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American Morning

Over There: Like Mike

Aired February 07, 2003 - 07:43   ET

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.

THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.


JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Michael's world and welcome to it, strange place that it may be to some. The controversial king of pop, Michael Jackson, had a documentary made. He gave the filmmaker access to his personal life for a couple of months. The program aired here on ABC last night. It first aired Monday in Britain, and people are still talking about it there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt quite sorry for him, I have to say. And I think I can understand why -- I think you got more of an insight into why he is like he is. So, I have to say I felt a lot of sympathy for him, but I still think he's an oddball.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't think he's changed that much. I mean, he's still the king of pop, and he is a bit, you know, up the scales in his weirdness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: I feel sorry for him, but he's a bit of an oddball. It's an interesting assessment.

For more on the fallout from Michael Jackson's remarks, as we continue to beat this story into submission, let's go "Over There." It is Friday, you know, and time for my friend, Richard Quest, who joins us from London.

Good morning, sir.

RICHARD QUEST, CNNI CORRESPONDENT: Tawdry television!

CAFFERTY: Yes, we live on that stuff, don't we?

QUEST: Well, that's what Michael Jackson's lawyers and PR people are describing the program called "Living With Michael Jackson." He regards it as a gross distortion of the truth, a travesty of the truth.

And what we have really seen all week amidst the serious of Iraq, the tragedy of the shuttle, the whole panoply of other stories, Britain has been talking, like you are now talking, about Michael Jackson.

In this morning's papers, he's a "perfect dad," says the mum of two of Michael Jackson's children. "Jackson: 'I was betrayed" in another paper. I'll tell you, Jack, this one just goes on and on, but what we also know is that Jackson's PR people and his lawyers are watching all television coverage very closely to make sure that none of us cross the line and perhaps say things that might get us all in very deep water.

CAFFERTY: Let me ask you a question. This is a guy who arguably has been accused of bizarre behavior for the better part of his adult life. There are sealed court records in California, where an out-of- court settlement was made against a kid whose family alleged some improper behavior. There is this famous scene about hanging his kid over the balcony from a hotel. If he gives a filmmaker access to his private life for two months, what in the hell did he expect might be shown on television?

QUEST: And let's face it. If merely having weird behavior in our adult life was an offense, you and I would have some serious problems as well. This went...

CAFFERTY: Well, you would.

QUEST: Thank you. This went further than that, Jack. And the point about it is I think what really has got them annoyed and what we managed to discover is it's not the allegations of sexual impropriety. Most people in general seem to think that actually on this one, he was quite clear about what happens and what doesn't happen in his bed. What it was...

CAFFERTY: Yes, according to him.

QUEST: Well, what it was, was the showing of the children with the masks and the veils, and the showing of the children in their life. And I think that's what Jackson's people are absolutely steaming furious about.

But one other thing to note, his sales of -- this is perverse. This really is. Sales of his album have actually gone up in Britain since they showed the documentary.

CAFFERTY: And if there was a human being on the planet that had never heard of Michael Jackson, we, the news media, have certainly taken care of that over the last week or 10 days by virtue of the coverage that has been given to this documentary. So, his record sales are in fact up.

Let me ask you a question. Neither of us are lawyers, but as I understand, he's a public figure. If you say you're welcome to come into my house with a camera and take pictures of me in my everyday life, there's not a lot you can do with the way the filmmaker interprets that information if you're a public figure of the stature of Michael Jackson, is there?

QUEST: Correct, unless you broke the initial agreement. But what we do have here is two authorities -- the Independent Television Commission and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. And they -- of standard complaint. They are both rulers on whether or not informal agreements were broken. Were you given a fair rap? Was it a decent program? If they rule against Bashir...

CAFFERTY: Yes.

QUEST: ... then Bashir will have to apologize on British television.

CAFFERTY: Oh. I think the rules might be a little stricter over there than they are here.

I've got to run. It's always a pleasure, my friend, to see you. Thanks for the Jackson update, we look forward to next Friday when once again we go "Over There." You have yourself a good weekend.

QUEST: And to you.

CAFFERTY: All right, sir. Richard Quest live in London.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com






Aired February 7, 2003 - 07:43   ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
JACK CAFFERTY, CNN ANCHOR: Michael's world and welcome to it, strange place that it may be to some. The controversial king of pop, Michael Jackson, had a documentary made. He gave the filmmaker access to his personal life for a couple of months. The program aired here on ABC last night. It first aired Monday in Britain, and people are still talking about it there.
(BEGIN VIDEO CLIP)

UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: I felt quite sorry for him, I have to say. And I think I can understand why -- I think you got more of an insight into why he is like he is. So, I have to say I felt a lot of sympathy for him, but I still think he's an oddball.

UNIDENTIFIED MALE: I didn't think he's changed that much. I mean, he's still the king of pop, and he is a bit, you know, up the scales in his weirdness.

(END VIDEO CLIP)

CAFFERTY: I feel sorry for him, but he's a bit of an oddball. It's an interesting assessment.

For more on the fallout from Michael Jackson's remarks, as we continue to beat this story into submission, let's go "Over There." It is Friday, you know, and time for my friend, Richard Quest, who joins us from London.

Good morning, sir.

RICHARD QUEST, CNNI CORRESPONDENT: Tawdry television!

CAFFERTY: Yes, we live on that stuff, don't we?

QUEST: Well, that's what Michael Jackson's lawyers and PR people are describing the program called "Living With Michael Jackson." He regards it as a gross distortion of the truth, a travesty of the truth.

And what we have really seen all week amidst the serious of Iraq, the tragedy of the shuttle, the whole panoply of other stories, Britain has been talking, like you are now talking, about Michael Jackson.

In this morning's papers, he's a "perfect dad," says the mum of two of Michael Jackson's children. "Jackson: 'I was betrayed" in another paper. I'll tell you, Jack, this one just goes on and on, but what we also know is that Jackson's PR people and his lawyers are watching all television coverage very closely to make sure that none of us cross the line and perhaps say things that might get us all in very deep water.

CAFFERTY: Let me ask you a question. This is a guy who arguably has been accused of bizarre behavior for the better part of his adult life. There are sealed court records in California, where an out-of- court settlement was made against a kid whose family alleged some improper behavior. There is this famous scene about hanging his kid over the balcony from a hotel. If he gives a filmmaker access to his private life for two months, what in the hell did he expect might be shown on television?

QUEST: And let's face it. If merely having weird behavior in our adult life was an offense, you and I would have some serious problems as well. This went...

CAFFERTY: Well, you would.

QUEST: Thank you. This went further than that, Jack. And the point about it is I think what really has got them annoyed and what we managed to discover is it's not the allegations of sexual impropriety. Most people in general seem to think that actually on this one, he was quite clear about what happens and what doesn't happen in his bed. What it was...

CAFFERTY: Yes, according to him.

QUEST: Well, what it was, was the showing of the children with the masks and the veils, and the showing of the children in their life. And I think that's what Jackson's people are absolutely steaming furious about.

But one other thing to note, his sales of -- this is perverse. This really is. Sales of his album have actually gone up in Britain since they showed the documentary.

CAFFERTY: And if there was a human being on the planet that had never heard of Michael Jackson, we, the news media, have certainly taken care of that over the last week or 10 days by virtue of the coverage that has been given to this documentary. So, his record sales are in fact up.

Let me ask you a question. Neither of us are lawyers, but as I understand, he's a public figure. If you say you're welcome to come into my house with a camera and take pictures of me in my everyday life, there's not a lot you can do with the way the filmmaker interprets that information if you're a public figure of the stature of Michael Jackson, is there?

QUEST: Correct, unless you broke the initial agreement. But what we do have here is two authorities -- the Independent Television Commission and the Broadcasting Complaints Commission. And they -- of standard complaint. They are both rulers on whether or not informal agreements were broken. Were you given a fair rap? Was it a decent program? If they rule against Bashir...

CAFFERTY: Yes.

QUEST: ... then Bashir will have to apologize on British television.

CAFFERTY: Oh. I think the rules might be a little stricter over there than they are here.

I've got to run. It's always a pleasure, my friend, to see you. Thanks for the Jackson update, we look forward to next Friday when once again we go "Over There." You have yourself a good weekend.

QUEST: And to you.

CAFFERTY: All right, sir. Richard Quest live in London.

TO ORDER A VIDEO OF THIS TRANSCRIPT, PLEASE CALL 800-CNN-NEWS OR USE OUR SECURE ONLINE ORDER FORM LOCATED AT www.fdch.com