JACKSON KIDS CLASH OVER $600M LEGACY!
Prince pushing to peddle dad’s music but Paris & Blanket want a safety net
THE ties between Michael Jackson’s family members are being ripped to shreds by a vicious $600 million feud over the last pieces of the King of Pop’s music catalog!
On one side are Jacko’s 93-year-old mother, Katherine, daughter, Paris, and youngest son, Bigi, who want to retain the rights to all of Michael’s hitmaking music. They are pitted against his oldest child, Prince, and the executors of the Jackson estate, who are trying to ramrod through a deal to sell half of the rights to Sony Music.
Katherine and Paris claim the sale would go against Michael’s wishes and wipe out the family safety net, but Prince insists it’s simply good business.
And sources tell GLOBE they’re at each other’s throats in a legal free-for-all!
“Ever since Michael died from a drug overdose in 2009 there have been intra-family feuds over his estate,” reveals eals an insider. “But Jackson family mily members have also been sparparring with the executors John Branca and John McClain. lain. They believe the two are selfishly executing cash grabs s to claim their 10 percent cut.”
Branca, an entertainment ment lawyer who’d helped guide uide MJ’s career since 1980, and nd McClain, a record execuutive and childhood friend of Michael, boast of erasing g the estate’s $500 million n deficit at the time Jackson died and creating a financial empire now worth more than $2 billion.
And while they have swung ng numerous deals for Michael’s ael’s music, marketing and movies vies over the years, the Sony sellout would be their crowning ning achievement.
Katherine, along with Paris, aris, 25, and 22-year-old Bigi, formerly known as Blanket, have fought tooth and nail to block lock the $600 million sale. But a probate court approved it, a decision that’s now under appeal. eal.
At the hearing to green-light ight the sale, Katherine testified ified Michael told her “many times” mes” his music catalog was a “safety afet net” for his family “that he never wanted to sell.”
Bigi told the court while the sale made business sense, he
objected to his father’s music rig rights being transferred o outside the family on “em “emotional” grounds. And Pa Paris declared she stood “with my grandmothe mother and my little broth brother on this.”
But 27-year-old Prin Prince has a decidedly different take. He testified he spent “co “countless hours edu educating himself” ab about the proposed sal sale before approving it.
A source tells GLO GLOBE the dispute boils down to whether the fam family continues to collect s some $75 million a year on Michael’s music catalog or settles for a smaller annual amount and bulk cash payout.
“If yo you look at what that ca catalog generates, Michael’ Michael’s children would end up receiving more than what this sale provides if they just continued receiving the revenue over time, especially since they are all still in their 20s,” explains the insider. “But Prince is a budding businessman and believes the quick cash influx could bankroll his own projects and be worth more to him than having the payments spread out over the course of decades.”
Meanwhile, Michael’s siblings — including pop star Janet and his former Jackson 5 bandmates Randy, Tito and Jermaine — have been muddying the family waters ever since they were cut off from any share of Michael’s loot. They’ve even accused executors Branca and McClain of fraud and forgery, which both have repeatedly denied.
Sadly, sources say the Sony sale is likely to forever fracture the once-close bond between Prince and his younger siblings.
“Katherine is elderly and in poor health, and she’s not likely to be around long to fight these battles and somehow preserve family harmony at the same time,” says the insider. “When she’s gone, Prince, Paris and Blanket will be left to deal with each other, and you can already see how it could turn ugly.
“Paris and Blanket want to keep their dad’s music rights within the family. But Prince believes his dad left them this catalog to better their lives after he was gone — and they’re never going to see eye to eye on how to do that.”