AEG Live Try To Cash In On Michael Jackson's Death

(image by a_kep, used under a creative commons license)

Personally, I couldn't give a flying proverbial about the passing of one Mr. Jackson. He wrote some kickin' tunes in the early 80's but, from the time of 'Bad' onwards, discharged great blobs of sonic bilge into the ether which have infected our radio and telly waves ever since. Seriously. 'Man In The Mirror'? Are you having a laugh?

Anyway, we'd been blissfully ignoring the whole global hand-wringing about the passing of Senor Jackson until this rather hilarious tidbit bubbled up to the top of our RSS thing:

The concert promoters for Michael Jackson's planned shows at the O2 Arena in London today offered fans the option of a "specially created" souvenir ticket rather than a refund.

AEG Live said full refunds were available for all legitimately bought tickets, but suggested some fans of the singer, who died on Thursday, would prefer to receive a ticket "inspired and designed by Michael Jackson for the fans" and made with a "special lenticular process". They are not able to have both.

"Since he loved his fans in life, it is incumbent upon us to treat them with the same reverence and respect after his death," Randy Phillips, the president and chief executive of AEG Live, said.

So, just so as we're clear, people unfortunate enough to have purchased a ticket to see Signori Jackson's 'This Is It' tour have the choice of asking for a full refund or a meaningless, commemorative ticket to a gig that will never happen, for the same price? Is that right?

Balls. Of brass.