Jermaine Jackson addresses the media on Monday (January 12)
Photo: CBS


Come Friday, Michael Jackson will be arraigned on child-molestation charges, and his fans are planning to be there. Jackson's older brother Jermaine announced a plan on Monday to have a caravan of buses and cars bring fans from across the country and around the world to the Santa Maria, California, courthouse where Michael will enter his plea.

Thanking fans for supporting the under-fire superstar "at this difficult time," Jermaine spoke on behalf of the Jackson family during a press conference in front of his parents' home in Encino, California, Monday morning (January 12). "He is innocent, my brother is innocent, one thousand percent innocent," he said. "My mother, my father, my sisters, my brothers are overwhelmed at the outpouring of support from the fans. It is a testament, a true testament to Michael's messages of love and inclusion, that so many people of diverse backgrounds are traveling around the globe to support him."

Jermaine, who declined to take questions, noted that many fans who couldn't make the trip had sent "their prayers and best wishes" for the singer. About a thousand fans are expected to gather at the courthouse, according to the Michael Jackson Fan Club "Fan Watch" Web site.

"We love you, we know you love Michael, we love Michael," Jermaine said. "We accept your support and your prayers with our deepest gratitude."

The fan drive is being organized by the Friends of Michael Jackson Committee, and represented by the singer's latest spokesperson, Kevin McLin. Jackson fan clubs are also organizing a pre-arraignment gathering "with the purpose of connecting, making extra signs, and discussions on how to talk to media," according to one fan site. The pre-arraignment gathering is to be held Thursday in Solvang, near Santa Maria, at the Royal Copenhagen Inn, which has a special rate for Jackson fans.

While Jackson's fans plan their gathering, the singer's inner circle held its own meeting Monday at a hotel in Beverly Hills, in which some two dozen advisors, managers, spokespeople, lawyers and accountants attended. Leading the meeting was Jackson's criminal defense attorney Mark Geragos, and on his agenda, among other things, was to reign in "Team Jackson" and deal with leaks to the media. According to footage of the meeting, at the head of the table was Leonard Muhammad, while other members of the Nation of Islam were in an area outside the suite. Also at the meeting were additional members of the Geragos law firm, Jackson's accountant, music manager and civil lawyer.

Meanwhile, former Jackson confidant Rabbi Shmuley Boteach and Court TV reporter Diane Dimond have both been shopping proposals to New York publishers in the hopes of getting book deals out of the scandal. Boteach, whose proposal seems more skewed toward Jackson's side, offers to provide a collection of conversations he's had with the singer over the years, according to one publisher. Dimond's would-be book, on the other hand, alleges abuse on the part of the singer against more than just the boy at the center of the latest charges, promising to uncover "how Michael Jackson is able to meet, befriend, then bed young boys — right under their parents' noses," even up to the day Neverland was searched, which she claims was a day of debauchery for the singer involving "lots of booze, a bevy of boys, purple silk pajamas, and a Las Vegas hotel which has now forever banned the King of Pop," according to the proposal.

Jackson's spokesperson and the Green Valley Ranch Hotel and Casino in Henderson, Nevada, where Jackson had been staying at the time of the Neverland search, didn't return calls for comment.

"Judging Jackson: The Arraignment

diane dimond is a fucking cow. and rabbi schmuley...please, if he was any kind of 'man of God' he would have more dignity and respect. not for michael jackson, but for himself. this shows how greedy and money oriented he is.

those idiot fans are gonna do more harm then good.

cborgman said:

exactly.

I think I'm going to try and arrange a support rally for the poor, non-famous alleged pederast down the street. Wonder how well THAT will go down.

"We love you, we know you love Michael, we love Michael," Jermaine said. "We accept your support and your prayers with our deepest gratitude."

Translation: "I have no career, and I need money. Maybe Michael has some money he doesn't need. Let's see how far I can get my tongue up his ass."
[This message was edited Mon Jan 12 18:42:07 PST 2004 by VoicesCarry]

VoicesCarry said:

Are you Jordie Chandler?

Cloudbuster said:

You'd be forgiven for thinking so.

Marrk said: