Michael Jackson admits he made a “terrible mistake” when he held his six-month-old son over a fourth-floor hotel balcony Tuesday.
“I made a terrible mistake,” he said in a statement. “I got caught up in the excitement of the moment. I would never intentionally endanger the lives of my children.”
The Associated Press reports the King of Pop, currently in Berlin to accept a Bambi Award for lifetime achievement for his work with homeless children, says he got caught up in the excitement of waving to his fans, who were asking to see his new son, Prince Michael II. Jackson brought the baby out, with a cloth over his head, and held him briefly over the balcony railing. The scene was captured on video and played over and over on German and U.S. news broadcasts.
A Chicago-based advocacy group, Prevent Child Abuse, told AP Jackson‘s actions, while lacking good judgment, did not result in any real harm to the boy.
“It is a painful reminder that even the most well-intentioned among us sometimes act in ways that put children in danger of being abused or neglected,” A. Sidney Johnson, president and CEO of the group, told AP.
Jackson has two other children–a boy, Prince Michael, 5 and a girl, Paris, 4–with his ex-wife Debbie Rowe, whom he divorced in 1999. People magazine reported in August that the newest Jackson family addition was not adopted but the identity of the mother was unknown.
This latest incident comes after the stir the star created last week in California, where he testified in a $21 million civil lawsuit against him that claims he backed out of several concert dates. His strange appearance shocked many in the courtroom.
