The brother of Michael Jackson, Randy, says media's heliocopters disrupted the M.J. final farewell at Forest Lawn

photos by Harrison Funk/The Jackson Family

Left to Right: Janet, Randy, Jackie, Tito, Jermaine, and Marlon

story by Maria Elena Fernandez of Los Angeles Times/additions by Kirk Tanter

Randy Jackson, the youngest of Michael Jackson's brothers (second from left next to Janet Jackson in the photo above), complained that media helicopters disrupted the pop star's burial service at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale on Thursday.

Michael Jackson's brother Randy complained that media helicopters disrupted the pop star's burial service at Forest Lawn cemetery in Glendale on Thursday. (A tearful Elizabeth Taylor pictured left attended the forest lawn burial service of Michael Jackson)

"I was dismayed last night and again today at the coverage I saw on television of our ceremony for Michael," Randy Jackson said in a statement. "We had asked the media to respect the privacy and the sanctity of this event; to give us one moment of privacy to mourn as a family out of the public spotlight. Unfortunately, despite a no-fly zone around Forest Lawn, many media organizations decided to ignore our wishes. They employed helicopters that not only surreptitiously recorded our private family ceremony, but also severely disrupted it".

About 200 of Michael Jackson's relatives and friends attended the burial.

The service, scheduled for sunset, became a nighttime gathering as guests awaited the late arrival of Jackson's family. The family members were ferried through the park's towering gates in a fleet of 31 luxury cars and took their places in the front row of white folding chairs.

The Jackson brothers, in black suits and red ties, filed past a portrait of Michael, a confident smile on his face.

His children made their way to their seats. A bespectacled Paris Jackson, his young daughter, wearing a dark dress and her long hair pulled back in a ponytail, watched soberly.

The burial was supposed to be private, and Randy Jackson urged the media not to broadcast the aerial footage. (MJ burial attendee Quincy Jones, Thiller album's producer, pictured right)

"I therefore ask today that media organizations airing helicopter footage of the ceremony we held for my brother immediately pull that footage from their air and refrain from airing it in the future."