Al Sharpton defends role in Michael Jackson case

The Rev. Al Sharpton is firing back at critics who accuse him of publicity seeking in the Michael Jackson story. In several posts on Sharpton's Twitter page, the civil rights leader defends his involvement in the case and explains that the Jackson family personally invited him to help out.

"I'm w/the Jackson fam b/c they asked. I don't care what the media says abt me. If I believe in a cause & Im called on 2help, I will b there," Sharpton posted in one of his most recent Twitter entries.

Twitter is a social networking site that allows users to post news feeds about their activities and thoughts. The site limits posts to 140 characters, forcing users to adopt abbreviations to communicate their messages.

Some critics have complained about Sharpton's involvement in the TV news story, while others have wondered why the media keep calling on the same public spokespeople. In an article earlier this week on The Daily Voice, contributor Wain Bennett noted that Sharpton and Rev. Jesse Jackson had been intimately involved in following the Michael Jackson saga since the singer's death.

"They have been all over the networks," Bennett wrote. "Part of it, I understand, is no fault of their own, because these networks have Jesse and Al on speed dial. Black icon dies? Call Rev. Inc. Trouble in the black community? Call Rev. Inc. I guess my problem with Rev. Inc. is that they don't always have to answer the call."

Sharpton spoke at an impromptu press conference outside the Apollo Theater last Thursday when Jackson died and he spoke again at a tribute for the pop star held at the Apollo on Tuesday of this week.

Several of Sharpton's posts in recent days have focused on the Jackson story. In another post on his Twitter page, Sharpton asks his followers "What do you think of the media coverage of Michael Jackson?" And in an earlier post he advises his followers to "[c]heck out a special Michael Jackson tribute in the New York Amsterdam News."

Rev. Sharpton seems to have some strong opinions about the media as well. After appearing on NBC's TODAY Show, Sharpton wrote: "It is difficult to get mainstream media to stop chasing rumors and mess and focus on serious issues." He was then off to appear on The Tom Joyner Morning Show on radio. In a separate post, he wrote: "We must turn the media war against the jackson's and us."

The Harlem-based Sharpton is currently in Los Angeles, according to his Twitter entries. He posted an entry recently from Stevie Wonder's KJLH radio station in Compton, California, where he has been broadcasting his syndicated radio show. Afterwards, he said he planned to go see family members.

In another post, Sharpton, a longtime friend of the Jackson family, discusses his interactions with the family in recent days. "In LA I had a talk last night with jermaine and the attorneys last night. I am just trying to to what I do and have been asked to do," he wrote.

And as to why he is in Los Angeles? "In LA at the request of Jermaine & other family members. I'm mtg with lawyers & will give updates on this afternoon's show," he wrote then. And in a post on June 29, Sharpton wrote: "Extremely busy day in LA, mostly at the jackson compound trying to comfort family member." In another earlier post, he explained that he was invovled in "planning arrangements," apparently for the Michael Jackson funeral or memorial service. "The fam's determined 2preserve the dignity of Jackson's legacy," Sharpton wrote.

"The jacksons are heartbroken but strong," Sharpton wrote in one post. In another post, he noted that he was "sitting with joe jackson at the BET awards." And he denied a rumor that "I got chris brown bumped from the BET awards tribute to micheal jackson. That is totally untrue. I didn't even know," he wrote.

Michael Jackson joined Rev. Sharpton for what may have been the pop star's only civil rights march when the two men demonstrated against music company executives at Sony Records.