Every year on June 25, dozens of fans gather outside Michael Jackson’s final resting place at Forest Lawn, Los Angeles, to pay tribute to the King of Pop.
They display their love for Michael with flowers, pop arts, cards, banners; they pray, play music, dance, dress up to celebrate the life of their idol.
A group of fans, the Michael’s Russian fan club, always commissions a wreath made of roses and a portrait of Michael attached to it for June 25 and August 29. The custom made arrangements are voted and paid by this group of fans who are very proud to display it on the occasions. The June’s display costed nearly $500 to make and deliver.
But last June 25, while fans pay tributes on the holly terrace of Forest Lawn, the latest flower creation was vandalised.
The wreath was placed near the doors of the Holly Terrace Grand Mausoleum and someone, maybe a fan, decided they liked the portrait of Michael too much to leave it there and therefore stole the frame from the wreath.
The portrait was a picture of Michael Jackson taken from the photoshoot on “Remember The Time” short film, photographed by Jonathan Exley.
Maria, one of the organisers of the wreath, is really sadden by this act and said “it’s such a terrible idea to steal the portrait right on Michael’s day, when all the decorations are still there. We just want to say that it is NOT OKAY to vandalize the flowers and steal anything from the grave.”
She also added that the thief could have waited the event to be over to take the portrait. A card with contact details of the fan group was on the wreath and the person in question could have easily asked for permission to take it.
While the group is very disappointed of this action, they are also not ignorant that all displays and flowers are later disposed of and they would have been more than happy for the person to take the portrait… but not on June 25 as this is very disrespectful towards not only the fans that paid for it but also Michael.
So we hope this person, clearly a fan that loves Michael, would take responsibility for his/her/them action and maybe contribute and donate for the next planned wreath on August 29.
You can follow Michael’s Russian fan club on Instagram and you can donate for their August wreath HERE
