NEW YORK — Queen Latifah called Michael Jackson “the biggest star on Earth,” and it was hard to argue when his memorial service united television networks as diverse as ABC, MTV, Fox News Channel, BET and ESPN News.

They all carried at least part of the Los Angeles ceremony on Tuesday, a mix of music and remembrances capping an extraordinary dozen days of coverage since the pop star’s death from cardiac arrest on June 25.

It was a celebrity send-off unique in scale, unifying TV networks in a manner not seen since the aftermath of the 2001 terrorist attacks. Millions of people watched worldwide on TV screens or on computers through Web sites such as TMZ and Hulu, although a backlash simmered among people who wondered whether it was too much for an entertainer.

ABC was the first of the major broadcasters to commit to televising the event. NBC had initially said it wasn’t televising the memorial, but executives changed their minds Sunday and sent Brian Williams out west.

The cable news networks each carried the ceremony, although Fox News Channel kept its eye on the outside world by continuing to run a crawl of news headlines on the bottom of the screen.

At BET, correspondents April Woodard and Jina Johnson said they wanted to hear none of the stories of drug use or alleged child abuse that dominated the last decade of the 50-year-old entertainer’s life. “We’re not going to talk so much about the speculation or allegations surrounding his death,” Woodard said. “What we are going to talk about is a celebration of his life.”

Every funeral, every memorial service offers the chance to remember the best of a life. In Jackson’s case, participants used the moment to sweep aside the sad spectacle his life had become. “People wanted to go back to the Michael Jackson they remembered,” commentator Nancy Gibbs said on ABC.

Yet the lionization of Jackson has turned off some TV viewers. ABC’s “Good Morning America” message board was clogged with people expressing disgust. Fox News reported Tuesday about the family of an American soldier killed in Afghanistan the same day Jackson died who wondered why the celebrity’s death has received so much more attention. During Molly Henneberg’s report, a box filled a portion of Fox’s screen showing Forest Lawn Cemetery, where a family service was held for Jackson.

At the Staples Center, NBC’s Lee Cowan said the mood depended on what Jackson song was being piped into the public address system: “When it is a softer tempo, some people get quiet,” he said. “When it is upbeat, people get into it.”

“I have never heard 16,000 people as quiet as I have now,” said ABC’s Cynthia McFadden.