Paris Jackson slams criticism over not marking Michael Jackson's birthday on social media: 'He used to hate anybody acknowledging his birthday'
Presley Ann/Getty Images for CTAOP/CARL DE SOUZA/AFP via Getty Images
- Paris Jackson was criticized for not marking what would have been Michael Jackson's 65th birthday on social media.
- The star's daughter hit back at the comments in a video on Instagram.
- She said that "he used to hate anybody acknowledging his birthday."
Tuesday would have been Michael Jackson's 65th birthday, and millions of the singer's fans took to social media to celebrate the icon and his music career.
However, Jackson's daughter, Paris Jackson, faced criticism on social media for not sharing her own tribute to the King of Pop, who died in 2009 at the age of 50.
This prompted Paris to post a video on her Instagram story Tuesday, responding to the backlash she has faced from fans.
In the video, she said: "So today is my dad's birthday, and back when he was alive, he used to hate anybody acknowledging his birthday, wishing him happy birthday, celebrating it. Nothing like that."
"He actually didn't want us to even know when his birthday was because he didn't want us to, like, throw a party or anything like that," said Paris.
"That being said, social media is apparently how people express their love and affection these days, and if you don't wish someone happy birthday via social media, it apparently means that you don't love them, you don't care about them," she continued.
Paris said that in previous years when she hasn't posted anything to mark her father's birthday, "people lose their fucking minds."
"They tell me to kill myself, and they're basically measuring my love for my own father based off of what I post on Instagram," said the 25-year-old singer.
In another Instagram story, Paris shared a clip of her on stage, in which she explained how Michael put "50 years of blood, sweat, and tears, and love, and passion" into his career, which has allowed her to forge her own career as a singer herself.
Paris suggested that if fans want to celebrate her father's birthday in a way that he would have liked, she encourages them to "get involved with raising awareness for climate change, doing stuff for the environment, animal rights activism — these were things he loved, and he was interested in."