Al Sharpton: 'Jackson wasn't strange'

Rev Al Sharpton has told Michael Jackson's children that their father was not a strange man as many claimed.

The reverend told fans at Jackson's memorial service that the late singer had broken down barriers for black people in America which led to the election of President Barack Obama.

Sharpton said: "Michael rose to the top, he outsang his cynics, he outdanced his doubters, he outperformed the pessimists.

"Every time they counted him out he came back in. Michael never stopped, Michael never stopped, Michael never stopped."

He added: "I want his children to know. [There] wasn't nothing strange about your daddy. It was strange what your daddy had to deal with. But he dealt with it anyway."

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