City of Gary, Ind. Paid $5,000 in Airfare for Joe Jackson, Seven Others to Attend Tribute for the Late Michael Jackson

Gary, Indiana Mayor Rudy Clay and Joe Jackson
(Tasos Katopodis, Getty Images)

Once again, Joe Jackson, the father of the late Michael Jackson, has shown that he has no class. Rudy Clay, the mayor of Gary, Indiana, said his cash-strapped city paid $5,000 to fly Joe Jackson and seven other people out from Los Angeles to attend a memorial for his son in July. It seems like Joe Jackson, Latoya Jackson and Jermaine Jackson just won't go away and grieve in private like the rest of the family.

While city money helped pay to fly Jackson, the musical group the Chi-Lites and security from Los Angeles to O'Hare International Airport in Chicago, Clay said donations already made or promised to the city will cover all of the memorial's expenses.

He said Gary is currently about $2,000 short of breaking even on the memorial's costs, though he could not provide the total cost for the tribute held at a minor league baseball park.

Clay said Joe Jackson never asked for help to pay for the trip to the city he moved his family away from in 1969 after the Jackson 5 recorded their first album.

Instead, Clay said he offered to pay airfare for Jackson as well as the Chi-Lites so that the group, whose lead singer Marshall Thompson is launching a new record label with Jackson, could accompany the Jackson family patriarch. Source: Breitbart

The last thing this city needed to spend its scarce resources on was a trip for Joe Jackson and his "posse" to visit Gary. I am appalled at the mayor for making such an offer, but not surprised that Joe Jackson, who shamelessly plugged a new record label on the red carpet at the BET Awards days after his son's death, would even accept such an offer. Sorry, but that $5,000 could have been used to service some of the needs of the city.