If it was “what’s news about Michael Jackson” that’s different, but the question was, “what is he up to” which idiomatically means “what is he currently doing”
Rotting in a grave (like all dead bodies do), that’s what he is currently doing.
(well, all the PS he had notwithstanding, that stuff might outlast post-nuclear-holocaust cockroaches)
I kinda read the phrasing as there is no more news about him that would be relevant without a more specific query not is he alive again.
I’d more think it’s saying “he wasn’t posthumously given another Grammy this year that I know about”
That wouldn’t be him “up to” anything.
If it was “what’s news about Michael Jackson” that’s different, but the question was, “what is he up to” which idiomatically means “what is he currently doing”
Rotting in a grave (like all dead bodies do), that’s what he is currently doing.
(well, all the PS he had notwithstanding, that stuff might outlast post-nuclear-holocaust cockroaches)