Jackson will tour minus menagerie

Press, 2 October 1987, Page 2

Jackson will tour minus menagerie

By

SUZANNE KEEN

The pop star, Michael Jackson, will still visit New Zealand in December, in spite of suggestions that he would not perform unless his pet chimpanzee and boa constrictor were allowed into the country.

The Auckland promoter of the tour, Mr Benny Levin, said yesterday that Jackson had been told before he signed the contract to perform in New Zealand and Australia that he could not bring his pets unless they had been through an extended quuarantine period. “They have two minders, so I suppose they will probably be going back to the United States with them. You get all sorts of rumours. It’s unbelievable what they come up with — that’s why people think he is so whacky.” Jackson takes Bubbles the chimp and Crusher the snake most places he goes. Mr Levin said that Bubbles wore clothes and did almost everything

human except talk. “In a way it is a shame they aren’t coming here because I am sure it would be quite a buzz.” The performer’s Australian-New Zealand tour is being run by Kevin Jacobsen Productions, of Sydney, and his first concert will be in Perth on November X The two New Zealand concerts are at Wellington’s Athletic Park, on December 2, and Auckland’s Mount Smart Stadium, on December X Although the visit is still two months away, Mr Levin said that ILSH tickets had already been sold in New Zealand. Because of the tight schedule, and also costs, Jackson will not perform In Christchurch. “Michael Jackson has 22 articulated trucks full of gear, so It would cost something like $4H* a truck just to bring the gear across.” Jackson proved very popular during a recent tour of Japan, where the two pets were allowed to accompany him.