
On his last night at the helm of his seventeen year reign as host of the Tonight Show, the king of late night Jay Leno thanked all who made his tenure a successful one.
Especially Michael Jackson.
The comedian, who to no small degree made a career out of making fun of Michael Jackson has not yet issued a statement about the King of Pop's death to the mainstream media.
Uncharacteristic of Leno, who is usually the first to reflect on a celebrity friend's passing, Jay, however, is in good company in his silence. A multitude of stars - mostly comedians - are struggling to find an appropriate way to acknowledge the death of Jackson.
Throughout Hollywood's comedic circles, Michael Jackson's death has left a lot of comedian's and filmmakers scrambling.
Universal Pictures film "Bruno" starring Sacha Baron Cohen had to return to the cutting room to delete a scene involving La Toya Jackson. A spokesman for Universal said the decision was made by the filmmakers "out of respect for the Jackson family."
Per usual with a time of grieving in Hollywood, there is generally an accepted grace period in which it is simply "too soon" to make light of a celeb's passing.
But since the magnitude of Jackson's death is the greatest since Elvis or Princess Diana, it is probably safe to presume that most comics won't tread on Jackson territory for a long time, if ever again.