At one point during the 2002 MTV Video Music Awards (broadcast live from New York's Radio City Music Hall), Britney Spears invited Michael Jackson onto the stage to present him with a cake in celebration of his 44th birthday. For her, Britney declared by way of introduction, Jackson was the artist of the millennium.
Alas, Jackson mistook Britney's welcoming words to mean that he was being officially honored as the greatest singer of the past thousand years.
"When I was a little boy growing up in Indiana," Jackson told the star-studded audience and millions of viewers around the globe, "if someone told me I'd be getting the Artist of the Millennium award, I'd never have believed it..."
Among those whom Jackson thanked before he was politely escorted from the stage? God, his parents -- and the magician David Blaine.
["There is no such award as the Artist of the Millennium," an MTV spokeswoman later explained. "I think some wires got crossed." In 2003, Michael also had this to say: "You know you're on top when they start throwing arrows at you. Even Jesus was crucified. People who bring light into the world, from Mahatma Gandhi to Martin Luther King to Jesus Christ, even myself." Note to MTV: There is in fact a "Male Artist Of The Millenium" award, which Jackson received at the World Music Awards in Monte Carlo in 2000.]
[Jackson once owned the rights to the South Carolina State anthem.]
Sources
ananova.com, 30th August 2002
