The Nation of Islam is rallying to support Michael Jackson and has begun handling some security for the pop star as he prepares to defend himself on child molestation charges, sources said.
When defense lawyer Mark Geragos held a news conference on Jackson's behalf after charges were announced on Dec. 18, one of those standing behind him was Leonard F. Muhammad, identified on the Nation of Islam's Web site as its chief of staff. The group also handled security for a Dec. 20 party at Jackson's Neverland estate, sources close to the Jackson camp said.
The sources, speaking on condition of anonymity, said the Chicago-based group's involvement may extend into Jackson's financial affairs. But the group, after receiving inquiries from reporters, issued a statement Monday strongly denying that it has taken over some of Jackson's business affairs or that it is taking a central role in his defense strategy.
"The Nation of Islam, in response to several inquiries, has said today that it has no official business or professional relationship with Mr. Michael Jackson," said a statement issued by The Final Call, the group's newspaper. "The Nation of Islam joins thousands of other people in wishing him well."
Geragos also denied any central role for the group in aiding Jackson.
"They are not part of his defense," he said. "I'm certainly not pushing away support from anyone, but I don't ask people what their religious affiliation is when they offer support.
"A lot of people have reached out to Michael," he said.
Geragos also downplayed Muhammad's presence at the Dec. 18 news conference: "He's one of Michael's supporters."
Sources who have been close to the Jackson camp and who are familiar with the entertainer's financial affairs said Nation of Islam members handled security during the Dec. 20 Neverland party.
As the Nation of Islam asserted itself, many of Jackson's regular advisers were unable to gain access to the singer, the sources said.
In a separate development on Monday, longtime Jackson spokesman Stuart Backerman said he resigned because of what he called "strategic differences." He refused to comment on the reports that the Nation of Islam had become involved with the Jackson camp.
Geragos said Backerman was fired five days ago because he spoke to the news media during the Jackson family get-together Dec. 20 at Neverland, the entertainer's estate near Santa Barbara.
Chinese President Xi Jinping (習近平) is to visit Russia next month for a summit of the BRICS bloc of developing economies, Chinese Minister of Foreign Affairs Wang Yi (王毅) said on Thursday, a move that comes as Moscow and Beijing seek to counter the West’s global influence. Xi’s visit to Russia would be his second since the Kremlin sent troops into Ukraine in February 2022. China claims to take a neutral position in the conflict, but it has backed the Kremlin’s contentions that Russia’s action was provoked by the West, and it continues to supply key components needed by Moscow for
Japan scrambled fighter jets after Russian aircraft flew around the archipelago for the first time in five years, Tokyo said yesterday. From Thursday morning to afternoon, the Russian Tu-142 aircraft flew from the sea between Japan and South Korea toward the southern Okinawa region, the Japanese Ministry of Defense said in a statement. They then traveled north over the Pacific Ocean and finished their journey off the northern island of Hokkaido, it added. The planes did not enter Japanese airspace, but flew over an area subject to a territorial dispute between Japan and Russia, a ministry official said. “In response, we mobilized Air Self-Defense
CRITICISM: ‘One has to choose the lesser of two evils,’ Pope Francis said, as he criticized Trump’s anti-immigrant policies and Harris’ pro-choice position Pope Francis on Friday accused both former US president Donald Trump and US Vice President Kamala Harris of being “against life” as he returned to Rome from a 12-day tour of the Asia-Pacific region. The 87-year-old pontiff’s comments on the US presidential hopefuls came as he defied health concerns to connect with believers from the jungle of Papua New Guinea to the skyscrapers of Singapore. It was Francis’ longest trip in duration and distance since becoming head of the world’s nearly 1.4 billion Roman Catholics more than 11 years ago. Despite the marathon visit, he held a long and spirited
The pitch is a classic: A young celebrity with no climbing experience spends a year in hard training and scales Mount Everest, succeeding against some — if not all — odds. French YouTuber Ines Benazzouz, known as Inoxtag, brought the story to life with a two-hour-plus documentary about his year preparing for the ultimate challenge. The film, titled Kaizen, proved a smash hit on its release last weekend. Young fans queued around the block to get into a preview screening in Paris, with Inoxtag’s management on Monday saying the film had smashed the box office record for a special cinema
RSS