Marlon Brando’s son has slammed reports his late father reduced Michael Jackson to tears during a conversation about his sexuality.
Miko Brando, who was close friends with the King of Pop before his death in 2009, has disputed Brandon Ogborn’s podcast reveal in a letter to the Los Angeles Times, insisting his father’s words to Michael have been “twisted”.
“I was friends with Michael Jackson for over 27 years and my father adored him,” Miko writes. “I don’t appreciate my father’s words being twisted to imply that Michael hurt anyone.”
In his podcast Telephone Stories: The Trials of Michael Jackson, Ogborn claimed he had unearthed a sworn statement by Brando to prosecutors when Jackson was under investigation for child molestation in 1994, detailing a conversation he had with Jackson at the singer’s Neverland Ranch.
Ogborn verified the statement’s authenticity with Lauren Weis, who investigated Jackson as a prosecutor.
It suggested Brando asked Jackson about his friends, prompting the Thriller singer to respond, “I don’t know anybody my own age. I don’t like anybody my own age”.
As Brando pressed Jackson for more details, the singer started to cry.
“He was crying hard enough that… I tried to assuage him. I tried to help him all I could.”
In its conclusion, the Times reporter stated: “Brando told prosecutors he originally thought Jackson was gay but now believed it was ‘pretty reasonable to conclude that he may have had something to do with kids’.”
Furious Miko writes: “This is just someone’s cheap publicity stunt to promote their paid podcast. My father would never have been friends with Michael if he thought he was capable of doing harm to kids, and he would never imply anything negative about Michael. Please correct your story.”
Ogborn hasn’t responded to Miko’s letter.
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