Michael Jackson may have passed away over a year ago, but apparently that hasn’t stopped him from opening his own, honest to goodness online casino. Well, not exactly “honest.” According to a report on Monday by TMZ.com, someone (or some people) started an online casino called MichaelJacksonCasino.com and the King of Pop’s estate is none too pleased about it.
The website, which was taken down within the last couple days, featured an image of the poster for Jackson’s 93-minute film, Moonwalker, best known for the “Smooth Criminal” video which co-starred Joe Pesci and ended with Jackson turning into a giant robot and a spaceship. It also contained the text, “The King of Pop is proud to bring you the most exciting Vegas style online casino betting experience on the Net!”
According to Jackson’s estate, however, the casino did not have permission to use Jackson’s likeness or any other trademarks. According to TMZ, the estate’s attorney, Howard Weitzman, will “take whatever legal actions are necessary to shut this operation down.” As mentioned above, the website has been taken down, so it appears that Mr. Weitzman may have gotten his wish.
That’s not all of the legal news surrounding the site, though. According to FoxNews.com, GoDaddy.com, the domain name registrar with which MichaelJacksonCasino.com’s owner registered the site, is being sued along with the online casino for $100 million by Howard Mann. Mann’s reason: the gambling site is using photos to which Mann himself owns the copyrights. It does not appear that Mann truly wants to drag the princely sum out of GoDaddy.com, but rather is hoping the lawsuit will get GoDaddy to release the name of the owner or owners of MichaelJacksonCasino.com.
In June, HollywoodNews.com reported that Mann, a Toronto entrepreneur, purchased a warehouse containing “Jackson family paraphernalia,” which included the masters to 273 Michael Jackson tracks that were never released the public. Mann also co-authored Never Can Say Goodbye with Katherine Jackson, Michael’s mother.
The controversial Michael Jackson Casino was inspired on the no less controversial artist Michael Joseph Jackson, who passed away in June of 2009 while preparing a comeback tour. Jackson was rightly known as the King of Pop, and he held the Guinness World record as the most successful entertainer of all time. His career transformed the medium of music videos and helped establish MTV in its early years. Jackson’s distinctive vocal style and his innovative dance moves (such as the famous “moonwalk”) influenced popular music and dance to this day.
How could there be a Michael Jackson online casino considering that Michael Jackson have passed away more than a years ago, give the latter due respect.