Jackson expected for dad's birthday bash in Berlin

BERLIN - Michael Jackson is expected to celebrate his father's 76th birthday in Berlin on Friday with a select crowd of German fans, Joe Jackson told a news conference in Berlin.

Michael Jackson, who dangled his baby son from the railing of a fourth-floor hotel window before shocked fans on a 2002 visit to Berlin, is fond of the German capital and may go to the party to thank his supporters, his father said.

"I hope that Michael will come to Berlin on Thursday," Joe Jackson said, adding his children Jermaine, Janet and La Toya would be at the party with about 1000 fans in a luxury Berlin hotel.

"When Michael was here before, he was shown a lot of hospitality," Jackson said. "And so it's my birthday and I come back to celebrate my birthday because we have a lot of fans here in Germany."

Last month a court in Santa Maria, California acquitted the 46-year-old pop star of child sex abuse charges that had threatened to destory his career. Jackson turned up in the Gulf Arab country of Bahrain on a private visit to relax after that.

The senior Jackson, who plans to open a disco in Berlin, said his son had felt the support from fans around the world.

"He is recovering from the trial because that was something ... they were trying to blame on him which he never did, any of those things," he said.

"The charges against him - they just hoped one of them would stick. But thank God and thank the fans... from here and different parts of the world, that he was acquitted."

- REUTERS