Entertainment

NEW YORK (CBS) ― New Yorkers gathered Thursday night outside the theater where Michael Jackson first performed at 9 years old to mourn the King of Pop.

The Apollo Theater in Harlem posted the message, "In Memory of Michael Jackson, A True Apollo Legend" on its billboard Thursday after learning of Jackson's death at age 50.

In Times Square, a low groan went up in the crowd when television news flashed the news that Jackson had died. People began relaying the news to people by cell phone text messages.

Thirty-six-year-old Micheal Harris of New York City read from a message sent on his phone, "No joke. King of Pop is no more."

Harris said he will always remember being in Times Square when learning that Jackson had died.

The Rev. Al Sharpton issued a statement on the music legend's passing:

"A friend of Michael's for the last 35 years, I call on people around the world to pray for him and his family in the hour. I have known Michael since we were both teens, worked with him, marched for him, hosted him at our House of Justice headquarters in New York, and we joined together to eulogize our mutual idol, James Brown. I have known him at his high moments and his low moments and I know he would want us to pray for his family."

Later, Sharpton spoke in front of the Apollo, waxing poetic about the music icon for 15 minutes.

"Michael Jackson loved the Apollo. I remember in 2002 he did a show here to raise money for the Democratic Party. And later we met that night and it led to him talking about how he felt he had been treated unfairly in the music industry. And he marched the streets of Harlem with us and he came to the Harlem headquarters of the National Action Network, where many ridiculed him. It's amazing to see in the last hour how many people are praising him that wouldn't go near him in the last few years and condemned him.

"In my last conversation, including conversations a couple of months ago when I was teasing him I was coming to England to see him perform again, he talked about how many people had let him down. But I told him it didn't matter because he'd never let the fans down.

"I remember introducing him at James Brown's funeral. James Brown was like a father to me and he was Michael's idol. I'll never forget him calling me and saying he wanted to view James' body in the middle of the night. And I arranged for him to go to the funeral home in Augusta and view the body, and convinced him to stay and he spoke at the funeral.

"We marched together. We fought together. I watched him do shows. I watched him sell stadiums out. Michael Jackson made culture accept a person of color way before Tiger Woods, way before Oprah Winfrey, way before Barack Obama. Michael did with music what they later did with sports, and in politics and in television and no controversy will erase the historic impact.

"He knew he had shortcomings, but he knew how to build his strengths, use his strengths to help people around the world. 'We Are The World' would not have happened without Michael Jackson.

"Michael Jackson was a trail blazer. To say an icon would only give these young people in Harlem a fraction of what he was. He was a historic figure that people will measure music and the industry by."

Stay with WCBSTV.com and CBS 2 HD for more on this developing story. 



 

(© 2010 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten, or redistributed. The Associated Press contributed to this report.)

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