Michael and Janet’s father had been battling cancer

Joe Jackson has died, aged 89, according to reports.
The music manager, who was the father of Michael and Janet Jackson, was admitted to hospital last week in the “final stages of terminal cancer.” According to TMZ, he died at 3:30am today (June 27) in Los Angeles.

Jackson’s family have begun to pay tribute on social media. His grandson Taj defended him over stories about how he treated his children, writing: “Joe was loved by our ENTIRE family and our hearts are in pain. Let us grieve without the nastiness.”
Speaking to the Daily Mail before his death, Jermaine Jackson, 63, said: “He’s very very frail, he doesn’t have long. The family needs to be by his bedside – that’s our only intention in his final days.”
Although Jackson has battled illness for a lengthy period, he reportedly gave verbal instructions in recent days to stop his family from accessing his medical records or visiting him.
Despite the request, he was eventually visited at his Las Vegas hospital by wife Katherine Jackson, daughters Rebbie and Joh’Vonnie, and granddaughter Yashi Brown.

Jermaine added: “No one knew what was going on – we shouldn’t have to beg, plead, and argue to see our own father, especially at a time like this.
“We have been hurting. We were not being told where he was and couldn’t get the full picture. Even from the doctor. My mother was worried sick. It’s what any family would want, but some people around him think they know better… and they don’t”.
He reportedly suffers from dementia, as well as blindness after suffering a stroke in 2015.
Jackson first began managing sons Jackie, Tito and Jermaine as a musical trio in the early 1960s.

But they later became The Jackson 5, with younger sons Marlon and Michael joining before they signed a Motown Records deal in 1969 that transformed them into global stars.
The music manager faced criticism in later life, when his grown up children began to document the abuse they had received at his hands while managing the band.
In 2017, Jackson admitted he was “truly sorry” for the way he had treated his children.