REVEREND AL SHARPTON paid a moving tribute to his longtime friend Michael Jackson on Tuesday (30Jun09) - insisting the star paved the way for BARACK OBAMA's White House triumph.

Thousands of fans lined up at the Apollo Theater in New York on Tuesday to pay their respects to the star, with staff allowing 600 people in at a time.

Theatre bosses chose to honour Jackson, who died last week (25Jun09), because he made several famous appearances at the venue and launched the career of the Jackson 5 there.

Following the event, Sharpton - who has been helping the star's family arrange his funeral - told of his admiration for the King of Pop, crediting him with smashing down racial prejudice and helping pave the way for the first Black U.S. President.

He told U.S. TV host Larry King, "I think that what Michael Jackson and his brothers did in the 70s and 80s is create a comfort level where people of different races and nationalities began to accept, based on people's skills and work, that they could be like them and admire them and not be intimidated or fearful of doing that across the colour line.

"So the kids that wore the little jackets like Michael Jackson and the pants legs up above the ankle and the hat imitating Michael - the white kids in Iowa, the Asian kids in Japan - these are the kids that grew up and voted for Obama, because race, to them, was different... These are the kids that cheered for Tiger Woods. You've got to give the Jacksons and Michael credit that they created a comfort level that, I think, grew and grew to where we are now."