Jackson Enjoys 'Bliss' of Neverland (Geraldo giving him air time and on Jackson's side)

FOX News ^ | February 06, 2005 | Geraldo Rivera

[Former Military Chick]

Michael Jackson (search) told FOX News' Geraldo Rivera that he had become a target for prosecutors because he was a well-known figure and he said that news reports about him were "fiction."

"The bigger the star, the bigger the target. I'm not trying to say I'm the super-duper star, I'm not saying that," Jackson said in the interview, which was taped two weeks ago. "I'm saying the fact that people come at celebrities, we're targets. But truth always prevails. I believe in that."

The interview with Jackson aired Saturday at 10 p.m. ET on the FOX News Channel on "At Large With Geraldo Rivera."

The interview was Jackson's first since he was indicted by a grand jury in April on charges of molesting a boy and plying him with alcohol. Jackson's lawyers and prosecutors are scheduled to begin questioning potential jurors in the trial Monday.

The singer was barred by a gag order from talking about the molestation charges he faces.

Jackson also said in the interview that he designed his Neverland estate (search), where prosecutors say the molestation occurred, as a place where he could enjoy the childhood activities he missed while he was a child star.

[Former Military Chick]

I have to tell you, I would be just fine if there were no coverage of this case but frankly, if we don't Jackson will use that to say everyone is out to get him.

I am fed up. Fed up with FOX as it pertains to Jackson. I saw the segment of the interview with Geraldo and Jackson. It was right up there with sugar water he was ga ga over the has been icon of music.

Geraldo said he would shave his mustache if convicted. He better sharpen the shears he is going to be doing some cutting.

A jury has to find at least child endangerment when it comes to the sleeping quarters of those not his kids.

If my neighbor were to do this, I would have him arrested, they would not be any bending over backwards, allowing him to turn him/herself to the authorities, the community would be aware and the perp would be put on some admin. situation if working in the field with children. HELLO WAKE UP. Jackson is still with kids and nobody has called him on it.

He endangered kids. He needs help and when an investigative reporter chooses to throw only soft ball questions well your creditability has been shot to hell.

As for Ms Rita Cosby she too was gushing at the fact of interviewing the king of pop's Mom. She never challenged any of the Moms accusations, one comment to include:

yes the following is in CAPS

HIS MOTHER SAID THAT THE CHILDREN OF THE DA WHO CHARGED HER SON IS EITHER KKK OR ARYAN NATION AFFILIATED.

Where is an attorney when I need one, someone needs to defend the kids who are NOT members of any questionable websites and sue the pants off Mom Jackson for saying such evil things against the DA cuz they are going after her son.

Oh, I am mad.

It is so irritating to watch the line our reporters are taking to get ratings.

[OldSmaj]

Geraldo sucks, period.

[gulfcoast6]

Geraldo has something about sex offenders, he stuck with Slick Willy didn't he? So, why change.

[Former Military Chick]

You do not have to convince me. After he left CNBC to go to FOX I was not happy about this at all. But, I was impressed with his reporting while an embed in Iraq.

He seemed liked by the troops. But, now he is reverting back to his old "show" days, ratings. He sucked up to Jackson there is no doubt.

With the selection of jurors going on, this interview seemed to push the limit of the gag order or the one time opportunity for Jackson to rebutt the grand jury testimony that was leaked.

[brushcop]

You remember of course that [I believe it was] the 101st Airborne banned him from embedding with their unit for blabbing too much by giving away their location and I would imagine, his theatrics. The Iraqi election day reporting by Geraldo was almost hilarious if it were not for real lives being lost. He would duck and dodge at any rounds going off and act like it was incoming while the soldiers around him would point off in the direction of the explosion which apparently wasn't even close.

Of course it would be unnerving for a cub reporter but come on, Geraldo has been in hot spots for many years, it's a matter of hyping his situation up for showmanship, it's all about him don't you know. He's shameless.

RB

[Mad Mammoth]

He sucked up to Jackson there is no doubt.

Are you sure that sentence didn't have two words too many?

I'll let others figure out 'which two'.

[UpHereEh]

He wants the exclusives on Michael regardless of the outcome of the trial. I say all the power to Fox News for getting the only interviews with both Jacko and his mother. Well done.

[pissant]

Geraldo wants to wear a jumper, shave his moustache, hold a lolli-pop and spend the night with Jacko. Hmmmmm....

[cyncooper]

As for Ms Rita Cosby she too was gushing at the fact of interviewing the king of pop's Mom.

I am very interested in this case. I heard via FR that Geraldo was promoting his upcoming interview and was speaking in glowing terms about Michael Jackson. I did not watch the interview but happened to see a few minutes of Rita and she was her usual breathless self and exactly as you describe. I was disgusted.

[cyncooper]

Ping

Others saw Rita as we did...breathlessly gushing over the Jackson family.

[dead]

So many people waver and vacillate, wondering one day to the next what to think about Geraldo. One day, he loves GWB and the troops and hates OJ. One day, he loves Bill Clinton and hates Ken Starr.

Here's my tip to those of you who wonder what to think about Geraldo - He's an idiot. Always. All the time. Sometimes things that sound like they make sense fall from his mouth. It's an accident. He's an idiot. All the time. An idiot.

I hope this clears things up.

[ishabibble]

You have, most succinctly, pointed out where Fox News gets the phrase, "Fair and Balanced". You are outraged; I am patiently waiting in the wings for someone to crack this case open, like an overripe melon. I do believe that is going to happen.

Rita Cosby is a "dime a dozen". What are the powers seeing that I cannot? I just loooooooove Geraldo, he's such a mega-colonosyogpy scope!

[F16Fighter]

FOX News' prestige and integrity always takes a hit when Geraldo's on the case.

Geraldo Rivera is the 'Enquirer' of news reporters.

[granite]

"In an age when political appeasement masquerades as political correctness and truth is sacrificed in the name of tolerance, it's always nice to see someone taking advantage of the already paper-thin milieu. Such a man was Jerry Rivers, an enterprising young journalist from Long Island.

Jerry had a dream: to become the biggest jackass of all time and televise every excruciating moment of it. Just one problem though - he was a boring white guy with a boring white guy name, and there were already scores of boring white guys on TV making jackasses of themselves, many of them with interesting names like "Rush" and "Phil." What do you do in such a situation? You could work very hard against the odds and build a career based on personal integrity and the earned trust of the public, but that takes more than ten minutes, so it's never been a popular option amongst American journalists.

The alternative is simple, and requires only a brief and permanent shedding of one's dignity. First you choose an ethnicity you've heard of, then change your name to something vaguely persuaded by that ethnicity, then beat out actual members of that ethnicity for jobs they deserve infinitely more than you do. The byproduct, if you're Jerry Rivers, is a Latin American journalist named Geraldo Rivera.

At least this is the legend surrounding Mr. Rivera's success, and given his penchant for ruthless self-promotion, I wouldn't be surprised if the actual story were more brutal. Whatever his origin, this supervillain was unleashed on the American public in 1970 and has been battling the forces of good ever since.

Among his most recent atrocities have been the endangerment of American soldiers in Afghanistan (he offered cash to anyone who'd reveal the location of U.S. snipers so he could get a photo) and just this month he was kicked off the battlefield by the Pentagon for drawing a map of U.S. strategy on live television. Also featured on his Greatest Hits collection: the much over-hyped opening of Al Capone's "lost vault" which ended up containing a few copies of Mad Magazine and a Stewart's Root Beer, a phony report from a "friendly fire" incident which was actually happening hundreds of miles away, and late last July he froze all of earth's oceans, crippling the world's commerce for three months.

In 1997 I was an intern on The Geraldo Show, Rivera's now defunct talk show. I quit after two weeks but experienced enough in those brief days to destroy my ability to love. I never met the man in my tenure, and in fact only saw him once as he passed through the interns' office. He seemed to have no idea that we were associated with his show and actually seemed to think he was in the wrong building.

As an intern it was my job to keep any human being, myself included, from coming into contact with or even sharing air with Mr. Rivera. We were taught how to turn away phone calls and respond to letters with one of three preprinted post cards:

1. "Thank you for your letter. Unfortunately Mr. Rivera is too busy to respond."

2. "Thank you for your request. Unfortunately Mr. Rivera does not host boat shows."

or

3. "Thank you for the lock of hair. Unfortunately Mr. Rivera is not seeking a sweaty romance at this time."

You wouldn't think the third one would come into play very often, but you'd be wrong. The mail Geraldo received on those few spring days I was in his office was so tragically desperate and embarrassingly personal that I felt dirty for reading it. Women proposed to him. Men proposed to him. And many of both enclosed photos. Personal photos. OK, I'm gonna be sick. I'll be right back...

That's better. And it wasn't just disgusting sexual advances. People in all states of desperation reached out to Geraldo for salvation. A burn victim scratched out a hand-written appeal crying "YOU'RE MY ONLY HOPE, MR. RIVERA!!" He also included photos. I asked one of the producers what to do with such a letter. I was told it was "too heavy" for the show and this poor man got postcard #1.

Speaking of the show's producers, they are the reason I so hastily quit. A successful talk show like Geraldo has between ten and twenty producers, each less human than the last. They inhabit smoke-filled cubbyhole offices with locked doors and tinted windows, each plotting the demise of another. Each is assigned a show segment and must complete it fast and furious to beat out the other producers and get on the show.

I was given over to a particularly gorgonesque woman named Lipschitz or something who asked me to perform what she called a "typical intern duty." I was to call another of the show's producers, a man two offices away, and announce myself as a student from Columbia University who happened to be doing a research paper on the same topic as a segment he was preparing (was he to think I frequented the "Geraldo Producers Watchdog" chatroom on IRC?). I would get him to answer a few questions, thank him for his help, relay the information to Ms. Lipschitz, she would produce the segment faster, and the original producer would find himself on the writing staff of Family Feud.

When I refused to comply, I was given a very melodramatic speech about what it took to make it in "the business" (the business of being one of Geraldo Rivera's thirty eight producers?). It was like a clip from a bad Michael Mann film (so, a Michael Mann film). I stood my ground, and they were decent enough to try and find other work for me, but I decided not to return after one more shift.

My adviser back at school was disappointed in me. He believed that I could have been a positive force of change at the show had I stayed. He also faithfully reads Ziggy. For a while I actually did wonder if I had chickened out. But looking back across the moral landscape of my life and knowing what we all know now about Geraldo, I feel just fine about my decision. It's one of the all-too-rare moments in my life where I took a stand for something important.

Now, had they paid me, this might be a very different story... "

More

[Joe Boucher]

Wouldn't suprise me if Geraldo had done bad things to puppies as a little boy.

[F16Fighter]

"Here's my tip to those of you who wonder what to think about Geraldo - He's an idiot. Always. All the time. Sometimes things that sound like they make sense fall from his mouth. It's an accident. He's an idiot. All the time. An idiot.

I hope this clears things up."

It clears things up only until some folks here see Geraldo masquerading as 'Super Patriot' with the troops (that is when he's NOT drawing troop movement maps in the sand, or pretending he's been under attack)...

Then all is forgotten of a man whose credentials is best described as a human cartoon character.

[Astronaut]

Jackson is a sick, pedophile freak. He will make a fine wife for someone in prison.

[G.Mason]

" Geraldo Rivera is the 'Enquirer' of news reporters."

Don't you think Fox is #1 because they give a little bit for everybody?

They aren't deliberately trying to lessen audience counts by appealing only to sane people.

There are plenty of whore masters out there that will listen to Whorealdo "Capone Vault" Rivera. ;)

[granite]

One would think that chair to the head he took a few years back would have knocked some sense into him.......

[Former Military Chick]

I caught the giggle, and perhaps you are right, thanks.