Joe Jackson’s Own Words

People magazine, Susan Schindehette & Todd Gold, August 8 1988
Twenty-nine-year-old Michael, for example, has become a virtual stranger to the family; he lives in isolated splendor 100 miles northwest of L.A. in Santa Ynez, Calif., and last saw his parents in February.
“A father will always feel he knows more than his kids,” says Marlon. “It just got to the point where we were grown men, and we had our own lives. We couldn’t always do what he wanted.”
Now, there is de facto estrangement: Phone calls are rare, and Katherine sees him only when she flies out to visit him on the road. For his part, Michael alluded to earlier problems in Moonwalk, his new book, charging that Joe beat him as a child (an allegation Joe denies). And although Michael has been conspicuously generous with his parents (more than a million in cash and jewels for both Mom and Dad), Joe is miffed. “We wonder why things have changed like they have, why he doesn’t seem to care about his family,” he says. “The few times we’ve spoken to him, he seems glad to hear from us. But when you talk to other people, they say Michael doesn’t want to be involved with his family.”
Even Joe still expects Michael to one day return to the fold. “But I may have to go get him and let him know that he has a family still,” he says. “I can always go drag him out of there. He ain’t never going to get too big for me to go get him. And he knows I’ll come get him, too.”
“Bill Bray is so secretive about Michael,” says Joe. “The one thing I do know is that [Michael's managers] don’t want me anywhere around. I’d love to know if Michael is aware of what his people are doing, which I don’t think he is. We’re talking about millions and millions of dollars.”
Joe Jackson interview, Kitty Kelley, Nov 16, 1991
Interviewed by Kitty Kelley for her forth coming MCA TV talk show, Joe asserts: “Maybe I should’ve punched La Toya, like any other normal parent would do, but I never laid a hand on La Toya. My wife whipped her once. La Toya was always afraid of whippings, you know, and she stayed and she never did get into any trouble or nothing. Lately La Toya hasn’t been herself, he said. “I think she’s being brainwashed… been given some kind of mind- altering drugs or something.”
Joe Jackson interview, Roger Friedman, Fox News, 10th Sept 2001
I did ask him though about his parental philosophy. “You have to be strict with kids,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with punishment as long as you know how to punish.”
What would be a typical punishment? “Beat his back,” Joe Jackson replied before I could even get the question out.
Joe Jackson interview with Theroux, 13th November 2003
Joe: “I whipped him with a switch and a belt. I never beat him. You beat someone with a stick.”
Theroux told Joe Jackson that his son was so nervous when he saw his father that he “regurgitates”, and Joe responds by saying: “He regurgitates all the way to the bank. That’s right.”
On Joe Jackson, Roger Friedman, 7th July 2009
No one can stop the avaricious, evil father of Michael Jackson.
In the 18 days since Michael’s tragic death, Joseph Jackson has made at least a half million dollars off his late, famous son.
This week, according to sources, “Good Morning America” paid Jackson around $200,000 for a series of interviews that commence tomorrow morning.
ABC says it’s done this as part of a deal for a one-hour documentary on the Jackson family.
At the same time, Jackson is said to be arriving in London tomorrow, the day that Michael was set to start his shows at the O2 Arena. Sources tell me that the British tabloids are paying Jackson at least $250,000 plus expenses to exploit Michael’s memory.
Meanwhile, Michael—remember him? – is lying in a borrowed vault in Forest Lawn Cemetery in Los Angeles, still not permanently buried or interred because the Jackson family hasn’t figured out which location would maximize their profits best.
The horror of Joseph Jackson is only more heightened by the fact that he’s told reporters this week that he somehow foresees exploiting Michael’s children as performers in a bid to regain his glory days of the Jackson 5.
If Michael had a grave, he’d be rolling in it.
Michael Jackson told interviewers many times how his father abused and beat him when he was a child. He said it through tears to Oprah Winfrey.
There is abundant evidence that Michael hated his father. One insider working on Jackson’s business affairs since his death, a person who hadn’t known Joseph Jackson previously, said to me last week, “He killed Michael. Everything he did to to him led up to this. I’ve never met a more awful person.”
Indeed, Joseph Jackson has never hesitated to try and cash in on Michael’s success after his superstar son finally broke free of him in the late 1970s with the “Off the Wall” album. Joseph is famous for coming up with schemes behind Michael’s back.
To wit: On the day of Michael’s famous 30th anniversary solo show, Joe Jackson called a news conference and invited select journalists. I was one of them. It was obvious Michael had no idea this was going on. Mr. Jackson told us he was going to start selling footage of the Jackson 5 for profit. He was eager to be a star himself, clearly.
I asked him about his parental philosophy. “You have to be strict with kids,” he said. “There’s nothing wrong with punishment as long as you know how to punish.” What would be a typical punishment? “Beat his back,” Joe Jackson replied before I could even get the question out.
In 2004, before Michael’s child molestation trial began, I received a call from vulture journalist Daphne Barak. She said, “I have Joseph Jackson here and we want to talk to you about a project.” I hung up.
This year, on March 26th, Jackson himself called me to say he wanted to take over the just announced concerts at the O2 Arena because only he and his partner Leonard Rowe would know how to run them. Shortly after that, Jackson and Rowe threw in with another concert promoter. The latter man filed suit against Michael to get a cut of his AEG Live contract.
And still: three days after Michael died, Joseph Jackson turned up at the BET Awards in Los Angeles with a Michael Jackson impersonator in tow. He announced that he was starting a record company on national TV.
It’s not the first time that Joseph Jackson has tried to claw his way back into the music business. A few years ago he tried in vain to launch a young female singer out of Las Vegas. The project didn’t go anywhere.
Meantime, the judge in the custody hearing next Monday July 20th deciding the fate of Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson should be aware of some things in the Jackson family history. Joe Jackson has an illegitimate daughter named JohVonnie by a woman named Cheryl Terrell. Janet actually mentioned this in an interview with Parade Magazine in 2008.
He also had at least one other extramarital relationship, with a woman named Gina Sprague. All of this has been documented in various Jackson books, including one by LaToya.
Also, Katherine Jackson filed for divorce twice during her marriage, once in 1973 and again in 1979. In each case she was persuaded not to go through with it rather than hurt the family’s reputation.”