Briefly

Sale surge of Jackson’s music, videos ‘stunning’

Michael Jackson’s death has led to skyrocketing sales of his music and videos, with major retailers selling out of products that have regained immense popularity overnight.

Bill Carr, Amazon.com Inc.’s vice president for music and video, said Friday that once the world learned that the pop icon had died Thursday, the Web site sold out within minutes of all CDs by Michael Jackson and the Jackson 5. Sixty percent of Amazon’s CD orders Thursday were for Michael Jackson music, something Carr called “stunning.”

By Friday afternoon, nine of the top 10 albums on iTunes’ best-seller list were Jackson’s.

Awards show, artists change plans for tribute

The BET Awards are undergoing “a total overhaul” as the show is retooled as a tribute to Michael Jackson, the network said Friday. The telecast is being lengthened, performers are being added to the lineup and additional guests are expected to attend, said Debra L. Lee, chairman and chief executive of Black Entertainment Television. At least 30 minutes will be added to the broadcast, she said.

Artists such as Beyonce and Ne-Yo, who worked on their performances for weeks, scrambled to change them at the last-minute to honor the King of Pop, said producer Stephen Hill.

Sequence cut out of comedian’s film ‘Bruno’

Comedian Sacha Baron Cohen is a fearless, equal-opportunity offender, but when it comes to jokes about Michael Jackson in Cohen’s new film “Bruno,” there apparently are limits: At the last minute, the filmmakers have cut a sequence about Jackson and his sister, La Toya.

When the film was shown to audiences several weeks ago, “Bruno” included a scene in which Cohen’s title character —- an Austrian fashion journalist —- conducts staged interviews with C-list celebrities, including La Toya Jackson. When Cohen’s Bruno character is interviewing La Toya, he asks about Michael Jackson and then takes La Toya’s personal digital assistant and begins looking for Michael’s telephone number. Cohen then begins dictating some numbers in German to an assistant (the suggestion is that they are Michael’s phone number) as La Toya becomes increasingly alarmed.

But at the film’s premiere in Hollywood on Thursday night, the scene was nowhere to be found. Universal Studios, the film’s producer and distributor, declined to comment Friday.

Sudden death raises bids for dolls on eBay

Deb Elliott is saddened by Michael Jackson’s sudden death, but she’s also a little wealthier because of it.

The response was underwhelming earlier this month when she tried to auction a pair of 1980s Jackson dolls for a starting price of $9.95 apiece on eBay Inc. But within minutes of Jackson’s death Thursday, eBay bids started coming in. A doll depicting Jackson at the American Music Awards fetched $265 after 21 bids. A Grammy Awards Jackson doll got 36 bids and sold for $227.50 on Friday.

“This was definitely a cause for mixed emotions,” Elliott said. “I finally got rid of the dolls, but now Michael is gone, too.”

EBay reported the average selling price for Jackson items jumped 31 percent Thursday from averages last week. Among the items up for sale: a signed fedora hat, offered at $9,795.

Tour companies, exhibits draw crowds

In Hollywood, the sudden death of Michael Jackson is drawing crowds of tourists and changing the itinerary for celebrity tour operators and museum exhibits in Los Angeles.

Jackson’s star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame, near Grauman’s Chinese Theatre, was so overrun by fans that some tourists couldn’t get close enough to see it.

Dearly Departed, the tour bus company that offers a “Hollywood Tragic History Tour,” plans to include a stop at the Holmby Hills home where paramedics were called to revive the dying Jackson.

“This is what we do,” said tour company owner Scott Michaels.