Square One: Michael Jackson (2019) - full transcript

(wind rustling)

(soft piano fades in)

I came to New York to attend
NYU to study music business.

Yeah, I was 16 years old,
um I- I turned 17 shortly thereafter,

but when I arrived in August of 2001,
I was 16 years old.

Of course, 9/11 happened just- I
believe my second week of classes?

So that colors the memories,
um, of that time,

but it was- it was overwhelming in general.

I mean- I was on my own. Um, I-

I went to go see Michael
Jackson on September 10th,

and I was starting classes.



I was responsible
for getting myself to

classes every single
day. (laughs) You know?

It- it was definitely overwhelming,
you know?

I came to New York University to study
music business, and part of the reason

that I was so interested in
music business was because, um,

I'd been such a big fan of Michael Jackson,

not only of his music
and his dance and all that,

which is incredible,
but also of his business acumen

so I came to NYU knowing
so much about publishing,

and royalty rates,
and things like that because

I had studied all of
his business deals.

You know- our first week of classes,

we had this program, um,
meeting that we would do

which, um, they were weekly assemblies



where everybody in our
major would get together and

discuss things that were
happening in the industry,

um, we would have speakers come in from,
you know,

various record labels or NARAS,
which, you know,

works with the Grammys and- and
different songwriters, things like that.

It was a time to come together and

really assess the landscape
of the music business and

the very first program meeting,

I was introducing myself to the group,
as a whole.

and I don't remember if I was
running for some sort of like-

representative position
or if I just wanted to

introduce myself for
whatever reason? (laughs)

But, I was wearing a Jackson's
Victory Tour T-Shirt, and it was vintage.

I had just bought it in the village,
and a young man came up to me

and told me that he liked my shirt and, ah…

That young man turned
out to be Jordan Chandler.

(melancholic orchestra music)

(orchestra strings get louder)

(strings soften and fade out)

I have on the phone with me
investigative journalist, Charles Thomson,

who is the winner of 6 national
awards for his recent, um,

investigative work exposing
the Shoebury pedophile ring.

So Charles,
you've sat in on a lot of pedophile cases.

What would you say are the main differences

between the cases that you've sat
in on and the Michael Jackson case?

CHARLES: Of course, the first difference

is that the cases that I've
covered were all criminal cases

where there was was no real
financial incentive to make an allegation,

so the motive of seeking
millions of dollars is removed.

And then in the cases where we
see convictions that I’ve been sitting in,

you had victims who were credible,
who were consistent,

and that's never been the case in the
allegations against Michael Jackson.

They've never been consistent.

They've always turned out to be perjurers

and people who were
just looking for a payout.

REPORTER: Michael Jackson was one
of the most famous people on the planet.

It turns out he was also the
target of intensive FBI scrutiny.

DANNY: I have also read that you have

extensively studied the
Michael Jackson FBI files.

What were the findings of the FBI files and

were child porn was ever
discovered at Neverland?

CHARLES: No child porn
was ever found at Neverland.

And in fact, there was a story that said

child porn had been found
around the time of the trial

So the judge and the
prosecutor both released

a stipulation publicly which was that:

No child pornography was
ever found at Neverland

or at any of Michael Jackson's properties.

So that's not just
something that the fans say.

That's the judge in the
trial and even the prosecutor

said that there was no child porn.

In terms of what the FBI files tell us,
ah, what they tell us

is that for over a decade,
the FBI was intermittently

involved in investigating Michael Jackson.

There's no evidence of
sustained surveillance or

sustained investigation,
only of the authorities

occasionally calling the FBI to assist them

with their own investigations,
but nonetheless,

the files tell us that more than
20 different FBI departments

investigated Michael
Jackson at one time or another,

and none of them found any
evidence of any wrongdoing.

Perhaps the most
compelling piece of information

that came out of those files was that

when the prosecutors in
the 2003 - '05 Arvizo case

sent away all of the computers
that they seized at Neverland

to the FBI for analysis,
the FBI was unable to find

anything incriminating
on a single one of them.

So the FBI files don't
exonerate Michael Jackson,

but they certainly don't incriminate him.

DANNY: In 2005,
there was a study done by ABC

with the top psychiatrists in the
country and they all concluded that

Michael Jackson’s behavior would
be very rare amongst pedophiles.

And there are other psychologists
and psychiatrists who echo that belief.

(speaking German)

DANNY: Someone who is
always trying to dispute that notion

is a man named Jim Clemente.

Jim Clemente, to this day,
believes that Michael Jackson

does fit the profile of a pedophile
and that Michael Jackson

did have child porn at Neverland.

CLEMENTE: They found, um, images

and I think they were of a photoshoot with

Michael Jackson's nephew,

Taj.

I think he was still a teenager.

And there's a picture
that's on the internet that I

Um,
It's a picture of Michael. You see that?

FEMALE VOICE: WHAT?! OH MY…. Yes, yes.

- So there are pictures in this series
where’s he actually- he’s actually

GRABBING their cloth
and trying to RIP it off him,

laughing, and joking,
and trying to get him naked.

And he's I mean,
he's virtually naked in this picture

- This is his NEPHEW... this FORTY
something year old man - Yeah..

And why is he posing in
a picture where Michael's

shirt is open, exposing his chest and

this kid's chest- I mean-

He's basically naked!

upper body is basically naked,
he’s got no underwear on,

right next to Michael Jackson.

I mean, it's disgusting.

My name is Taj Jackson. I'm
the nephew of Michael Jackson.

CROWD CHANTING: "3T! 3T! 3T! 3T! 3T"

(3T- Anything) I wait for the
day when I can say that girl's mine

Cuz I would do anything for you,
yes I would.

I'll give you love (I'll give you love)...

TAJ: You know,
and I know it's not gonna be put to rest,

but I hope that it's really put to rest

because these pictures
have been circulating.

These pictures are annoying
that they're circulating.

You know,
we sued one of the tabloids because they

said that they were child pornography
and we had them retract that,

because that's not what they
were. They were for an album.

They were for a single cover, "Why".

(Michael Jackson - Stranger in
Moscow) I was wandering in the rain...

TAJ: My uncle was doing the music video for

"Stranger in Moscow" at the time
and we came down to visit him.

but also, we were “Let's take
this opportunity since we're all here,

Let's do the 'Why' photoshoot as well."

There was wardrobe. There was a
camera director. There was makeup.

We wanted to do something
edgy for our "Why" photoshoot.

We wanted the guys and the girls and we
and we thought we were "too cute" [laughs]

You know a 3T like too "saccharine"
and we wanted to have some “edge”

some- you know? Something to us.

(3T - Why) It's not like I can't
escape what's in my soul. TAJ: It's

frustrating because this is what
they do all the time in this way.

Luckily I was involved in it,
you know? This was my younger brother, TJ.

If he was here, he'd be even
probably more upset than I am right now.

Like it's implied that TJ was clueless
or TJ didn't know what was going on.

TJ was very aware of what was
going on. TJ wanted him to go farther!

I was uncomfortable taking off my shirt,
and so I did have to take off my shirt.

It was never like he said, "No, you take
off your shirt and you do this and that."

It was whatever we wanted to
do because we wanted to be edgy.

And it worked because
people are talking about it!

Now, unfortunately, they're
trying to dirty it, but it was edgy.

He mentioned that you know, Michael's
laughing in that- because we were joking!

We, you know, for us,
we wanted to do something edgy!

But we always laughed
when we were around my uncle

and he laughed when he was around us,
and so

that should tell you
something: that there was

no tension. You're not
seeing our faces like

"We don't want to do this" or whatever
because we were pushing him to do this.

It really- it makes me feel angry
to be honest, um, just because

That photo shoot was a great memory for me

and to hear someone try
and dirty it up in that way?

The way they're trying to twist
it as if my uncle came and said,

"Hey, I'm just gonna start ripping off
clothes." That's farthest from the truth.

There was plenty of people there, you know,

that witnessed everything
that would back up

you know- my story or my
uncle's story if he was alive.

But at the same time this guy who

basically is just guessing what happened

at the photo shoot by pictures.

What gets me upset is just people-

outside people judging my uncle
without knowing the scenario.

One thing I do want to say is you know,

people like that that just,
you know, on the outside,

And he's supposed to be a professional?

And you hear him. He sounds giddy,
you know?

He sounds like someone
that is just spiteful and hateful

and it's those kind of people like-

they need something in their
life. They really do, you know?

Leave our family alone.

(daunting music)

AKON: You never done things
that was missing in your life?

You just go back to do it,
and Mike just like to just have great fun

and the stuff he liked to do,
adults don't like doing that.

SCANLAN: I think he had more fun
hanging out with just everyday people

that he didn't even know who they were,
you know?

Either they were local
people or touristsor whatever

and he didn't even know who they were,
you know?

He'd just meet ‘em and talk to ‘em,

get to know a little bit: “Hey you
wanna come out to the ranch?"

(whimsical music)

DANNY: You were invited to
Michael Jackson's Neverland before.

- I mean, it was amazing. I've been there,
probably 8 times.

- 8 times?

- Yeah! I spent the
night. The first time I ever

went was actually the
time I spent the night.

He walked us through his entire house, um,

his bedroom, his memorabilia room,
bathrooms, every-

every place in his house.

We were like,
telling him how beautiful it was,

and he was like,
"You've never been here before?!"

and my friends and I
looked at each other like,

"Nope, we sure haven't, like-

when would we have been here?"

You know? So he would invite-
if there were fans sitting outside,

he would, like, see us and tell Violet,
who was security,

to let us in and he
would let us do whatever.

- So that speaks volume to just

how easily he trusts people
to like- come into his life, even.

- Yeah, I mean

unfortunately, he trusted a lot of people
he shouldn't have trusted in his life.

- they go,
"oh you slept in the same bedroom as him".

It's like I don't think you understand.
Michael Jackson's bedroom is 2 stories,

(laughs) and it has like- like
3 bathrooms and this and that,

so when I slept in his bedroom, yeah

but you have to understand
the whole scenario,

and the thing is with Michael

is that he's not very
good at explaining himself,

and he never really has been.

- Michael Jackson,
his bedroom was 2 stories

so when you first walked in, I didn't
realize at first it was his bedroom

because his bed wasn't
there on the bottom floor.

but it was just, it was kind of-
very cluttered with a lot of things.

I like- actually sat on his
bed and he was just kind of

just talking about Neverland to us, and

that was surreal. (laughs)

(gentle music)

Michael was going to Miami,
so myself and a couple of friends

flew in from Europe to
spend some time with him.

And before he had to go,

he told us that we could stay and that we
can enjoy Neverland as much as we wanted.

While the ranch manager
took us to the main house,

he told me that Michael had said
to give us the Royal Treatment,

And we sure got the Royal Treatment.

When we went up to the main house,

all the staff were lined up
on the stairs welcoming us,

and they told us that there-

we could move around
as freely as we wanted to.

There were no places that were off-limits.

- And this was 16 years ago,

so it's been a while,
but I just remember like-

being completely in shock the whole time.

Most people are just-

I can't believe that he let
us in his house like that.

(somber music)

JOSEPHINE: Several weeks later,

after we'd already come
back to classes after 9/11,

I was working as a work-study
in the music department.

So, he came in to register
for private guitar lessons.

He always carried his guitar
with him everywhere he went

and um, we had a nice conversation.

He remembered me from our program meeting.

We had a little chat,
exchanged pleasantries,

and he gave me his form,

and as I went to register
him for these private lessons,

I saw his name for the first time,
which was Jordan Chandler.

and I believe he told me his first name,

but I didn't know his
last name at that point.

And when I saw Jordan
Chandler on a piece of paper, I just-

I couldn't quite place it then either.

Um, it just sounded very very familiar,

and keep in mind, at the time , um,

Jordan Chandler's name wasn't widely known

because in the U.S., you know,
alleged crimes of sex abuse,

particularly when they're minors,
are very protected.

but I went online,
and I 'Asked Jeeves'- dating

myself- (keyboard typing
sound and mouse click)

and um, I suddenly realized that he
was in fact the first accuser from 1993.

(somber string instrument fade out)

DANNY: So Evan Chandler and June Chandler,
originally June Wong,

had a child named Jordan Chandler who
turns out to be the first alleged victim.

June Chandler divorced Evan Chandler
and married a man named David Schwartz.

Charles,
can you tell me about Evan Chandler?

CHARLES: So Evan
Chandler was born in New York.

He was actually born Evan Charmatz,
but he wanted a career as a screenwriter,

so he moved to California and changed
his name from Charmatz to Chandler

because he thought that
Charmatz was too Jewish-sounding.

He became a dentist,
but he didn't really enjoy

it and also was not
really very good at it.

He was censured by the
regulatory board for shoddy work.

He was also accused at one
point of sexually assaulting

a female patient while
he was working on her.

He had a very kind of a
brief career as a screenwriter.

He got a screenwriting credit around 1993
on the film, 'Robin Hood: Men in Tights'.

("Men in Tights" plays)

We're men, we're men in tights. We
roam around the forest looking for fights.

REPORTER: Apparently,
he was working on Mel Brooks

when he came up with
the 'Men in Tights' idea-

or he said his son came up
with the 'Men in Tights' idea-

this is the same 13-year-old boy,
and apparently,

maybe Mel was under some
kind of ether or anesthetic

but he decided it was a great idea

and went along with the dentist
and they put the movie together.

I would imagine a dentist to
the stars would be exposed

to a lot of the glamour in Hollywood.

He can see his successful customers
talking on the phone making deals

and it looks so easy to someone
on the outside, you know?

And he figured he wanted to get a
little piece of the pie and get you know?

Stop drilling teeth and maybe become a
producer and really make some big bucks.

(ominous music)

CHARLES: So Michael
Jackson is in Los Angeles

with some of his team
and they're driving along

Wilshire Boulevard in Beverly
Hills and the car breaks down.

There's a lady in the area who sees Michael
Jackson stranded by the side of the road

and calls her husband
who works at a business

called Rent-A-Wreck,
which is a car rental business.

Rent-A-Wreck is owned by Dave Schwartz.

So Dave Schwartz calls his wife June

because he knows that Jordan Chandler,
her son, is a massive Michael Jackson fan.

There was one employee at Rent-A-Wreck
who said that when June arrived,

she was kind of forcing
Jordie on Michael Jackson,

almost like trying to
emotionally blackmail him.

So that's how the numbers got exchanged
and they ended up staying in touch.

DANNY: So, a friendship develops between

Michael Jackson and the Chandler family,
excluding Evan Chandler.

During this period, Michael Jackson
would have stay-overs at their house.

They would come over and
sleepover at Michael Jackson’s house.

Where is Evan Chandler
during this period of time?

CHARLES: Evan Chandler
was pretty much an absent father.

He owed almost $70,000
in unpaid child support.

He had been rowing with June about
how infrequently he was seeing his son.

She was trying to get Evan to take
Jordan more often and he was refusing.

He had his own new family, like June did.

He'd remarried and had
kids with another lady, and

they were struggling to get
Evan to engage with Jordie.

It was not until he discovered
that his son was now

friends with Michael Jackson
that he suddenly became

interested in seeing him again.

FREEMAN: My recollection was that
he was not very interested in Jordie,

prior to the time that
Jordie took up with Michael

and as soon as Jordie took up with Michael,

Evan became the most
interested parent in the world.

CHARLES: They seemed
to be getting on quite well

Evan even at one point asked him
to build an extra wing onto the house

so he could come and stay more often

And then when that idea didn't work,

he said, "Well, I've got a better idea.

Why don't you just build me a new house?"

and then that didn't happen either,

June dropped the bombshell
that she and Jordie were

thinking of going on tour with Michael,

and then Evan,
who previously had been an absent father

and wasn't paying his child support,
and wasn't

really interested in
seeing his son at all,

all of a sudden became
enraged about the idea that Jordan

would be out of the
country for a few months

and that was when the
relationship really took a

dramatic turn towards the negative.

What happened was Evan had
begun making strange comments and

threats to June and Dave
and Jordan about Michael

that he was going to make allegations.

He was behaving so erratically,

that they feared he was
going to do something crazy

So the next time they
spoke to him on the phone,

they tape recorded him.

EVAN: This man is going to
be humiliated beyond belief.

He will not believe what
is going to happen to him,

beyond- beyond his worst nightmares.

He will not sell one more record.

If I go through with this, I win big
time. I will get everything I want.

They will be destroyed forever.

EVAN: That's a fact,
Dave. Michael's career

will be over. DAVE: and
does that help Jordie?

EVAN: Michael's career will be over.
DAVE: and does that help Jordie?

DAVE: and does that help Jordie?
EVAN: That's irrelevant to me.

CHARLES: He's talking about how he's
furious that Michael has stop phoning him

and stopped taking his calls,

and how Michael has stolen his
ex-wife and torn the family apart

and how he's plotting his revenge,
and he says that,

"Everything is moving in accordance
with a plan that's not just mine."

and this phone call occurred BEFORE
Jordan Chandler made any allegations

against Michael Jackson,
and in this phone call,

Evan Chandler alludes
to a "nasty attorney".

EVAN: This attorney I found,
and I interviewed SEVERAL-

and I picked the nastiest
son of a bitch I could find.

Once I make that phone call,

this guy's just going to
destroy everybody in sight

in any devious, nasty,
cruel way that he can do it.

And I've given him
full authority to do that.

(chuckles) It will be a- a
massacre if I don't get what I want.

CHARLES: and that attorney
turns out to be Barry Rothman.

(somber piano music)

My name is Geraldine Hughes.

I was the legal secretary
in 1993 for Barry Rothman,

who was the attorney of Evan Chandler,
the first accuser

that came against Michael
on child molestation.

I was working for him, he hired me.

When I came in for an interview one day,

and he hired me for the
job as his legal secretary.

I was the only legal secretary for him.

He was really an entertainment attorney

and he had a history of
being a good negotiator

in the entertainment field, though.

Whenever Evan would
call Barry Rothman's office,

Barry Rothman would tell
us to put the call on hold

and he'd walk all the
way back to his office,

shut the door,
and that's how he took all of Evan's calls.

He was the only client he did that for.

Anybody else call,
if he was at-away from his office,

He'd just pick up the phone and say,
"Okay.. woo woo woo"

You know, say what he had
to say and then he'd hang up.

But he didn't do that with Evan.

Evan was always behind closed doors.

CHARLES: Evan had
already retained a lawyer.

Jordan Chandler was insisting
that Michael had never touched him.

Anthony Pellicano,
who is Michael's private investigator,

goes around to interview Jordan
Chandler and questions him

for about an hour, I believe,
and asks him all sorts of questions,

and very direct questions:

"Have you ever seen
Michael Jackson naked?",

"Have you ever been naked
in a bed with Michael Jackson?"

"Has he ever touched you?",
et cetera, et cetera

and Jordan Chandler
says "No" to everything.

At the end of the conversation,
Jordan Chandler reiterates that

Michael has never done
anything wrong to him,

and says that his dad is
just trying to get money.

(somber piano music fades out)

(up tempo strings fade in)

GERALDINE: It started out a custody issue.

Evan Chandler wanted the custody of Jordie

because in order to coerce a child
into saying something that's not true,

you need time with that child.

CHARLES: Evan Chandler
goes to custody court and says,

"I want to have a week
of custody with my son,"

and June Chandler agrees on the basis

that he'll be returned after 7 days.

- And he never gave him back. He kept him.

He never brought him back,
and during that time that he had him,

he came into my office and he was
behind closed doors with my attorney

the- the- Jordie Chandler was.

I actually opened up the
door one day. I was leaving,

and I opened up the door
and Jordie was in the back!

And he kind of looked
a little startled when-

Because I looked and I
saw him and I was like:

Nobody in the office knew
that he was even there.

You know, we're like,
"How did he even get here?"

and I opened up the door,
so I had a few encounters

with Jordie Chandler
coming into the office,

and to me,
it just looked like a coaching session.

CHARLES: While Jordan
was in Evan's custody,

Evan sedated him with a
drug called sodium amytal.

He did this supposedly so that he
could perform a dental procedure,

But it's a very dubious
story that he's telling

because there's no reason to use
sodium amytal for a dental procedure.

He gives him this drug, which has a
reputation in the 1980s as a truth serum.

The problem is that sodium
amytal is not a truth serum.

In just around 1993, the evidence
was beginning to emerge that in fact

sodium amytal was the
opposite of a truth serum.

It made people highly suggestible.

So, by today, by 2000s,
Psychology Today and other journals

were saying that it was completely false

that sodium amytal had a
reputation as a truth serum.

- So, I'm just gonna take
a step back for everyone.

Evan Chandler makes a
phone call to David Schwartz

talking about how he is going to make
allegations against Michael Jackson.

Jordan Chandler subsequently
denies all allegations.

Evan Chandler then gets custody of
Jordan Chandler and never returns him.

It was only supposed to be for a week,

and during this period that Evan
Chandler had Jordan Chandler,

there were numerous unethical methods

that we know of being used against Jordan,

notably the use of sodium amytal
and the one on one coaching

between Jordan Chandler and Barry Rothman.

So by the end of Jordan's stay,
he changes his story.

He went into Evan's custody saying that

he wasn't abused by Michael
Jackson to now claiming that,

"Yes, in fact, I had been abused."

So Charles with this new shocking
statement by Jordan Chandler,

what are Evan Chandler's next moves?

CHARLES: So after Jordan changes his story,

Evan,
instead of going straight to the police-

as you'd expect a parent to do if their
child has just said that they've been

that they'd been sexually
abused by someone,

goes directly to Michael
Jackson and his legal team

and starts demanding $20 million.

- But Evan had a desire to be a filmmaker.

He was trying to get the
money so he can make a movie.

CHARLES: So when Evan
meets Michael to confront him

and demand the money,
there were witnesses in the room

who said that he threw
his arms around Michael

and greeted him with a hug,
like an old friend.

FIELDS: I was seated in our big
conference room next to Michael

and the father came into
the room and saw Michael

and went quickly across
the room and hugged him and

said, "Michael,
it's been so long since I've seen you."

which was just... flabbergasting!

because here's a- (chuckles)
here's a father claiming

that this man had abused his son sexually

and rushes across the room to hug him?

Impossible!

CHARLES: Evan's lawyer gets in touch
with Michael Jackson's camp and says,

“$20 million and nobody will
ever hear about these allegations."

But Michael Jackson
is adamant that he is

NOT going to give Evan
Chandler $20 million.

The counter offer which comes
back from Michael Jackson's camp

is a deal for 3 scripts and they say,
"You'll be paid $350,000 per script."

- He said,
"I'll contribute that to your film project,

just to give you and your
son a chance to bond,

to mend, because at that time,
Evan was saying,

"He's stolen my son's affection."

He put that in the paperwork. He said,

"My son is being
starstruck by this superstar.

He's stolen my friends affection".

and so Michael just simply said,

CHARLES: "This would be a great
opportunity for you and Jordan to reconnect

because you'll be able
to write them together."

Rothman comes back and says,
"That's nowhere near what we're asking for.

That's less than $2 million,
you know? We're not going for that."

Michael's camp then makes
another offer which is for a

single script paid at $350,000-

a third of what they'd initially offered.

Barry Rothman is shocked by the low figure.

In response to that,
Evan panics and starts trying

to go back to the million dollar deal, and

Anthony Pellicano comes back and says,

"That's never going to happen."

PELLICANO: Let me ask you for the last
time: he has rejected the deal, period?

ROTHMAN: For one project? Yes.

PELLICANO: OK, so then there is no deal.
ROTHMAN: Right!

- Remember? I said take it or leave it-
- Bingo! Bingo!

- OK. Then we don't have to
have a discussion about this again.

- OK
- Alright.

- That's where it's at.

- I've already told you that we think this
is an extortion attempt from the beginning.

Well you can say that!

I've already made those
statements time and time again.

- You can say that, Anthony. I understand!

but it fell apart because you
offered 3 and then recanted on it.

CHARLES: Meanwhile, the custody
situation happens between Evan and June.

GERALDINE: but what happened
was June filed an ex parte motion

An ex parte motion means:
show up in court the next day.

She was trying to get him back now,

and so we typed a little declaration,
and they went to court.

The went to court on the ex parte, but see,

he had been negotiating
with Michael for a whole month

for the $20 million to make the movie.

He goes to court on a hearing
for the custody, a family law judge,

he said nothing to that
judge about his "suspicion"

or "my child is- I think my child is...",
you know being molested.

He didn't say
anything. So the judge

ordered him to return
Jordie back instantly.

CHARLES: And in order to maintain custody,

Evan has to go to the psychiatrist
and have Jordie disclose.

- I can promise you 3 days later

is when we got the breaking news,

so he never took him back.

He took him to the doctor that he
had already queried about molestation.

CHARLES: He sort of acts out of haste

and goes and triggers
the criminal proceedings

as a knee-jerk reaction
to the custody situation

and then that means he loses control of
the situation and the negotiations cease

because the police are now involved.

(tense music)

ANNOUNCER: This NBC
Nightly News with Tom Brokaw.

BROKAW: Good evening.

Michael Jackson is in
Bangkok Thailand tonight,

where he has now postponed 2 concerts,

claiming that he is ill.
While back in Los Angeles,

there's a press frenzy over

investigations into child abuse by Jackson.

- ..remains the Children's
Services report detailing

the charges by a thirteen-year-old boy.

- CBS News has had access to..

CHARLES: The media went into a frenzy

because after the Michael
Jackson case kicked in,

basically their ratings
went through the roof.

It was astronomical the
difference that this story made

to the ratings of shows like

"Hard Copy" and "A Current Affair".

- I cannot think of a story that's bigger

I mean, this is the story-
if not of the decade, well

certainly of the decade,
but probably of the-

One of the great stories of the century!

CHARLES: This was an era with no internet

and no social media,
and so there was a real thirst

for knowledge about Michael
Jackson because he was

the biggest,
most famous person in the world, but

people really knew
basically nothing about him.

There was a need to keep
the story going every day

They needed new Michael Jackson stories

because that was where
the ratings were coming from,

so the impetus was there
for journalists to seize on

anything- anything that came up,

anything that looked like a
scoop or a scandal, or looked

like it might bag them ratings,
they just ran with it.

REPORTER: We will fly stories.

We will take a shred of
fact and go with it, like a

great footballer with a ball.
We will spin down the field

with that and try and score a goal with it,
and

maybe we will, maybe we won't,
but we'll take a shred

of evidence and try and
try to turn it into a story.

("In the Hall of the Mountain King" plays)

MICHAEL: I will say
that I am particularly upset

by the handling of this mass matter

by the incredible, terrible mass media

At every opportunity,

the media has dissected and manipulated

these allegations to reach
their own conclusions.

I ask all of you to wait and hear the truth

before you label or condemn me.

Don't treat me like a criminal,
as I am innocent.

- When you buy a story,

there's always the shadow of doubt that

are they telling you the truth

or are they telling you
what you want to hear?

CHARLES: They started waving around

10,000

20,000

50,000

$100,000 to anybody
that was prepared to say,

"I have met Michael Jackson

and I've got something
bad to say about him".

- Yeah, a friend of mine
told National Enquirer that

he knew some family that knew the Jacksons

and he called me on the phone,
asked me to come to the hotel.

I said, "I'm here to help Michael,"
and they said,

"Oh, no, that ain't what we want with you-

We heard that your boys
spent nights at the house.

We want to know if Michael
tampered with them, or

just picked them up,
or touched them in any kind of way.

If he did we got $200,000 for you".

I said, "huh?"- He said,
"So what I'm gonna do-

I'm gonna draw a check up, a contract up.

show you we're fixing
to give you $200,000".

- So then you go to Germany,

you get another 20,000.

You go to Italy, another 20,000.

Before you know it, you're up a hundred

a hundred,
two hundred thousand dollars, and

that is enough for a family
to come forward and talk.

CHARLES: It happened repeatedly

where people of dubious
character were treated as

credible sources when
anybody with just an iota of

investigative savvy would
know that these are not

people you want to be
staking your reputation on.

They were people who changed their stories

depending on how much
money you offered them.

BROKER: The first time I heard
the story about, um, Jackson,

his hand was outside the kid's pants.

They were asking 100 grand.

As soon as their price
went up to 500 grand,

the hand went inside the pants,
so, come on.

REPORTER: But basically,
LaToya you're drawing your own conclusion

that Michael abused young men, young boys

- No,
I'm not drawing my own conclusion that

he abused young boys. That's totally-

That's totally wrong. I am not
drawing my own conclusion.

CHARLES: LaToya Jackson at the time

was married to a man called Jack Gordon

who was involved with Genovese Mafia.

He was a very disturbed character.

He was very violent and abusive.

He pimped LaToya out like a prostitute.

He forced her to do semi pornographic
magazine shoots- that kind of thing.

and if she disagreed with him or
refused to do anything that he told her to,

then he would either beat her

or he threaten to have
members of her family killed.

This went on for many,
many, many years.

He literally said I'm gonna kill you,
your brother,

- Everybody?
- Yes.

No, not everybody, just myself,
Michael and Janet.

CHARLES: This is not some excuse which

has been dreamed up subsequently,

this was known and reported at the time.

- He grabbed a bedspread,

he put it over her head,
started to strangle her with it.

At the same time, he grabbed her arm

and started to twist it so badly that
she felt like it was gonna come out.

CHARLES: And so all of a sudden, LaToya,

who'd been previously
speaking out in favor of Michael

suddenly u-turned
started selling interviews

claiming that her
brother in fact was guilty.

In early 1994,
LaToya appeared on an Australian TV show

and the host of the
show realized that there

was something wrong
with the situation.

He realized that all of the
answers LaToya was giving

were being fed to her
by somebody else who he

identified on the show as her husband,
Jack Gordon.

Well, Miss Jackson carried on with

that nonsense for about another 25 minutes,

all the time being prompted
by someone in the studio,

but off-camera,
presumably her husband manager

Jack Gordon.

- People like you will let this go on

and it's very very wrong.
- Who's talking to you in the background?

- Who's talking to you in the background?

- So I... I... I refuse to sit
here and listen to you - Who's...

and listen to you talk
this way. I think it's wrong

of you. [Host] Who's talking
to you in the background?

- So I have nothing else
to save you whatsoever.

CHARLES: And when he
questioned her about it on the air,

she just looked like a
deer in the headlights

and suddenly stood up
and stormed off the show

and wouldn't answer any more questions.

LATOYA: I can't hear you
but I definitely want you to hear

what I'm saying,
because you do have a serious

problem, sir. Whatever it is, I don't know,

but you do need to go
see a psychiatrist. Goodbye.

CHARLES: Her husband decided that

there was a lot of money to be made from

switching sides and saying
that Michael was guilty

and indeed, there was.

HOST: I'm sorry, are you feeling OK?

Are you alright? Are you alright?

Do you need a handkerchief
or something like that?

- After the allegation hit, they-

prior to that, they were on opposite ends

because June never did
agree with the allegation

But after the allegation hit,

they were meeting in my attorney

David Schwartz,
June Chandler, Evan Chandler,

and my attorney.

They were all meeting behind closed doors

in my attorney's office.

- I decided to drop the case ‘cause

I, at that time, as an attorney

did not like to be involved in
cases that I didn't believe in.

GERALDINE: And I heard Evan blurt out,
he said,

'It's my ass that's in danger
of going to prison right here!'

Inside the law office,

the only thing they were
asking for was money.

"Where's his money? How much?"

They were sending discovery in

and the discovery was
only trying to find his money.

That was crazy too. I'm like,

"Y'all just looking for money?

You're not looking for justice?

You're only looking for money?"

(soft piano music fades out)

JOSEPHINE: I mean, my mind EXPLODED

when I- I found out who he was and I-

I definitely told some
people who were close to me

I didn't confront him though,
because at that point in time, you know-

I knew that I believed
Michael was innocent,

but the fact that matter
is I didn't know 100%

and if there was even
like- one shred of doubt,

I didn't want to risk re-traumatizing
somebody who was potentially a victim.

And remember, at that point in time,
Jordan Chandler was the only accuser

and the media certainly
wasn't focused on it.

They were more focused on you know,
Michael Jackson's new album release

and um, you know,
it wasn't all flattering but you know,

it seemed like this- this was,
you know, water under the bridge

and something that didn't
need to be addressed.

He was a nice guy, I mean,
I'm gonna be honest.

He was he was very nice,
always very polite.

He would always carry
a guitar around with him.

He made his own music.

He would describe it as
"Pop/R&B like Michael Jackson".

I remember that because he
said it many times, very clearly.

He would wear fedoras. Um..

Yeah, that was- that was Jordan.

(sad somber music)

REPORTER: What were your
determinations when you examined him?

- He seemed to
essentially be a healthy guy.

The lupus is an autoimmune disease
and he only had skin involvement,

which had destroyed part
of the skin of his nose and

his nasal surgeries and all were really
reconstructive to try and look normal.

- Lupus is an autoimmune disease,
as you've said,

where the immune system,
one of our larger systems

that's designed to protect
us against germs and viruses,

actually attacks our own
body's cells and tissues.

Many patients with lupus have vitiligo,
but he had a form of skin lupus

called discoid lupus which affect