The 2003 Michael Jackson Interview Moment About Kids That HAUNTED Him, with Geragos and Murphy

Added: 2026-05-13

[00:00:00]There's a reason I brought in Matt now, because the the worst sound bite. I mean, it's to me it's worse than anything we heard from Wade, from James Safechuck, from the maid.

[00:00:13]It's from Michael himself. And Mark Geragos mentioned it at the beginning of our discussion as the thing from the Martin Bashir sit-down that would change the trajectory of Michael's life, would get the authorities interested in him, he would get charged, that there was a possibility of losing custody of his children.

[00:00:32]The drugs, the ultimately early untimely death.

[00:00:36]And it was this crazy-ass exchange I'm going to show here in sound four.

[00:00:42]Can you understand why people would worry about that?

[00:00:45]Cuz they're ignorant.

[00:00:47]But it Is it really appropriate for a 44-year-old man to share a bedroom with a child who is not related to him at all?

[00:00:56]>> That's a beautiful thing. That's That's not a worrying thing? Why should they be worrying? Who's the criminal? Who's Who's Jack the Ripper in the room? Did you ever sleep in the bed with them?

[00:01:05]Nah.

[00:01:06]But I have slept in a bed with many children. I sleep in a bed with all of them. When Macaulay Culkin were little, Kiri Kieran Culkin would sleep on this side, Macaulay Culkin is on this side, his sister's in there. We're all We just jamming the bed.

[00:01:18]>> Is that right, Michael? He's very right.

[00:01:21]It's very loving. That's what the world needs now. More love.

[00:01:28]Mark. I will tell you at the time Every sane person recoiled.

[00:01:33]>> Yes, and I will tell you at the time that that was one of the reasons that the calculation was made to do that two-part 60 Minutes interview because uh that was uh to my mind at least was an insurmountable or close to insurmountable thing to get over. I By the way, why is it always in my cases that it's ABC who does the interview that ends up I have to deal with later.

[00:01:59]I don't know what it is, whether it's Martin Bashir or Diane Sawyer, but it's always it always seems to be a >> why. I know the answer.

[00:02:06]>> What?

[00:02:07]I know the answer because ABC does a lot of crime.

[00:02:10]It to [clears throat] its credit. I mean, I think all three of us are very into crime and ABC does way more of that than CBS or NBC even which has Dateline, but ABC that's kind of one of their main beats. So, I think that's why.

[00:02:22]>> you. I all this I was this many years old before I understood that. Thank you. Cuz it always seems [laughter] it always seems like I'm fighting ABC to get the outtakes from the interview that the client did before I met the client. So.

[00:02:35]>> [laughter] >> I think that's why. Matt, I've got to ask you because in in the course of your lifelong career as a prosecutor, you did a lot of sex crimes. We've talked about that. And I'm sure you've got a thought. You're a Californian as well on the Michael Jackson situation. I mean, there's been Now, we we talked about him being accused in 1993 for an eight-figure settlement that plaintiff went away.

[00:03:01]Then there was an actual criminal child trial by another accuser in 2003. He was found not guilty in that case by a jury.

[00:03:08]That was the one in which he moonwalked on the van the day of his indictment. Um now we have at least these two other accusers coming forward in Leaving Neverland, Wade and James who we just went through.

[00:03:19]Now we have this family of four kids um who we discussed with Mark who had been like his second family, the Cascios, saying it happened to all four of them even though they've all all these people had been denying that it had ever happened and had been great witnesses for Michael, not wanting to admit what they say is the truth. So, as a prosecutor, how does all this grab you? Well, as a prosecutor you always want um as many statements from the defendant as possible. And you know what this the Michael Jackson thing, I think we were all shocked back in those days when we saw that interview and and much much credit to Martin Bashir's because he asked him the tough questions.

[00:04:00]And he kind of he kind of asked exactly what we were all thinking in the middle of that. Like, is that really appropriate? And we saw the answer. Um My boss He's like a mentor of mine, Lou Rosenblum. When I left the DA's office and he'd been in private practice for 6 or 7 years, he hit me with a real gem that I know Mark is going to appreciate here. He said, "Always remember, never forget, the way these people think doesn't stop simply because they've gotten into trouble and now you've decided to represent them." You know, it's and you see these interviews by people whose currency has been the media, like Michael Jackson. Or like Prince Andrew. I'm sure you saw that with the the Guthrie interview. That was the It was he's still suffering the consequences of that absolute meltdown.

[00:04:46]Kind of like we saw with the the Michael Jackson clip we just we just watched. It doesn't take much to shift the public perception. Another Another case that's out there right now that I was talking to Harvey Levin about yesterday, Mark, and that's this David case. As soon as Nathan Hockman came out and said, "We've got child pornography on the phone," everybody ran for the exits. So there's it doesn't take much, especially in cases like this. Um You know, as a prosecutor you always want them talking and you want them talking for as long as possible because if they say something like that, you've got a real weapon in your arsenal when it comes to prosecuting them.

[00:05:23]>> Mhm.

[00:05:24]I'm thinking about Alex Murdaugh, who insisted on taking the stand at his family annihilation trial in South Carolina. It was a disaster for him. He thought he could outwit the prosecutors, just like they all do, and none can. You know, it's like It's like my old pal from Jones Day used to say He had a great story of being across from the CEO of a company who is suing a Jones Day client. So, he was with that CEO who was suing his client and the CEO's lawyer. And it was like the eve of trial. Are we going to settle this or aren't we? And he looked at that CEO and who was refusing to settle and my friend knew the guy ought to settle and said to him, "Look, is it possible that when I get you on the stand, you will have a very, very good day and I will have a very, very bad day?"

[00:06:16]No, it's not possible.

[00:06:18]>> [laughter] >> It's not It's not possible. Like you're not going to outwit me. And sure enough, that guy settled as they all should. It's like if you have a really talented civil attorney crossing you or if you have a lifelong prosecutor who knows his stuff, you're going down. You're not going to outsmart them at >> There's probably nobody in the world right now, Megan, more than the guy that's sitting sitting there with us right now, Mark Erogot, who's probably had that hard conversation again and again. And as he sits there, he can't talk about it because it's all probably clients he's We all know or heard of and he can't reveal any attorney-client and I know he's just jumping out of his skin right now cuz he's got so many examples of that that he can't share. But yeah, that's uh Scott Peterson >> Oh, so just so many I knew I knew she was going to go there.

[00:07:05]Well, my father, who was my hero and mentor, used to say, "It's a rare case for the defense that gets better after the prosecution rests." And boy, isn't that the truth.

[00:07:18]Thanks for watching this clip. If you're new here, subscribe. We got a whole lot more goodness where that came from. We'd love to hear your feedback. You can email me, too. Megan, m e g y n at megynkelly.com, or just leave a comment below. But join the community by becoming a subscriber. We really, really value your input and your support. We may not always agree, but we are always going to talk about it and respect. No BS, no agenda, no fear. When the dollar's convertibility into gold ended in 1971, gold was fixed at 35 bucks an ounce.

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