Yes – even more Jacko news. Michael Jackson has released a short film clip that shows Jackson being complimented off-camera by Bashir on his fathering skills – the presenter says: "Your relationship with your children is spectacular". Jackson replies: "I love them", to which Bashir says: "It almost makes me weep when I see you with them. Because your interaction with them is just so natural, so loving, so caring." In a statement released with the, clip Jackson said he felt the video backed up his claims that Bashir was a hypocrite who complimented Jacko to his face, but used voiceovers on the ITV documentary to criticise him when he had no right to reply.
The clip won't be screened on TV in the US until 20 Feb when it will appear as part of a Fox TV documentary called 'Michael Jackson, Take Two: The Interview They Wouldn't Show You'. The show, being produced by the main rival to the ABC network that screened the Bashir programme, won't include any new interview footage with Jackson but will feature an interview with Jackson's former wife Debby Rowe who is expected to defend Jacko.
Meanwhile VH1 is hoping to score big audiences with the 20 repeat editions of the Bashir doc they have bought the rights to. ABC had hoped to secure a second screening, but it now looks likely the first repeat will appear on the music channel this weekend.
Elsewhere in the world of Jacko: 200 members of a religious LA youth group are holding a vigil at Jackson's star on the Hollywood Walk of Fame to encourage people to pray for Jackson who they fear has been pushed to the brink of suicide by Bashir's documentary.
And finally for now, The Smoking Gun (www.thesmokinggun.com), a website that publishes legal and government documents relating to big media stories, has posted the four-page sworn declaration made in 1993 by the then-13-year-old California boy who accused Jackson of sexual abuse. In the document the boy tells how he became friends with Jackson and started to stay over at his Neverland ranch. He claims that over time Jackson began to initiate physical contact, and that when the boy refused Jackson would start crying. It then details alleged sexual encounters.
Jackson has always denied all of the claims, of course, and the boy’s family dropped their case against Jacko after an out of court settlement was reached. Reacting to the publication of this document Jackson’s people said yesterday: "Michael has respected the obligation of confidentiality imposed on all the parties to the prior proceedings, yet someone has chosen to violate that confidentiality [and use the boy's statements to] further sully his character. It should be remembered that, at the time, the confidentiality obligation was a mutual one, designed as much to protect [the boy]. Whoever is now leaking this material is showing as much disregard for [the boy] as they are determination to attack Michael."