Spike Lee to Honor Michael Jackson With Brooklyn Birthday Celebration

Director Spike Lee will commemorate the life and career of Michael Jackson by throwing the late entertainer a birthday celebration fit for a king. According to reports, Lee will hold a block-party in the Fort Greene area of Brooklyn on what would have been Jackson's 51st birthday, Aug. 29. The event will also include a live DJ spinning Jackson's music.

"It's going to just be how we do it, Brooklyn-style, I'll leave it at that," Lee said in an interview. "It's going to be a joyous, festive, celebratory party. At the end, we'll all sing 'Happy Birthday' to Michael. We're going to make sure he hears us, too. All over the world, people are going to be celebrating his birthday. But he's going to hear Brooklyn. Brooklyn is going to be in the house. Deep."

Lee, a native of Brooklyn, worked with Jackson on the 'They Don't Care About Us' video. Upon his passing the director noted that he had long been a fan of the icon, stating that as a child he worked to get his afro as "perfectly round" as Jackson's during his days as the lead singer of the Jackson 5.

Jackson suffered a fatal cardiac arrest on June 25. He will be buried at the Forest Lawn Cemetery in Glendale, Calif. on what would have been his birthday.