Those who really knew Michael Jackson say of him, INNOCENT!

While the media tells us their usual washed out stories obtained in some dark corners from “the-unnamed-sources-in-exchange-for-a-couple-of-bucks” here are the words of the people who REALLY knew Michael Jackson and who are testifying to his complete innocence with the vehemence of those who are standing their Last trial.

Let us hear only a few of them which I’ve been able to find for the past few days and share them with the doubters in Michael’s innocence (please send other quotes to make the collection fuller):

Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson, Michael Jackson’s memorial service (7 July 2009):

• Ever since I was born, Daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. And I just want to say that I love him…so much.

Mallika Chopra, in “Reflections on Growing up with Michael Jackson” (29 June 2009):

• Michael and I shared an absolute love for children, and his heart cried about the pain children around the world faced. One day, while chatting with him about his upcoming Super Bowl performance, Michael was brainstorming how he could use the worldwide exposure for a greater cause, and the Heal The World Foundation was born. … I was so proud of the work we did in that short time, only to find that our good intentions came to a halt when Michael was accused the first time of child molestation. Over night, understandably so, non-profits backed away from our efforts and we quietly closed shop. My family always maintained our belief that Michael was innocent in both cases – for those that were close to Michael, all would admit he was quirky and had bad judgment at times. But to think Michael could abuse a child was unfathomable in my mind.

Over the last decade, my relationship with Michael continued to be focused on kids, but now our own. … It was amazing for me to witness in those early years how enamored Michael was with his children. He changed their diapers through the night, sang and played with them, rocked them to sleep, bathed them and had to change his own outfits when they threw up on him – the same routine that all parents know and love. In the few times we spoke, he would always reflect on the miracle of being a parent. He also protected them in a way that reflected his own lost childhood, and his paranoia about being taken advantage of. Paris, Prince and Blanket are three beautiful children. With Michael gone, I truly pray that they will find some peace and be spared the heart wrenching pain that their father faced time and time again in his life.

Cherilyn Lee, registered nurse in “Michael Jackson’s Nurse ‘On the Record’” (7 July 2009):

• He was a very caring guy who would go out of his way to help the sick. One night in London he wanted to see some homeless people. He sent them loads of pizzas in secret. The guy had a good heart.

Al Malnik, godfather of Prince Michael II Jackson (Blanket), interviewed by Merideth Viera on The Today Show (1 July 2009):

• Michael was filled with humility, sensitivity, reverence and respect for anyone and everyone. And most of all, the love that he had for his kids equalled the love that he had for his fans. He just was a guy that was beyond amazing, and it’s just sad to hear all the spurious stories that have been created about him.

Kenny Ortega, producer, director, choreographer:

• This guy had the biggest heart of anybody and really really did care about improving the human condition, especially for children, and that was part of his mission. While he was on tour, he always wanted to know what he could do in each place, so that when he left, he left a place better, having been there … and how many people can you say that about?”

David Pack, in “Michael Jackson, Jesus, and Me : My story of Christian fellowship with the King of Pop” (27 June 2009):

• I did not find Michael weird, messed up, or anything you’ve ever heard about him. I want to say that I feel all of the allegations ever charged against Michael were false, and that in my discernment, he did not have the capacity to ever do anything except love children and let them know he would do anything to stand up for them, and help them. Just look at the magnificent work he did on their behalf in writing and co-producing “We Are The World,” and the 39 charities for children he gave to generously. That was Michael. I believe that during his trials he related to the suffering of Christ, and prayed for intervention, because he was being accused over what he loved most—children. This caused him perhaps more pain than anything in his life.”

Brett Ratner, in “Brett Ratner on Michael Jackson: ‘You felt like God was within him’” in The Los Angeles Times (26 June 2009):

• When you were with him, you really felt like God was within him. He was an amazing, superhuman kind of person, but he always treated you as an equal. He would be your friend and he never asked for anything in return. … I know that people looked at Michael and thought he was strange, but to me, he was fascinating. … He was the most inspirational person in my life. His one dream was to cure all the sick children in the world. And when I’d say, “Isn’t that impossible?” Michael would just start to cry. He was very emotional about things that moved him. I guess you’d have to say he was a pure innocent in a world that wasn’t so innocent anymore.

Teddy Riley, in “What Was Michael Jackson Like As A Father?” at VH1 (31 July 2009):

• He read them a book every day. When we were in Virginia during the Invincible [sessions], there was not one day missed reading the children something. So that showed me right there that he was an incredible father. … He was like, ‘I would never have them go through the same things ever (the similar childhood/upbringing) in their lives,’ Riley said. “He was like, ‘I think the best scolding for children was a time-out.’ The best scolding for children was, ‘Let’s read a book.’”

 Cory Rooney, in “Cory Rooney and Chris Apostle on Michael Jackson & his effect on the music business” in Examiner.com (5 August 2009):

• No one talks about when he did the Victory tour, I remember as a kid Michael being on tour with the Victory tour right? And every night on the news they would announce that Michael Jackson donated his money from every city that he did, he donated it to a new charity. He donated his money from the Victory tour to charities. I thought that was amazing. I’m like, wow! This guy’s donating millions of dollars every night to a new charity. Then he would stop in every city and every city he would stop at a hospital and visit kids that were burned, ill or whatever. He took the time to do all that.

Stephen King, in “You Don’t Know Jackson” (13 February 2004):

• What I’m asking is whether this is still a country where a peculiar person such as Michael Jackson can get a fair shake and be considered innocent until proven guilty … or is this just a 21st-century American barnyard where we all feel free to turn on the moonwalking rooster … and peck it to death?

Stephen King, in “The Sideshow Has Left Town” (14 June 2005):

• This came down to a prosecutor either so sure Jackson was bad or so offended by Jackson’s combination of celebrity and wackiness that he rushed into a case that looked shaky from hello. It looked worse as Tom Sneddon went along, and had become nearly ludicrous by the time Jackson’s ex-wife left the stand. No matter how pure Sneddon’s motives may have been (and I’m not saying they were, believe me), he began to look like a man pursuing a vendetta, one whose chief hope of securing a conviction lay in the obvious fact that the trial was a sideshow and the accused was … well, a freak.

The media first turned the trial into a freak-show by emphasizing Jackson’s peculiarities rather than his humanity, and stoked the ratings with constant, trivializing coverage while other, far more important stories went under-reported or completely ignored in Iraq, Iran, Afghanistan, North Korea, and Washington, D.C. The press might respond by saying, We gave the people what they wanted. My response would be, My job is to give them what they want. When he steps into a recording studio, it’s Michael Jackson’s job to give them what they want. Your job is to give the people what they need.

Steven Spielberg, “Why He’s a Thriller” (March 19, 1984):

• He’s sort of a fawn in a burning forest. It’s a nice place where Michael comes from. I wish we could all spend some time in his world.

Jonathan Margolis, “The truth and the lies” (June 27,  2009):

• I am confident he was truthful when he insisted he was no child molester. This is partly because Michael’s strict religious background — he was a Jehovah’s Witness although he flirted with Judaism and, latterly, Islam — ensured that even if his slightly ambiguous sexuality urged him to molest, his personal morality would have made such behaviour wholly impossible for him. More to the point, no social worker or child protection expert I ever spoke to or heard believed that he fitted anything like the classic profile of an abuser.

Jonathan Margolis, 12th March 2001, “My Friend Michael, The Real ManChild Behind The Mask”, Sunday Mirror:

• The scene was simply astonishing. Neverland is Disneyland meets the San Diego Zoo, gates open wide to a steady stream of children. Some youngsters were fighting off cancer, others were bussed in from inner city schools to enjoy a day of rapture, and all were rendered speechless by the personal attention that Michael gives to each and every child. One 10-year-old child, ashamed to take off his hat and reveal his chemo-ravaged bald head, finally removed the covering after Michael spent a day building up his confidence.

• It’s interesting that when it comes to Michael, people say that what puts them off is the (ultimately fruitless and unproven) accusations in the early Nineties of child molestation and how he made an £15million settlement to quell his accuser. When I point out that the local District Attorney subsequently invited further accusations, and that none came despite there being so much money on the table, and how surprising that is considering that some 10,000 children a year visit Michael’s home, Neverland, people shift their objection to the indisputable fact that he looks a bit odd – a lesser charge, I can’t help feeling.

• And I witnessed the extent of what I think is Jackson’s real commitment to children. Rabbi Shmuley’s eldest daughter, Mushki, had complained tearfully to Michael on one of his frequent visits to the Boteaches’ home that she was being bullied by a boy at school. Michael proposed hosting a peace conference, chaired by him, with the boy’s parents to sort it out. This was no idle promise, either. For a week, Michael phoned Shmuley and Mushki daily demanding to know how arrangements for the summit were going. When the day of the meeting came, Michael discovered it clashed with the photographic session for his new CD cover. So rather than change the date, he began the session at 5am to get it over with. In the event, ironically, the boy and his family failed to turn up.

• There was a knock on the suite door as Michael and his mentor were deep in conversation that evening. Michael asked if I wouldn’t mind going to the door. Outside was Macaulay Culkin, in London for his West End play and here to hang out with Michael. ‘Hi, there, you big, fat monkey head,‘ Culkin said to his friend. You either understand Michael Jackson’s Peter Pan thing or not, but he is earnest about it and says that he is not fond of adults and not proud of being one – hence his fellow feeling with ex-child stars like Culkin who, like him, missed out on childhood.

• Everywhere were the results of Michael’s reported £2,000 after-hours shopping spree at HMV with Macaulay and a pretty, blonde, 20-year-old student daughter of a family friend in London, whom Michael has known since she was young. It struck me that it’s not correct that Michael Jackson only enjoys the company of children, as is often said. What he likes is to surround himself with people in their twenties whom he has known since they were young – and can, therefore, trust, such as the lovely student.

Macaulay Culkin, Larry King Live, May 27, 2004:

• CULKIN: I didn’t react to him the way most people did. Most people are like Michael Jackson, and you know, he was a god to people. And to me, I knew he was a pop singer but beyond that, I wasn’t one of the fans. I think that’s one of the reasons why we connected was the fact that — believe me, I call him a jerk all the time. I call him a fat head and this and that and he gets it.

KING: What did happen?

CULKIN: Nothing happened. You know, nothing really. I mean, we played video games. We, you know, played at his amusement park.

KING: Did he sleep in the bed?

CULKIN: The thing is with that whole thing, oh, you slept in the same bedroom as him. It’s like, I don’t think you understand, Michael Jackson’s bedroom is two stories and it has like three bathrooms and this and that. So, when I slept in his bedroom, yes, but you understand the whole scenario. And the thing is with Michael he’s not good at explaining himself and he never really has been, because he’s not a very social person. You’re talking about someone who has been sheltered and sheltering himself also for the last like 30 years. And so, he’s not very good at communicating to people and not good at conveying what he’s actually trying to say to you. So, when he says something like that people — he doesn’t quite understand why people react the way that they do.

KING: Why do you think he likes young people so much?

CULKIN: Because the same reason why he liked me, was the fact that I didn’t care who he was. That was the thing. I talked to him like he was a normal human being and kids do that to him because he’s Michael Jackson the pop singer, but he’s not the God, the “king of pop” or anything like that. He’s just a guy who is actually very kid- like himself and wants to go out there and wants to play video games with you.

KING: Did your parents encourage it?

CULKIN: They weren’t against it. It wasn’t like they encouraged it or pushing me upon it. I wanted to hang out with him and they were fine.

KING: What do you make of what he’s going through now?

CULKIN: Like I said, it’s unfortunate, and you know, it’s a circus.

Rabbi Shmuley Boteach, not a friend to Michael Jackson, on Jewish Telegraph, September 22, 2000:

• A man who loves a child’s innocence, is himself innocent. A man who loves a child’s playfulness is himself playful. And a man who has patience for children, is a patient man. There is a human quality more essential than food or water that we need to give to our children — dignity. I believe that God has given Michael a special pair of glasses. He sees the robes of dignity, and drapes our children’s shoulders in these royal garments of admiration and respect.

As he said to me, “Every child should be treated like a movie star, getting lots of attention.” My eight-year-old daughter got lost in the halls of Neverland’s video room and started to cry, Michael ran over to her and said: “Oh, I know how you feel. I remember that happening to me when I was a little boy.” I contrasted this with what my natural response would have been — to dismiss her fear and encourage her to “toughen up”.

Because of Michael I have planted a few more flowers in the garden of my own heart. Watching him with his children has made me a better father, seeing him interact at his ranch with cancer patients has made me a more compassionate human being, and witnessing his humility has made me realise that if he can be approachable, then I have no excuse for aloofness.

Janet Jackson, the USA today, 1994, quoted by Lisa Campbell, “King of Pop’s Darkest Hour”:

• If you met my family, you’d see that everyone is very down to earth… What didn’t help at all is Mike doesn’t speak to the press. When negative things are said about him, he never comes forth to defend himself. After that happens so many times, people go, ‘Hmmm, maybe it is true.’… A lot of people feel he doesn’t know what’s going on in the outside world, when in fact he does. If I had his money, I would build an amusement park at my house too. He is very much an adult, he handles his business very well. What the hell is wrong with still having some kid in you? That’s what makes him so wonderful.

[About LaToya] To me, it’s just her way of jumping on something to get attention. Maybe it’s because she never had the success she wanted. …What’s going on in LaToya’s life, I don’t even know. I haven’t spoken to her in I don’t know how long. The person I see on the news and these infomercials is not the person I grew up with.

Harriette Cole, Behind the scenes at Michael Jackson/Ebony Magazine cover shoot:

• We didn’t meet Michael’s two other children. His daughter, Paris, is 9 and he has another son, Michael Joseph, 10. Blanket was incredibly well-behaved while he was in our company, which is saying a lot for a 5-year-old. He is obviously very close to his dad. They walked into the fitting holding hands and only separated when both of them became at ease. Michael’s parenting skills were to be commended. Without many words, with very subtle gestures he offered discipline, guidance and support. Michael also obviously wants Blanket to learn good manners, so when the Ebony team came into the room for the interview, Michael coached Blanket on the proper way to shake hands and say hello. Small things, but isn’t it the small things that show the measure of one’s true self?

Bobby Newt, April 07, 2005, Fox News:

• Robert Newt and his twin brother have the same features as other boys advertised as alleged Neverland “victims.” But all Bobby Newt remembers of his encounter with Jackson is good times.And all he remembers about the man from The National Enquirer [Mitteager] is that he wanted Bobby, then 18, to lie.

“He said, ‘Say he grabbed you on the butt. Say he grabbed you and touched you in any kind of way,'” Newt said. “He told us he took all these people down. Now he was going to take Michael down. That he would really destroy him. He said, ‘We take these people down. That’s what we do.'”

“My dad said these dudes are offering this money to take Michael Jackson down. And the guy [Mitteager] said, ‘Say he touched you. All you have to do is say it. But you might have to take the stand. You might have to go on ‘Oprah’ in front of all these people. You have to be prepared for this thing. Just say it. And we’ll give you money,'” Newt said.

Elizabeth Taylor, Jackson Family Honors, February 19, 1994:

• Michael is a remarkable human being with talent beyond comprehension, compassion beyond bounds and commitment to others beyond compare. Michael, we who know you more intimately than others acknowledge the suffering you have endured because we have suffered with you. But in the midst of our deepest anguish, we have known that you would prevail through this dark hour, that you would emerge stronger but still innocent, childlike, trusting bruised but still magically untouched by the tongues and opinions of the world. Hurt, but still gloriously loving and benevolent despite the slings and arrows of those who know better. Enough of tabloid media! Enough of tabloid television!

… Michael, we know your recent torture isn’t going to alter or change your compassion and love for children. There is beauty and truth in your being. You are the brightest star in the universe. Don’t let anything dim your leading light.

Corey Feldman, February 10, 2005, a “Celebrity Justice” exclusive Do Feldman Tapes Indicate Jackson Witch-Hunt?

• Former child-star Corey Feldman was grilled by Santa Barbara sheriff Sgt. Deborah Linden about the actor’s close friendship with Michael Jackson. The interview occurred in 1993, as cops conducted an investigation into charges of child molestation brought against Jackson. On the tape, obtained exclusively by “CJ,” Corey repeatedly insists that their friendship was totally innocent, while the cops repeatedly express suspicion, for over an hour.

“Is your belief in him and your love for him getting in the way of you telling us things?” Sgt. Linden is heard to say.

Feldman replies: “Everything I’ve told you is true and there’s… I mean, nothing happened.[ ] You don’t know how many times I have racked my brain and gone, ‘is there something I’m forgetting? Is there something that, you know, I’m thinking didn’t happen but it really did?’ If I could find something I would love to be able to tell you, but nothing happened.”

“People can say whatever they want, but it wasn’t Michael. He and I have our own issues, but that wasn’t one of them…

Corey Feldman, Larry King Live November 21 2003:

• We shared rooms a couple of times. Never shared a bed. But, you know, like one time we went to Disneyland and we went to the Disneyland Hotel and, you know, he was a — so much of a gentleman, which this really surprised me, but so much of a gentleman but he actually offered his bed and allowed me to sleep in his bed and he took a cot. And he slept in the cot. That’s a true story.

Lisa Marie Presley in a interview with the Playboy Magazine (2003): 

PLAYBOY: Did you and he ever have children join you in your bed?

LISA-MARIE PRESLEY: Never. Never, never, never, never. I never saw him sleep in bed with a child, ever.

PLAYBOY: Did you ever see him with photos of nude children?

PRESLEY: Never. Never.

PLAYBOY: Do you have any reason to think he’s a child molester?

PRESLEY: If I’d had any reason to suspect that, I would have had nothing to do with the guy. I had no reason to, other than the allegations themselves. The only two people who know are Michael and that kid in the room. I’ve never seen him behave inappropriately. He was great with my kids. He does have a connection with kids, babies. He’s a kid, and other kids sense that in him.

http://www.lisamarieonline.net/lisa/interviews/Playboy.php

Adrian Grant, author of Visual Documentary about Michael Jackson:

• I had always felt that people would have been more sympathetic towards Michael if they knew him the way I did, if he had just opened up more and said things straight – as they are. I once asked him if he was aware of all the negative media he received and couldn’t he change some of his actions to help combat it. “I know everything that is going on. No matter what I do they’ll always write something bad,” Michael told me sternly.

• Unfortunately for Michael this was all too true. I recall a trip to Budapest in 1994. Michael, along with Lisa Marie-Presley, was visiting children’s hospitals, handing out gifts and toys. I was fortunate to be the only ‘media’ allowed to accompany them into the hospitals, and I was delighted to help in giving the gifts to some of the sick children. However the sceptical press suggested the trip (part of Michael’s ‘Heal The World’ campaign), was nothing more than a publicity stunt. What they didn’t report was the moving moment when Michael brought a smile to the face of a dying girl who had lain motionless and silent for weeks. Her mother, at her side in constant vigil, broke down in tears as her daughter reached out and touched Michael’s hand. Sounds like a miracle, but I saw it with my own eyes. So why was it that people constantly derided someone who genuinely cared and who also happened to be one of the world’s greatest ever entertainers to boot?

• Michael was an innocent and he tried ‘healing the world’ with all the love he had to give. I once asked Michael what he considered to be his greatest achievement. During his trip to Budapest in 1994 Michael had promised to help an eight-year-old Hungarian boy, Bella, who was dying from cancer. His life was saved with an operation that Michael and his ‘Heal The World’ foundation had paid for. “Saving Bella’s life was definitely one of the most important moments in my life,” said Michael honestly, furthermore highlighting what a caring humanitarian he was.

Mona Lisa Mouallem, http://ac360.blogs.cnn.com/2009/06/26/the-night-i-played-piano-for-michael-jackson/

• With all the fame and fortune he had amassed, with all the clout he had in the industry, at the end of the day what mattered to him were the very fundamentals of life. He was kind, loving and incredibly modest. He absolutely adored his children and was zealous about raising them as good souls. He had tremendous respect and love for all kinds of music – pop, rock, classical, jazz – regardless of who was playing and where. And he was genuinely interested in the lives of others, and would gladly take a step back to let them shine.

Moshe Alon (quoted by Ray Errol Fox),  a security agent who worked for Lyz Taylor and Michael Jackson:

• “Other than his music and concerts, kids meant the most to him. He would take them to record stores, clothing stores, where they’d buy them up… anything they wanted.” On Jackson’s credit cards. The kids Moshe had in mind traveled with them to Taiwan and Israel. “Kids ran around with bodyguards like kings and queens.” Moshe is critical of the parents who sent their kids unaccompanied—but for Jackson and his bodyguards—for three months. “Kids didn’t recognize their parents after that.” (giving kids too much power over him was probably only Michael’s ‘guilt’, VMJ).   And the kids around him, I asked? Moshe’s answer was unequivocal. “I don’t believe he did anything wrong.”
• “He trusted people.” And according to Moshe, they all took advantage of him. Not only the kids, but older people who were supposed to be friends. Not only them, but “managers and agents… anyone… everyone ripped him off.”

• Moshe rented a helicopter for him for $10,000. Jackson’s representatives said, “No, Moshe, it’s $100,000.” Moshe corrected them, but they repeated the price was $100,000. Moshe told them he wouldn’t go along with them, he didn’t do things that way. They said his cut would be $20- or $30,000. When Moshe said no to them again, they said it doesn’t matter what you say, his cost is still going to be $100,000.

• He said it was the same with Jackson’s doctor bills. Inflated. The same with his credit cards—they’d load charges for their own purchases on them.  Moshe says he has nothing against stars. But the people around them—“they make you sick.”

 http://sonofthecucumberking.blogspot.com/2009/07/recalling-michael-jackson.htm

Dexter Simmons, “The Michael Jackson I Knew”, the Trinidad News:

• Grammy-award-winning, Trini-born mix engineer Dexter Simmons remembers Michael Jackson, with whom he spent three and a half months working on the Invincible album, as a ’humble, polite’ person who was very attentive to his children.

• Simmons worked with MJ in the 1990s but got to know him ’really well’ working on the Invincible album released by Epic Records in 2001. ’That whole talk about how he slept in an oxygen tank, for example, simply was not true, when he burnt his hair, one of the treatments prescribed was pure oxygen, and someone leaked that photo. There are so many other things. I was once in a meeting with him and a producer and it was being said on the entertainment news that he’d fired that particular producer. MJ just laughed sadly.’

• He also remembers a man who ’loved his children, they travelled everywhere with him. He would read to them, although he had a huge entourage of nannies and bodyguards. He considered them his responsibility. I remember one time, one of the kids spilled some milk in the studio, and Michael simply got some paper towel, got down on his knees and cleaned up the carpet himself.’

• Simmons also remembers a ’perfectionist’ when it came to the music. ’This is why he would spend three to four years working on an album. His studio sessions were long. Once we were working at a NY studio and it ran out of water. Everyone was stressed and eventually we went to our homes to shower and thought Michael did the same. We came back and met him there. He’d sent for a bucket of water to bathe, rather than stop working.’

• Jackson was also ’such a cool, fun person. One time he snuck out to a 7-Eleven for water. The studio was freaking out, but he was laughing because the man at the store congratulated him on being the best MJ impersonator he ever saw.’

Seth Riggs, Michael’s voice coach, in an interview with Nicole Brown:

• “I spent 32 years with Michael…. I vocalized him two hours a day six days a week. Number one – he was a very sweet man, he was an honest man and he was not the kind of man who would ever molest children. That I can promise you. But he loved everyone and he really in many ways spent a lot of money to help people in need. And I watched him do it time and time again. People that needed help desperately… And who would show up? Michael, with his check-book. Nobody knows that. They only think about crazy things that would cause some sort of a sensation. But Michael had a heart of gold.”

Seth Riggs, in a Time Magazine article called “Icons, Intimate Portraits” by Denise Worrell:

• Everyone thinks Michael is gay, and I said to him one day. ‘You know Michael, a lot of people think you’re gay.’ Michael started to laugh. He said, “I know. The other day a big, tall, blond, nice-looking fellow came up to me and said, “Gee, Michael, I think you’re wonderful. I sure would like to go to bed with you.” I looked at him and said, “When’s the last time you read the Bible? You know you really should read it because there is some real information in there about homosexuality.” The guy says, “I guess if I’d been a girl, it would have been different. And I said, “No, there are some very direct words on that in the Bible too.”

Cory Rooney, producer/songwriter:

• “The guy is acquitted on ten counts of child molestation. No one said, ‘Sorry Michael.’ No one said, ‘Michael, we knew you were innocent.’ No one did a BET tribute to him then. Nobody played his music and did a marathon then. Nobody rallied up and did a concert.

• “Let me explain to you what was said to me directly from Michael [about sharing a bed]. Michael and I spoke about that. He said, ‘Cory, when I was a kid, I was denied not only a childhood but I was denied love. When I reached out to hug my father, he didn’t hug me back. When I was scared on an airplane, he didn’t put his arm around me and say Michael, don’t worry. It’s going to be ok. When I was scared to go on stage, he said, ‘Get your ass on this stage.’ Not just him, but every other adult around him. So he said to me ‘Cory, I will never deny a child love and if it means that I have to be crucified or put in jail for it, then that’s just what they’re gonna have to do.’ When it was time for him to stand trial, the first time he went through it, his advisors told him, ‘Michael, this is not good. Pay this kid off and let’s keep moving.’ Second time he said, ‘You know what? All that did was make me look guilty like I was hiding something. So this time there won’t be any payoffs. I’m going to fight this in court. You’ll see. I’ll be innocent.’

http://www.cyinterview.com/2009/07/industry-bigs-music-michael/

Chris Apostle, Vice President of Special Recording Projects at Sony Music Entertainment:

• “When I watched the Bashir thing last night, I just wanted to see what it was all about and reflect on it. When Martin asked him about the first incident where he paid off these accusers, I found it very ironic and I look unbelievably sincere and honest the way he said, ‘I just decided I wanted it to go away.’ And he made it go away, which by the way again, not the first person to do this in the history of our business. He wanted to make it go away. The second time he fought.

• But what Cory was saying going back to his childhood and stuff like that, he was reflecting on the fact that he had acne as a kid, which we all gone through at one phase of our life and how his pap would always sit there and make fun of his acne and his skin condition. You’re talking about a young kid here who never had the chance to grow up and be normal. Kid grew up very differently than a lot of people. Granted he’s Michael Jackson, but there is a lot of reasons why he had certain insecurities. As for his bit with the second thing, I believe a thousand percent, I’ll go to my grave with it that he was innocent completely. He was being blackmailed by that gentleman that wanted to be a screenwriter or write books or do movies, whatever. That was inside information that’s close around enough that I can say it.”

Thomas Mesereau:  

• Much has been made about the child molestation charges. Little has been said about the other claims. The prosecution alleged that Jackson masterminded a conspiracy to falsely imprison a family, abduct children and commit criminal extortion. I can assure you that Michael was not capable of even imagining such behavior. But the more I spoke with him about the alleged molestation charges, the more firm I became in my belief that they were part of a universe of money-making opportunities created by charlatans.

• The prosecutors had an enormous advantage. Two grand juries in Los Angeles and Santa Barbara had investigated Jackson in the early 1990s. Nobody was charged. A third grand jury indicted him in 2004.

• During the interim, District Attorney Tom Sneddon had traveled to at least two countries, Australia and Canada, searching for victims. The Santa Barbara Sheriff’s Department had a Web site seeking information on Michael.

• The trial judge wanted to waste little time. The politics surrounding the defense were horrific. Numerous lawyers, most of them mediocre at best, were constantly trying to get to Michael to undermine me. The media smelled enormous ratings and revenue in a conviction. They were like a cloud of locusts, constantly descending on any weakness they spotted or created. There were numerous efforts to discredit me. Former girlfriends called to say they had been approached for unsavory information. I received calls from alleged “journalists” promising me favors for inside information. Tabloid sensationalism was at a premium.

• The trial was carnival-like. Mountains were made out of molehills. For example, Jackson hurt his back one morning and went to the hospital. I informed Judge Melville immediately. His message was firm. If Michael did not appear forthwith, bail would evaporate. I instructed him to rush to court in whatever he was wearing. His pajama bottoms became a media feast. But, they had no bearing on the trial or verdict. The jury foreman later informed me that no juror even noticed Michael’s pants, or lack thereof. This case was characterized by shock, crisis and confusion.

• The prosecution was permitted to introduce evidence that Jackson had settled other claims of child molestation in civil court. The actual dollar amounts were not admitted (as if anyone hadn’t heard them!). It was also permitted to introduce evidence of alleged prior similar acts of child molestation. Prosecutors were permitted to introduce such evidence extending back 10 years. As icing on the cake, the court permitted them to call third-party witnesses who watched the alleged acts without any requirement that the actual alleged victims testify.

• We had more good days in this trial than anyone can reasonably expect. But the public never saw how many prosecution witnesses were scorched on cross-examination. The judge imposed a gag order, which I supported. While this permitted more flexibility in court, it made the trial easily distorted by self-serving pundits. I would often return to my duplex, turn on the TV and turn apoplectic at what was being reported. Quite often, former prosecutors in New York would wax passionately about how a witness behaved. Their theatrics were totally lacking in substance or accuracy. I thought we were winning all along. But the media reported the very opposite.

• In the wake of his passing, I am haunted by certain late-night phone calls I received from Michael. Childlike, kindhearted and terrified, Michael begged me not to allow corrupt enemies to co-opt my performance. He seemed skeptical about any lawyer truly acting in an honorable, professional manner. I repeatedly assured him that my background had more to do with civil rights than it did Hollywood. The world’s most famous celebrity was not accustomed to honest, decent representation.

• The 14 acquittals were tantamount to complete legal vindication. Nevertheless, I write this with a heavy heart. Michael was one of the kindest, nicest people I ever met. His wistful desire to heal the world with love, music and artistry clashed horribly with the barbaric way he was exploited. The world is a far better place because of him.

http://popshifter.com/2009-07-30/top-ten-questions-everyone-should-be-asking-about-michael-jackson/

David Nordahl, an artist and a friend of Michael Jackson of over 20 years, in an interview with Deborah L. Kunesh:

• He was an absolutely fabulous father.  I’ve never met a parent that is as good or better than Michael.  Those kids were an absolute delight!  I’ve never met kids in my life that were like those kids.  I spent a lot of extended time around them.  I never heard them cry, I never heard them beg for anything, never saw or heard them throw a fit…”

• “Michael spent a third of a billion dollars on helping children, paying for surgeries, building hospital wings, orphanages, a burn center and on and on and on.  The good things he did he would never talk about them.  You’d always have to hear it from people who were around him because Michael always thought if you did a charitable act and then you talked about it or bragged about it or something, all of the good you’re trying to do, that it negated all of that.  So he never would talk about those things.”

• “I asked him, ‘Michael, how can you do that?  How can you spend the time with these children who are dying and then go from that, on stage and give that kind of performance?’  He said, ‘How could I not?  If these children want to see me.  I know I’m not important, but Michael Jackson the superstar is, and if I can make a child live an extra minute or an hour or a day or a month, then wouldn’t that be worth it?’
  

• Michael was always that way.  If he would get a call from somebody and a child was dying, he would get on a plane and go and he would tell them, ‘I’m going to be back in 2 weeks to see you,’ and a lot of times he extended little kids’ lives that way.  It gave them something to look forward to down the line.  You have to admire something like that.”

• “Michael told me, ‘we’re all put on earth to do something’  He said ‘I was put here to help children.’  Which he died from the time I met him, he was 29 when I met him, that was what his life was all about.  It was that way all the way up to the time he died.  Michael never changed.  Michael had incredible empathy, especially (for) children that were injuried or sick or neglected.  There were people that were hungry and homeless and that was always in the front of his mind his whole life, and then to be accused of something so horrific, it just stopped him in his tracks and then when it happened again 10 years later, the man was devastated, absolutely devastated.”

http://www.reflectionsonthedance.com/interviewwithdavidnordahl.html

David Nordahl, in a conversation with Raven Woods:

• After the allegations, the media had a field day. Nordahl says he was constantly bombarded by tabloid and media requests, some even offering up to as much as “$25,000″ to “dish dirt” on Michael. True or not, it didn’t matter. “They would want to know who the kids in the paintings were, what their names were,” he said. “Well, we couldn’t give them any names, because none of the kids really existed. They were all made up.”

• “He never stopped trying to make it into a better place for the sick children who came there,” David said, noting that his plans even included Jumbotrons that would show cartoons non-stop, all through the night, for the sick children who couldn’t sleep. “Michael understood that for a sick child, it’s not easy to sleep at night. He wanted them to have cartoons playing so that when they woke up in pain, and couldn’t sleep, they would have something to watch. He was always thinking of those kids, and how to make things better for them.”

 http://allforloveblog.com/?p=3826

Frank Dileo, Michael’s manager until up to 1990, in Lisa Campbell’s book The King of Pop’s Darkest Hour (1994):

• Frank Dileo, in his first public statement since being fired as Michael’s manager in 1990, supported Michael telling Rolling Stone, “I would trust my own children with him, and have…He lived in my house in Encino for seven months. There is no way that he did that. It’s not in his nature.”
• Dileo also told Entertainment Weekly, “Michael never really had a childhood and I think he is trying to experience it in later life. I would tell him to keep the knowledge that he is innocent and hold his head up.”

Frank Dileo, in an interview with Diane Sawyer in 2004:

• Diane: Again to get a sense, you spent in the time you were with him 1984-1989 60 days apart from and that’s all?
• Frank: Yeah, we might have spent only 60 days apart we only 4,5,6 streets from each other in Encino and uh, we worked together everyday, went on tour together and we were in constant contact everyday, every moment.
• Diane: So, wasn’t the first time charges have been talked about, when you heard this latest round though, were you surprised?
• Frank: Yeah, I was surprised, then after I saw the press conference with the DA and the Sheriff, I got very, angry because I think that they are looking to make a big deal out this because I don’t think he’s guilty.
• Diane: You don’t think he’s guilty?
• Frank: No, I don’t think he guilty. I think he’s guilty in the press and I think he’s eccentric at times but all very creative people are eccentric at times, there’s no two ways about that.
• Diane: But at one point had said sometime ago in 2000, January 2000 you said and it’s quoted in the Daily News that his behavior with kids
  Quote:
  ——————————————————————————–
  NEW YORK DAILY NEWS JANUARY 10, 2000 “it’s was very strange behavior, and I turned a blind eye….Maybe that was wrong.”
  ——————————————————————————–
  Frank: Yeah, and what I meant by that was, that I turned a blind eye to the fact that I should have taken him and sat him down and said listen, this looks really improper to other people, I know that you are not doing anything, you know that you are not doing anything but there are other people that thinks this is not right and it looks bad and I might have prevented some of his problem if I were to have taken a harder hand at it.
• Diane: But surly people around him had said that to him, surly people or do people not talk to him that way?
• Frank: No, people don’t talk to him that way. I think I might have been the last person that was very blunt and honest with him about a lot of things.
• Diane: Why don’t they, what is his hold on the people that are around him who, who are afraid of him. Afraid of …
• Frank: Well, Diane you are a celebrity and I am sure that there are a lot of people who don’t tell you exactly what they want to say. They get caught up in the fact that this person is a star and they are making millions of dollars off him.
• Diane: Let me ask you some specifics because you saw Neverland and you saw the whole way he lives. The private bedroom, that we hear about where he can take children and in fact where apparently at one point or the other he did slept next to the bed or whatever. Where you in that private bedroom or did you ever see anything that raise any concern.
• Frank: No, I never — I’ve been into the bedroom, because he bought that right as he fired me. OK, so I was in there, but that private room was there when he bought it. It was more like a safe room. And I never saw anything that looked like it was trying to attract kids in there or anything, it’s just a little room.
• Diane: And this whole idea that he built barriers so that nobody that worked with him could come in when he didn’t want you to come in that lots of occasions…
• Frank: Never saw that, I never saw that. I can tell you that when he lived on Hayvenhurst, I had a key to his private room as I did on tour, all of his suites and I walked in and out as necessary.
• Diane: On the 60 Minutes interview, when you heard him talk again about sleeping with children as being natural thing . You heard him continue to reassert that he is going to keep doing it and he doesn’t see anything wrong with it.
• Frank: What I took from it was this: He didn’t say he slept in the bed under the covers, never has. He has said he has been in the room, slept maybe on the couch or the floor and has given his bed to other people – wait – but he also is saying to you not going to stop. I am not hiding anything, you know you are telling me not to do something and I am not doing it anyway.
• Diane: Why did he fire you?
• Frank: Why did he fire me? That’s a good question, but I think it was ah, ah, he fired me because it was politically asked of him. There was an outside record executive with a big time lawyer and one executive at Sony who would like to see Michael’s power cut in half. And by getting rid of me was half the power.
• Diane: And if there is one thing that you can say about him that you think that we don’t know we’ve have never been around him in private moments what is the one thing that would surprise us the most about Michael Jackson you saw.
• Frank: He’s a very, very charitable person that wouldn’t harm anybody and that’s what is unfair. The tabloid press and cable companies they have him convicted and on his way to prison and that shouldn’t be. That trial should be fought in court with lawyers not on TV. He’s given away more money then people can understand. And those people are the ones that are going to loose out on this. I’d say he gave with me, he has gave away about $12 Million dollars I saw him given away, and who knows what he has given away since.

http://www.jacksonaction.com/index.php?page=view.php&id=180&section=transcripts

Dan O’Daud, photographer, and Norman Winter, publicist, in Lisa Campbell’s book “The King of Pop’s Darkest Hour” (1994):

• Michael received some added support from interviews with a former photographer, Dan O’Daud and his former publicist, Norman Winter.
• O’Daud, who knew if Michael were actually guilty he could have paid the money and avoided the whole scandal, asked, “Does anybody actually think, in their right mind, that a guy with as much money as Michael Jackson has would let something like this occur? I mean does anybody actually think he couldn’t cover this up if he wanted to?”. O’Daud added that he would trust Michael Jackson with his own son.
• Norman Winter explained why Michael likes to spend time with children, “He likes to be with kids more than adults because he feels comfortable, he can relax. He feels their not gonna hustle him.”

Dick Zimmerman, photographer:

• We talked and talked until about 3 o’clock in the morning. He told me about all his frustrations. He had just done an interview with Diane Sawyer where he took her on a tour of his Neverland Ranch. He said he was as honest with her as anybody could possibly be, and the next day the press jumped on him. He had tears in his eyes. He said, “I don’t know what to do anymore.”

• He was very misunderstood. They talk about him being a pedophile. I can tell you that didn’t happen. He was very childlike. I thought he was like a gentle butterfly. All he talked about was future generations of children, the environment, air quality. His problem was that he had too many bodyguards around him. Too many people pushing him in all different directions, and with ulterior motives.

http://www.popeater.com/2011/03/10/thriller-portrait-michael-jackson/

Sean Lennon,  in an 1998 interview where an interviewer was trying to get him to say something bad about Mike:

Q: Well, like, what was it like having Michael Jackson, speaking about masturbation, you know, hang out with you when you were younger?

Sean: Michael Jackson. Listen.

Q: That must have been a traumatic experience.

Sean: Look, I resent any accusations that you might be implying about Michael Jackson because he is a really good guy.

http://www.nardwuar.com/vs/sean_lennon/index.html

Kathy and Paris Hilton, June 2011:

PIERS MORGAN: A lot of people claim to have known Michael Jackson. You actually went to high school with Michael Jackson. And you stayed close friends with him right until the end of his life. And you’ve never really spoken about him much in public, not that I can see. Tell me about your relationship with him.

K. HILTON: We met when I was 13 and he was 14 and developed a friendship and a bond throughout the years. And we always kept in touch. And then when I moved to New York and he would come, and we’d always go to his concerts. And, you know, we started with — we used to make prank phone calls together. And we were little kids. We had a really great time. And then he came and visited when Paris was born.

He was there when Paris was first brought into this world. She was just a few months old. …He ended up moving into the Waldorf for six months when we were living there for eight years. And right before he died, he was at the Bel Air Hotel, where we were living while we were renovating our home. So he was there about three or four months.

So we got to spend, you know, great time.

MORGAN: We talk about misconceptions with Paris. What were the misconceptions about Michael, do you think?

K. HILTON: Well, there was not a kinder, more generous, loving, sweet, smart, smart — I can’t — the most wonderful father. At the Bel Air, he did not have any nanny at all. And when I’d go to pick up the kids to take them somewhere, he’d be brushing their hair and buttoning up the sweater and just so warm and wonderful.

And I just — I love him. His whole family, they’re a really wonderful, beautiful family.

MORGAN: How did you hear the news?

K. HILTON: My assistant told me. And I literally fell on the floor. And my sister came and picked me up and we went directly to the house, because I thought the children would be there.

MORGAN: Did you go to the hospital when you —

K. HILTON: Yes.

MORGAN: What was the scene there?

K. HILTON: The children and Mrs. Jackson and all the brothers and sisters and just everybody was in this room. And just crying and hugging each other and just in a daze.

And this is a father that was so with his children. He’s dedicated since they were born to raising and being with them. And then Latoya and Randy took me in to say good-bye.

I think if I hadn’t, I would never quite in my head believe. Because even though he’s a friend, he was such a powerful person.

MORGAN: Was he still alive when you —

K. HILTON: No.

MORGAN: Did you say anything?

K. HILTON: Yes.

MORGAN: What did you say?

K. HILTON: I rubbed his head and his arms and his legs and his feet and I just — I told him I love him so much and, you know, whispered some funny things to him, and that was it.

MORGAN: Incredibly sad end to his life, wasn’t it?

K. HILTON: And he was so fabulous at the hotel. Up early every morning, playing with the kids. Really shocking.

MORGAN: Paris, did you know Michael well?

P. HILTON: Yeah, I grew up — just my mom — I remember — one of the first memories I have of him was when my mom took us to the music video set of “Thriller.” And we have the pictures still. I just always loved him. I used to go to his concerts and he’d bring my sister and I on stage and we’d sing up there.

I just always loved him so much. He was such an amazing man.

http://transcripts.cnn.com/TRANSCRIPTS/1105/31/pmt.01.html

VIDEO of the interview:

Dr. Patrick Treacy, 2011, Michael’s physician at the time he lived in Ireland, in conversation with Rev. Barbara Gross and Deborah Kunesh of the ‘Reflections on the Dance’ blog.

• I’ve already been offered close to 5 to 6 digit numbers to try and say bad things about him. Number one they don’t exist but someone would want to print or make up something just for the sake of selling the paper… It really astounds me in many ways. And that was not even only from your side of the Atlantic, it was on ours.

• The sad fact is that all you had to be in his company 5 minutes to admit his total radiance of goodness. And you never really heard him give out on anybody else. Even though people were stealing from him moneywise. There was just no badness about him. Continually he was thinking about other people. We mentioned the kids in hospital that were burnt. He would ask me a couple of days later: “Are these children in pain now?” These things bothered him continually and it was genuine affection for other people and particularly children.

• People who reached a sort of spiritual enlightenment always have within themselves this continual wanting to help other people. It was fascinating to see it in Michael. I’ve had many experiences like that with him…

• Of course he was crucified. If there was the tabloid media present on Earth during the period of Jesus Christ two thousand years ago, they would have probably branded him a ped-le as well.

• What a loss! There would be long-long time before the planet has anybody of that level of integrity, spirituality, creativity. He had them all in one package!  There was universality about him. He was a Christian and certainly maintained Christian beliefs in everything he did, analogous to other great religious people that lived on planet. You don’t necessarily have to draw too many conclusions there, but a lot of people would see him analogous to the love that Jesus had for people.

• He lived his faith. There is no doubt about it.

Video of the interview:  

Princess Elisabeth von Thurn und Taxis:

• As bizarre as this might sound Michael was our friend. He came to our house in Germany a few times and we visited him in his house/ranch/estate – the infamous Neverland. We went to several of his concerts and my brother [Prince Albert] even toured most of Europe with him. Whatever dirty thoughts you might be having now I must disappoint you – my brother Albert wasn’t our bribe into Michael’s closest circle … or was he?

• Well I suppose in a way he was.  Michael loved children. He felt a real kinship towards them. He was excruciatingly shy and I think that only amongst children did he really feel safe. It seemed he was particularly shy with women and it therefore seemed sort of natural to me that he preferred the company of boys. I never perceived him as being sleazy, quite the opposite. He was extremely polite and respectful. He was very generous and once he warmed up a little, even very funny.

….out of the five minutes of “meet and greet” grew a couple of visits to our house, more concert invitations, a trip to Disneyland together and finally – the grand finale – an invitation to Neverland. It was at the after party of one of our first MJ concerts in Munich that the ice really melted. We kids were thrilled. There were balloons, chocolate fountains and even dodgem cars but, most importantly, Michael was there. My brother went straight up to him, past all the insecure grown-ups and desperate wannabes who were circling and trying to get a piece of Michael, and in his angelic voice and with the nonchalance only a child has, asked him: ” Michael Jackson, will you go on a dodgem with me, please?”  Michael was obvioulsy so taken by Albert’s genuine openness that he took him by the hand and practically spent the next few hours playing with him, taking him around the rides and munching away at the snacks (much to the disdain of all the grown-up guests who were lurking away in the background).  What started as a formal meeting between Michael Jackson and a couple of Princesses and a Prince ended up as a real friendship between us kids and an introverted musical genius thereafter.

• Our trip to Neverland was the highlight of this friendship. Michael had everything a child’s heart could possibly desire. There was a huge funfair with all the rides you could possibly wish for but no queuing or paying necessary. There were stands filled with chocolates, cotton candy and ice cream to be taken at our leisure, no need to ask for permission! There was a cinema with a huge bed in it, where we watched the Sound of  Music stuffing our mouth with handfuls of popcorn. We went on quad bike tours around the countryside. We played with Bubbles the chimp and the other animals in the zoo. But the highlight of all was the super soaker park where we played for hours with Michael. He loved throwing water bombs and super soaking one another. He really turned into a kid. He didn’t mind his hair getting drenched and the make-up he was wearing washing off, he was enjoying himself and that was that. We were young enough to enjoy the children’s paradise but old enough to really remember and realize how special this actually was.

• We lost contact over the years and like many friendships do ours fizzled. Incidentally, it was not too long after our visit to Neverland that Michael was charged for molestation by that kid, who actually was with us at Neverland at the time! It felt strange and very sad to hear such terrible things about the man who played so happily with us kids for hours. He had become so much more to us than a two dimensional superstar. He was a man, a buddy, and one of the friendliest people I had ever met. I couldn’t imagine Michael hurting a fly, let alone a friend.

• I have fond memories of the overgrown boy, the friend, and the superstar. I hope the world will remember him as one of the greatest musical performers of our time. What I wish him even more is to enjoy the eternal Neverland up in heaven where I can’t wait to join him and throw another water bomb right into his face.

http://www.finchsquarterly.com/2741/never-neverland-again/

Dr. Wayne Dyer, 2009:

WAYNE W. DYER, PH.D., is an internationally renowned author and speaker in the field of self-development. He’s the author of over 30 books, has created many audio programs and videos, and has appeared on thousands of television and radio shows. Dyer holds a Doctorate in Educational Counseling from Wayne State University and was an associate professor at St. John’s University in New York.

• Real Magic and Michael

7/10/09 at 8:45 pm by Dr. Wayne W. Dyer

In 1992 when the time came to write a dedication for my book Real Magic, I decided to recognize three special people—my dear daughter Saje, my spiritual brother Deepak Chopra, and my friend pop superstar Michael Jackson. I wanted to recognize Michael “whose words, music, and love remind us that it is only through giving that we are saving our own lives.” Michael Jackson had a special relationship with the principles of Real Magic, the idea of “creating miracles in everyday life.”  With his enormous musical talent, he created a body of work that brought joy to millions. My children and I spent five very happy days with him at Neverland in 1991. He wanted to talk to me about “real magic,” but the truth is, he already had the magic—the power he needed to dream and create and give. Michael was dedicated to ending world hunger and helped create the 1985 “We Are the World” celebrity sing-along that brought together some of the biggest names in popular music to raise funds for famine relief in Africa. I didn’t have to explain “real magic” to Michael because he was already a spiritual being, already kind, loving, and ready to use his musical gift to create miracles. Along with millions of people around the world, I say, thank you, Michael, for sharing your amazing talent to lift our spirits. I’ll remember you as a beautiful human being with a heart as big as the sky.

Namaste,

Wayne

 http://www.drwaynedyer.com/blog/archive/2009/7

Below is a video where Dr. Dyer shares a story of personal time spent with Michael and his impressions of the singer (the transcript of his interview follows the video – I made it the best I could, sorry for the mistakes if any):

DRAFT TRANSCRIPT:

….Deepak Chopra was saying on CNN that Michael was probably the most spiritual man he’d ever met. And I can attest to that as well.

He called me up one day back in 1991 after I’d written a book on Real Magic and asked me if I would like to come out and bring my family which –  you know – is a whole planeload. So all eight of my children were with me and my wife and we spent five days out there at Neverland with him, just talking to him. We went up the mountain out there and just the two of us talked and his question to me was, “Is there such a thing as real magic and what is it and how do I know about it”. And he so was so filled with excitement about this.

What concerns me particularly when I see a lot of the messages coming to me on the Internet about people making accusations about this man… and that troubles me a great deal because this was the kindest, sweetest, most beautiful human being and I trusted my children with him obviously.

When he was out there in the Santa Barbara county at Neverland the prosecutor there had a real, real desire to do something, you know, to go after him. I think they have the statistics that they have 76 police cars in that county and they sent 74 of them out to his ranch to go through and look for evidence to support the accusations that had been made by a woman who had made a career out of going after celebrities and trying to make money. In the same county there are many of the priests that had been not only accused but had admitted to sexually molesting boys but they didn’t send any cars out for them.

And then all of the evidence that they acquired was presented to a jury of not of his peers but of the people who were not even that friendly toward him and they voted 12 to nothing to acquit him of every single charge.

So I know for absolute certain that this is a man who could never have done anything that would be harmful to anyone. He was very much a child himself. He was as kind and decent and spiritual human being as I ever had the pleasure of spending any time with. I dedicated one of my books to him.

When you look at his enormous talent and the commitment that he had to ending the world hunger, for example, – he personally was responsible for cutting the number of people starving to death on this planet IN HALF back in the 1980s and the 1990s with “We are the World”. And he took no money for it at all.

When I spent the time out there at the ranch the whole thing was organized around children who were handicapped in one way – the theatre they had out there, the entire amusement part – all of it was set up so that children who were hospitalized and in beds and sick and on crutches and so on, could come there and experience the joy of what it meant to be a child.

This was a beautiful, beautiful human being – someone who would go down in history as one of the greatest entertainers EVER, but more than the great entertainer this was a great man who lived a very tortured life, particularly in the last several years of his life. I think being accused of those kinds of things when he and his heart were so pure, I think it took a huge toll, a huge toll….

And I said to my children last night, “Anybody can make an accusation such as that”. They could have made an accusation with my wife when we split up. I’ve just talked to a friend of mine who in practice as a physician and he had an affair and his wife got angry. She went out and made accusation about him and their children. None of it was ever true and ultimately it ended in his suicide.

So these kinds of accusations, these kind of things that people say – be very careful about it and knowing my heart, if you trust me, my time with him and those five days with him back in 1991 solidified for me that this was a transcendent being who had not only enormous talent but a heart as big as the sky.

* * *

Much more to come…