Michael Jackson says he was mistreated during his recent arrest on child molestation charges, and that the police search of his Neverland ranch so violated his privacy that he will never live there again.
In his first interview since his arrest -- broadcast on Sunday on the CBS network -- Jackson also vehemently denied all the charges, while still insisting that he saw nothing wrong in sharing his bed with a child.
Describing his surrender to the authorities last month, Jackson said he was "manhandled very roughly" by police whom he accused of deliberately handcuffing him in a vicious way, hurting his wrists, arms and back.
"My shoulder is dislocated, literally. It's hurting me very badly. I'm in pain all the time," he said.
"Now I can't move. It keeps me from sleeping at night," he said.
He also accused police of locking him in a feces-smeared rest room and taunting him.
"There was doo-doo, feces thrown all over the walls, the floor, the ceiling. And it stunk so bad," he said.
"Then one of the policemen came by the window. And he made a sarcastic remark. He said, `Smell -- does it smell good enough for you in there? How do you like the smell?' And I just simply said, `It's alright. It's okay.' So I just sat there and waited," Jackson said.
During the interview, which was taped on Christmas Day in a Los Angeles hotel room, Jackson appeared wary and strained, and on several occasions questioning was interrupted by his lawyer whose voice could be heard off-screen.
"What time is it?" Jackson said at one point, breaking off from the interview to talk to an assistant.
"I'm hurting. I don't feel good," he said.
Jackson, 45, is charged with seven counts of molesting a boy under the age of 14 and two counts of plying him with alcohol beforehand.
Each of the child molestation charges carries a jail sentence of between three and eight years on conviction, while those of administering an intoxicating agent to a minor carry a maximum sentence of three years each.
Currently free on US$3 million bail, Jackson is due to appear in court on Jan. 16 for an arraignment at which he could enter a plea.
During the police search of his ranch for evidence, Jackson said his bedroom had been "totally trashed," and that the police had cut open his mattress with knives.
"I won't live there ever again," he said.
"It's a house now. It's not a home anymore. I'll only visit," he said.
Denying all the charges of molestation, Jackson said he would rather slit his own wrists than harm a child.
"I would never hurt a child. It's totally false. I was outraged," Jackson said.
"When I see children, I see the face of God," he said.
But asked if, in his current circumstances, he thought it was acceptable to share his bed with children, Jackson replied: "Of course. Why not?
"If you're going to be a pedophile, if you're going to be Jack the Ripper, if you're going to be a murderer, it's not a good idea. That, I am not," he said.
"What's wrong with sharing your bed? I didn't say I slept in the bed. Even if I did sleep in the bed, it's OK. I am not doing anything sexual to a child," he said.
The nation’s fastest supercomputer, Nano 4 (晶創26), is scheduled to be launched in the third quarter, and would be used to train large language models in finance and national defense sectors, the National Center for High-Performance Computing (NCHC) said. The supercomputer, which would operate at about 86.05 petaflops, is being tested at a new cloud computing center in the Southern Taiwan Science Park in Tainan. The exterior of the server cabinet features chip circuitry patterns overlaid with a map of Taiwan, highlighting the nation’s central position in the semiconductor industry. The center also houses Taiwania 2, Taiwania 3, Forerunner 1 and
MORE POPULAR: Taiwan Pass sales increased by 59 percent during the first quarter compared with the same period last year, the Tourism Administration said The Tourism Administration yesterday said that it has streamlined the Taiwan Pass, with two versions available for purchase beginning today. The tourism agency has made the pass available to international tourists since 2024, allowing them to access the high-speed rail, Taiwan Railway Corp services, four MRT systems and four Taiwan Tourist Shuttles. Previously, five types of Taiwan Pass were available, but some tourists have said that the offerings were too complicated. The agency said only two types of Taiwan Pass would be available, starting from a three-day pass with the high-speed rail and a three-day pass with Taiwan Railway Corp. The former costs NT$2,800
FIRST TRIAL: Ko’s lawyers sought reduced bail and other concessions, as did other defendants, but the bail judge denied their requests, citing the severity of the sentences Former Taipei mayor Ko Wen-je (柯文哲) was yesterday sentenced to 17 years in prison and had his civil rights suspended for six years over corruption, embezzlement and other charges. Taipei prosecutors in December last year asked the Taipei District Court for a combined 28-year, six-month sentence for the four cases against Ko, who founded the Taiwan People’s Party (TPP). The cases were linked to the Core Pacific City (京華城購物中心) redevelopment project and the mismanagement of political donations. Other defendants convicted on separate charges included Chinese Nationalist Party (KMT) Taipei City Councilor Angela Ying (應曉薇), who was handed a 15-year, six-month sentence; Core Pacific
J-6 REMODEL: The converted drones are part of Beijing’s expanding mix of airpower weapons, including bombers with stand-off missiles and UAV swarms, the report said China has stationed obsolete supersonic fighters converted to attack drones at six air bases close to the Taiwan Strait, a report published this month by the Arlington, Virginia-based Mitchell Institute for Aerospace Studies said. Satellite imagery of the airfields from the institute’s “China Airpower Tracker” shows what appear to be lines of stubby, swept-winged aircraft matching the shape of J-6 fighters that first flew with the Chinese People’s Liberation Army (PLA) Air Force in the 1960s. Since their conversion to drones, the aircraft have been identified at five bases in China’s Fujian Province and one in Guangdong Province, the report said. J.