Jackson says he’ll hit back with video of interviewer
LONDON, England (Reuters) — Pop icon Michael Jackson said on Sunday he would authorise the release of video footage to prove a British television documentary about his private life was misleading and unfair.
Jackson’s lawyers have already filed complaints with British broadcasting authorities over the film aired last Monday in which the American singer admitted to sharing a bed with children at his Neverland ranch in California.
The rare look at Jackson’s private life triggered a storm of controversy including a call for a probe by child welfare services.
In a statement issued in London, Jackson repeated a vehement denial of child abuse allegations made by the British media.
“I am bewildered at the length to which people will go to portray me so negatively,” Jackson said.
“I will say again that I have never, and would never, harm a child. It sickens me that people have written things that portray me as a child abuser.”
In their complaints Jackson’s lawyers called “Living with Michael Jackson” — the Granada Television documentary fronted by journalist Martin Bashir — “a gross distortion of the truth” that violated the singer’s right to privacy.
In Sunday’s statement, issued by a London public relations company, Jackson said he would produce his own video excerpts, filmed by his personal cameraman during the eight-month documentary shoot, to prove Bashir’s portrayal was hypocritical.
“The film shows extraordinary scenes of Martin Bashir praising the way Michael treats children and commenting on how good a father he is,” the statement said.
“The Jackson footage clearly shows that Bashir was actually continuing to praise Michael’s abilities as a father and (shows) Bashir making statements about how he feels it is a pity that the world is so quick to criticise Michael.”
“On the face of it, either Martin Bashir was lying to Michael or was misleading his audience on the voiceovers on the film,” the statement said, adding that Bashir had been aware he was being filmed during his interviews.
The lawyers had said the filmmakers had used footage of Jackson’s children even though he had forbidden them to do so, and had unfairly asked him about a 1993 child abuse allegation without prior warning.
Jackson said the filmmakers had talked to a 12-year-old boy who shared his bed without seeking permission for the interview from the boy’s parents.
Nearly one in four Britons watched the documentary in which Jackson vowed to kill himself if there were no kids left in the world.
His two older children, aged five and four, appeared on film with Jackson wearing party masks. The film showed his third child with a veil draped over his head as Jackson fed him with a bottle of milk.
Jackson has been dogged by controversy since 1993 when he reached a multi-million dollar settlement with a 14-year-old California boy who had accused him of sexual molestation.
Details of the accusations resurfaced in Britain’s tabloid newspapers on Sunday and a California lawyer has called on child welfare services to probe his life at Neverland.
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