Jackie Jackson has denied his late brother Michael Jackson was physically abused by their father Joe.
Michael, who passed away aged 50 in 2009, claimed in several interviews that his father physically and emotionally abused him, notably making extensive allegations in British journalist Martin Bashir’s intimate 2003 documentary Living with Michael Jackson.
Although Joe has admitted physically disciplining his children, he denies his actions amounted to abuse and described them as the actions of a caring but strict father.
Now Jackie, who performed alongside Michael and their other siblings in the family’s group the Jackson 5 has played down his brother’s abuse claims.
The 65-year-old singer tells U.K. news there was “no truth” to Michael’s claims of extensive abuse, adding, “My dad could never catch Michael –Michael never got it. He’d go under my bed and my dad would start laughin’ and he’d just let him go.”
In the 2003 documentary Jackson said, “He (Joe) practiced us with a belt in his hand and if you missed a step expect to be whip, whip, whip…” while making a whipping motion with his hand.
Michael also alleged that his father used other objects to beat him and his brothers, saying he used “whatever was around” and also threw him up against the wall.
In a 2010 interview with Oprah Winfrey, Joe admitted he had dished out physical punishment but claimed it was a part of good parenting, saying, “It kept them out of jail and kept them right.”
Jackie’s other sibling Jermaine has admitted Joe was very tough on them as children but told ABC News in 2011, “We wouldn’t want to be raised any other way, with the way he (Joe) raised us.”
Editors at The Times report Jackie also claimed that before Michael’s death from an overdose of a surgical anaesthetic, he was planning to reunite with his brothers to reform the Jackson 5 for the first time in 25 years.
According to Jackie, despite at the time denying a reunion was on the cards, Michael planned to reunite the group after he had finished a planned 50 date run of concerts at London’s O2 Arena.
Jackie and the other three surviving brothers who formed the group’s classic line-up, Jermaine, Tito and Marlon, are still touring as The Jacksons, and are playing a series of shows in the U.K. this summer (17).
