Taking His Case To the People

On Jesse Jackson's Radio Show, The Pop King Says He's Innocent

Michael Jackson, shown with Nelson Mandela in 1999, compared himself yesterday to Mandela and other persecuted "black luminaries." (Obed Zilwa -- AP)

LOS ANGELES, March 27 -- Michael Jackson has been seen more than heard during his trial so far, but those who tuned in to the Rev. Jesse Jackson's nationally syndicated radio program Easter morning witnessed the pop star's soft, tenor voice reminiscing, dishing and proclaiming his innocence.

The singer broke the silence usually maintained by defendants embroiled in high-profile criminal trials and insisted he is not guilty of the child molestation charges he faces, and compared himself to other "black luminaries" persecuted by false accusations such as Nelson Mandela and long-ago boxing champion Jack Johnson. He also alluded to a "conspiracy" involving control of his music catalogue, which includes rights to songs by the Beatles and Elvis Presley.

But he demurred when pressed to elaborate, citing a court-imposed gag order that bars him from discussing his trial in more detail. As a result, much of the 42-minute exchange between the two newsmaking Jacksons fell into the pattern of the jolly, loquacious celebrity interviews seen on late-night talk shows and Barbara Walters specials.

There were shout-outs to the pros who influenced him -- Diana Ross, James Brown, the Motown songwriting team of Holland-Dozier-Holland -- and bittersweet memories of his pre-fame childhood, dancing to the beat of a washing machine at a Gary, Ind., laundry as a crowd gathered to watch. There was at least one stop-the-tabloid-presses oddball revelation of the kind the world has come to expect from the King of Pop:

"Elizabeth Taylor used to feed me, hand-feed me at times," Jackson disclosed matter-of-factly, "because I do have a problem with eating."

And there was a lot of the insidery, schmoozy banter that typically breaks out when one celebrity interviews another. Jesse Jackson recalled the first time the two met, in the early 1970s, before a concert.

"You guys stole the show," he told his guest.

"Oh ho ho, I remember those shows," the singer responded. ". . . You had a big afro at the time!"

"Don't remind people of that, Michael."

"Ha ha ha!"

The interview came on the eve of what could be a turning point in Jackson's trial, now entering its fifth week in Santa Maria, Calif. Judge Rodney S. Melville is scheduled to rule Monday whether to allow the jury to hear testimony from at least one young man who prosecutors allege Jackson molested years ago. Jackson, 46, was never charged in a previous case, though he reached an out-of-court settlement with a boy in 1993.

Legal experts said such evidence, if allowed, could have a devastating effect on Jackson's defense -- and his already scarred public image. Some aspects of the radio interview, with his accounts of a childhood cut short by the astonishing success of his family's Jackson 5 music act, seemed designed to reclaim the public's sympathy.

Jackson described leaving school after fourth or fifth grade and being tutored so he could keep up with a rigorous schedule of touring and recording. Across the street from the group's recording studio was a public park, he recalled, "and I would hear the roar of the kids, the throwing of the basketball. I would feel kind of sad because I wanted to go to that park, but I knew I had a different job to do."

Later, he said he thinks former child stars like himself "try to compensate for the loss" of their childhood. "That's why you see, like, you may see a theme park or amusement rides or that kind of environment at my home. But I like to do it to help other children who are less fortunate than I am, kids who are terminally ill, kids with diseases, poor children from the inner cities, you know, the ghettos, to let them see the mountains or to go on the rides or to watch movies or to have some ice cream."

Jackson also discussed the medical problems that seem to have besieged him since the start of the trial, prompting him to show up late and in pajama bottoms on March 10 and to weep in the courtroom last week. He said that he recently fell while getting out of the shower, bruising his rib cage and lungs.

"I'm in pain as we speak. I've been going to court every day in immense pain, in agonizing pain. I sit there, I'm strong, I try to be as strong as I can. . . . What we're looking for is the coughing of blood now. The doctor said it could still be a very dangerous thing."

Other highlights from the interview included:

• Name-dropping: "When I was a little kid, Fred Astaire used to always tell me how he felt in his heart he believed I would be a very special star, and I used to just look at him like, what are you talking about? But he could see."

• The influences for "Thriller": "I used to see signs of graffiti saying 'disco sucks.' . . . Disco was just a happy medium of making people dance, but it was so popular that the society was turning against it. . . . I loved the album that Tchaikovsky did, the 'Nutcracker' Suite. It's an album where every song is a great song. [I decided] I'm going to do an album where every song is a hit record."

• How he stays so slim: "I'm a great believer in holistic natural foods and eating herbs and things -- you know, God's medicines instead of Western chemicals, not those things."

• How he learned to moonwalk: "These black children in the ghetto, they have the most phenomenal sense of rhythm of anybody on the earth. I get a lot of ideas from just watching these black children. . . . I saw this kid sliding backwards. . . . I took a mental movie of it, I went to my hotel room in Encino and I started to just do it and dance and perfect it. . . . It definitely started in black culture, no doubt!"

In closing, Jackson addressed his fans "in every corner of the earth, every nationality, every race, every language," thanking them for their prayers and understanding. "Please be patient and believe in me because I'm completely innocent."