Should Their Wishes Be Respected - Or Not?

[Booldawg]

http://metro.co.uk/2017/11/01/george-michaels-family-block-childline-tribute-concert-7044459/

Cant find any other new source citing the reasons why George Michaels family have refused this charity concert to go ahead. My personal opinion is that its mean spirited of them not just for the charity but also the fans of his music.

[ToraToraTora]

yes, we don't know the reasons and should not make any assumptions.

[murraymints]

family's wishes have to be priority

[albaqwerty]

Yes, their wishes should be respected.
As well as whatever their reasons.

[pixie374]

No. Only if George Michael himself had expressed anything relevant.

[ummmm]

His wishes should be paramount.

[murraymints]

he can't express his wishes.. this proposed gig was the idea of Esther Ranzen after his death

[pixie374]

Unless the family can prove he was against it. I just looked up to see who owns the rights to his music. There seems to be some debate though. Does anyone know?

[murraymints]

that would be part of his estate ..whoever he left them to

[woofgang]

We don't know what has happened or why they said no, therefore I think it would be inappropriate to comment. I certainly don't think that judging on so little information is fair or kind.

[ummmm]

I know, I can read. Unless you're privy to HIS private wishes no one knows but it's probably written down somewhere in a complicated will that wealth often brings.

He also had a long standing connection with the charity. Along side that he privately donated lots of money to help people and other charities.

I can't imagine a man who paid for a strangers IVF treatment anonymously would refuse the profits of a concert going to such a good cause.

[ummmm]

I also agree with Woof. It's early days still.

[albaqwerty]

It's still early days for the family coming to terms with a sudden loss.

He may well have supported Childline and other charities, as well as other donations and I don't think it's right for Miss Rantzen to 'commandeer' George Michael in this way.

[Booldawg]

Maybe that's what his family had a problem with? Plans were announced for this event days after his death without their knowledge.

[pixie374]

I can understand that. But I think if there is any way of knowing what his own wishes would be, anything he has expressed or written down, then the family (or Esther Rantzen) shouldn't be able to overrule him.

[youngmafbog]

Up to them really, whatever their reasons (which we dont know).

[douglas9401]

She could always use the fallback plan of a procession of oddly shaped vegetables and a few rotten poems.

[andy-hughes]

I can understand that on the surface, this refusal appears inappropriate, but as others have pointed out, we don't know the background here, and I doubt it is as simple as it first appears - these things rarely are.

[237SJ]

I tend to agree with Alba. Nobody knows of course but maybe the family didn't want Esther Rantzen to commandeer him. If the idea was planned a few days after his death then that seems far to soon to be thinking of such things.

[andy-hughes]

It may be something as simple as their choice to remember George, and his charitable approach, in a way of their choosing, to be assessed when they have got their grief under control, which as advised, is not going to be a few days after his tragic passing.

[ludwig]

I'm sure they have good reasons. They're not stopping Childline organising a fundraising concert, it just won't be a George Michael tribute.

There may well be one of those at some point, and it may be a benefit concert for some other charity that he was more associated with.