#StoryOfTheDay...How Michael Jackson met Omer Bhatti. The story began in October 1996. Michael Jackson was in the midst of the #HIStoryWorldTour and had already performed concerts in Eastern Europe, Spain and the Netherlands. He had now moved on to perform his first ever concert in Africa as a solo artist, in Tunis, the capital of Tunisia. He had divorced Lisa Marie Presley a few months earlier, and Deborah Rowe, his soon to be second wife, was pregnant with their first son Prince.
Omer Bhatti, the son of Humayoun, originally from Pakistan who was then 41, and Helga, a native of Norway who was then 42, (they later changed their names), was a short for his age 12 year old who loved everything Jackson – the music, the dancing, and especially the man.
The family traveled from their home in Oslo to Tunis to visit Omer’s uncle Hjalmar Vinje, who was living there at the time. However the main aim of Omer would have been to catch a glimpse of his idol, Michael Jackson.
Like many of Jackson’s other special friends, Omer had been imitating Jackson’s dance moves from an early age and was noticed by music act manager Tor Helgeton as a “tot” in his native Norway.
Helgeton organized for Omer to appear at shopping centres and festivals around the country, and he even appeared on Norwegian television stations NRK and TV3 dancing like his idol.
At the time he was visiting Tunis, Omer had been scheduled to appear at a shopping center in Arendal, a small town three and a half hours south west of his home in the southern suburbs of Oslo.
According to Helgeton, Omer never showed up for the appearance.
Omer was at the hotel on that day early in October hoping to catch a glimpse of Michael Jackson – he was dressed as his idol and had diligently worked his way through the crowd so he could be at the front.
When Michael Jackson finally arrived at the hotel, the crowd waiting for him surged forward and there was a danger that Omer would be crushed. Jackson spotted he was in peril and instructed his bodyguards to scoop up the hapless young lad to save him from the mass of people wanting to get to the King Of PoP.
However, Michael Jackson didn’t stop at just saving Omer from the crowd, he was eager to get to know this youngster better, and invited the boy up to his hotel room, much as he had done with other young boys so many times before.
They talked and played together for a full two hours, and later Omer told his sister Shaista that Jackson had been impressed with how similar Omer was compared to him.
