Michael Jackson's brother Randy continues fight against ‘fake' will

More than three years after Michael Jackson's death, his youngest brother, Randy, continues to raise questions about the validity of the King of Pop's will, constantly calling the five-page document signed in 2002 a fake.

The one place he hasn't made the claims is in a courtroom, which is the only place it really counts.

In a recent letter, Randy and three of his siblings renewed their will claims and called on Michael's estate executors to resign.

The letter states the family was too overwhelmed after Michael's death to meaningfully challenge the will that gave only family matriarch Katherine Jackson and Michael's three children — Prince, 15, Paris, 14, and Blanket, 10 — a stake in the estate.

"At that time we couldn't possibly fathom what is so obvious to us now: that the Will, without question, it's Fake, Flawed and Fraudulent," the letter originally signed by Randy, Jermaine, Janet and Rebbie Jackson states.

On Wednesday, Jermaine rescinded his support for the letter and in a statement to the Associated Press, called for an end to the public feud that has embroiled his family for more than a week, saying issues over the care of his mother and with late brother Michael's estate should be handled privately.

Almost from the moment it was filed, the will has been a topic of controversy. Michael's father, Joe Jackson, attempted to get a stipend from the estate, but like his children, he was excluded from any share.

Katherine explored the possibility of challenging the executors and was given permission by a judge but settled before a full hearing was held.

Michael's will, however, is straightforward and simple, and many key provisions of how his estate is constructed are set out in a trust. That document has never been publicly released.

Many of the misgivings stem from the will's final page, which bears the signatures of three witnesses who claim Michael signed the document on July 7, 2002, in Los Angeles. His family points out that he was in New York on that day, a point the Rev. Al Sharpton recently bolstered by showing video of Michael appearing with him at an event in Harlem.

Tattle's question is also straightforward and simple: Hadn't Michael Jackson helped his siblings make enough money?

TATTBITS

According to Bloomberg News, lawyers for author Michael Lewis ("Liar's Poker," "Moneyball") asked a Manhattan judge to dismiss a lawsuit by a bond manager who claimed Lewis' book The Big Short, about subprime mortgage investing, defamed him.

How is it possible to defame a bond manager involved in subprime mortgage investing?

Fans of Chuck Lorre's vanity cards, which appear at the end of his TV shows, will no longer have to hit pause on their DVRs to read them.

Lorre ("Two and a Half Men," "The Big Bang Theory" and "Mike and Molly") is publishing a coffee-table book of the cards, titled What Doesn't Kill Us, Makes Us Bitter.

Alfred Hitchcock's "Vertigo" took the top spot in the 10-greatest-movies-ever list compiled by Sight & Sound, ending a 50-year run for Orson Welles' "Citizen Kane." The magazine, published by the British Film Institute, surveys international film critics every decade.

"Citizen Kane" slid to second, making way for Hitchcock's 1958 psychological drama starring James Stewart and Kim Novak.

Tattle doesn't even think "Vertigo" is Hitchcock's best movie.

Yasujiro Ozu's "Tokyo Story" ranked third, followed by Jean Renoir's "The Rules of the Game"; F.W. Murnau's "Sunrise"; Stanley Kubrick's "2001: A Space Odyssey"; and John Ford's "The Searchers." Carl Dreyer's "The Passion of Joan of Arc" ranks ninth followed by Federico Fellini's "8 1/2."

The list also includes a new addition: Dziga Vertov's "Man With a Movie Camera," coming in at eighth place. It's the first documentary to make the list since it was founded in 1952. And it was made in 1929.

Guess it took 83 years for people to appreciate it.

Stephen Colbert is hosting another music extravaganza, this one on Aug. 10 aboard the Intrepid Sea, Air and Space Museum in New York. Performing will be the Flaming Lips, Santigold, Grandmaster Flash, Grizzly Bear and the band fun.

Colbert is calling the event "StePhest Colbchella '012: RocktAugustFest." The performances and Colbert's interviews with each act will be shown on "The Colbert Report" during the week of Aug. 13.

Colbert quipped in a statement: "Does Bonnaroo have cruise missiles? I think not."

A Heuer wristwatch worn by Steve McQueen in "Le Mans" sold for nearly $800,000 at an auction of film memorabilia.

Unless McQueen was still wearing it, that sounds like a lot.

One bidder, with an affection for shiny objects, coughed up $98,400 for Marlon Brando's assassination jacket from "The Godfather." A personal copy of the 1971 film's script signed by Brando went for $55,000.

Aerosmith frontman Steven Tyler says he liked the paychecks on "American Idol" but had a love-hate relationship with the show.

He says in an interview with Rolling Stone that the Fox reality series isn't his "cup of tea." But he says it was a "great job" because he sat next to Jennifer Lopez and "made a ton of money."

Funny, that's why we took this job.