday, celebrating it, nothing like that. He actually didn’t want us to even know when his birthday was because he didn’t want us to throw a party or anything like that,” she began in the clip uploaded Tuesday. “That being said, social media is apparently how people express their love and affection these days, and if you don’t wish someone a happy birthday via social media, it apparently means you don’t love them, you don’t care about them.”
“There are times when I don’t post anything for my dad’s birthday and people lose their f–king minds — they tell me to kill myself, and they’re basically measuring my love for my own father based off of what I post on Instagram,” continued the singer-actress before cutting to a video of herself opening for Incubus at the band’s Cedar Rapids, Iowa, show earlier in the day.
The video-within-a-video reveals that she did indeed pay tribute on the late King of Pop’s birthday, just not how some people think she should’ve. While on stage, Paris tells the audience that the “Beat It” singer would’ve turned 65 this year. “He put 50 years of blood, sweat and tears and love and passion into doing what he did so that I could stand up here on stage in front of you and scream into a microphone,” she shared. “So I owe everything to him.”
The video then cuts back to Paris, who offered some thoughtful suggestions on how fans can honor the 13-time Grammy winner in a way he would’ve loved. “My suggestion would be, you know, there’s always ways to get involved with raising awareness for climate change, doing stuff for the environment, animal rights activism. These were things that he loved and he was very interested in,” Paris said. “And so if you wanna pay homage and honor him on his birthday, that would be my suggestion.”
Michael Jackson died at age 50 on June 25, 2009, of acute propofol intoxication. The autopsy report noted that he was otherwise healthy at the time of his death. His physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, was found guilty in the overdose death of the pop superstar, and was sentenced to four years behind bars.
The late musician is also dad to sons Prince and Bigi (formerly known as Blanket).
Watch Paris Jackson’s video addressing her critics below:
