Joe Jackson gives interview to Larry King
Posted Wed 22 Jul 2009 3:32PM BST by theCMUwebsite.com in a-CMU-blog
In a slightly rambling, rather uncomfortable interview, Michael Jackson's father has again denied physically abusing his son back in the Jackson 5 days, while claiming not to know where the late king of pop's body is currently being stored, and refuting stories he is planning on launching a new pop group around Jacko's children, an enterprise dubbed by some media as the Jackson 3.
Jackson Senior gave an interview to Larry King in which the CNN man asked all sorts of questions about the patriarch's relationship with his son, in the distance past and in more recent years, as well about how he and other specific family members have reacted to Michael Jackson's sudden demise.
Tackling the widely believed allegations that Jackson Senior beat a young Michael when he wouldn't comply with the demands of being a child superstar, allegations made most explicitly by Jacko in the infamous 2003 Martin Bashir documentary about the singer, Joe told King: "I raised him just like you would raise your kids, you know? But harm Michael, for what? I have no reason. That's my son. I loved him and I still love him".
He continued: "The media keep hollering about saying that I beat Michael. That's not true. You know what this beat started - beat started in the slavery days. Where they used to beat the slaves and then they used to torture them. That's where this beating started. These slave masters, and that's where that come from. Now, Michael was never beaten by me. I've never beaten at all".
Whatever the truth, it certainly seems that in his later years Michael was not especially close to his father, certainly compared to his relationships with other family members - evidenced in the fact the singer left his father out of his will. Asked by King how he felt about that, Jackson continued: "That's the way he wanted it. And it's not going to hurt me that I was left out of his will. But it happened".
Jackson Snr gave the impression that he'd been left out of a lot of the formalities relating to his son's death, though it's possible he was trying to just dodge the trickier questions. On the issue of where Jackson's body was being stored ahead of a proper burial, Jackson claimed to be in the dark. Asked whether he had had a chance to pay his last respects to his son in private, he implied the only time he'd been in the late singer's presence was alongside everyone else at the public memorial service at the Staples Center earlier this month.
King also challenged Joe about rumours he had plans to launch a next generation Jackson group featuring his grandchildren by Michael - Prince Michael, Paris and Blanket. He denied he had any such plans, which isn't a surprise given the original story always seemed to be based on a deliberate misunderstanding of a previous quote from Jackson Snr in which he simply observed that it wouldn't surprise him if Jacko's kids followed their father into a showbusiness career.
Asked about the Jackson 3 stories, Joe rambled: "Not true. That's a bunch of jive. That's a bunch of... I wish I could say what I should say. That's a bunch of bull... I'm not encouraging them to do nothing. They have to be what they are, kids at the moment".
Needless to say back on the matter of Jacko's death, Joe again reiterated his belief that there was some kind of foul play involved in his son's sudden passing. And, like an increasing number of people, he pointed the finger at Jackson's personal doctor Conrad Murray, remarking: "The doctor gave him something to make him rest and he don't wake up no more. Something is wrong".
You can see a chunk of the Joe Jackson interview here.

