Transcript..
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Positively Michael
PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT
Interview With Jermaine Jackson
Aired September 15, 2011 - 21:00 ET
THIS IS A RUSH TRANSCRIPT. THIS COPY MAY NOT BE IN ITS FINAL FORM AND MAY BE UPDATED.
PIERS MORGAN, CNN HOST: Tonight, what really happened to Michael Jackson.
JERMAINE JACKSON, MICHAEL JACKSON'S BROTHER: This is a story about greed and power.
MORGAN: Jermaine Jackson, who he blamed for his brother's death.
Do you think there may be some kind of cover-up?
JACKSON: What do you think? I would think that as a family member, yes.
MORGAN: The emotional true story of Michael's life.
JACKSON: It's like they pushed and pushed and pushed this bird who was injured, his wings were injured, and they wanted him to push him off the cliff and expected him to fly and he fell.
MORGAN: And his death.
JACKSON: What were they concerned about? Their money, their jobs or my brother's health?
MORGAN: The real story behind all those scandals.
JACKSON: If you don't think it hurt him when people called him "whacko jacko." When they called him crazy and this and that.
MORGAN: And the Jackson family behind closed doors.
JACKSON: The crap and the garbage that has been written about my family for so many years and all these other books that were unauthorized, and people saying things that didn't know us.
MORGAN: Jermaine Jackson, the primetime exclusive. This is PIERS MORGAN TONIGHT.
Jermaine, I want to start with the imminent trial of Conrad Murray, Dr. Conrad Murray. Obviously, hugely significant for you and your family and for the world to try and discover if through the process of this trial, we work out what really happened to your brother Michael.
As we approach the start of this trial, what are your feelings? JACKSON: My feelings are, just as well as the family, the truth is going to come out. And it's something that we've been long awaited for. And it's up to the point now where it's been a lot of speculation and hearsay, but I think we're all going to -- it's not going to bring closure but it's just going to give us a clear understanding of what really happened.
I think it's important that the fans and the public and -- as well as ourselves need to know what really happened. What took place. But there's so many things that happened that we weren't aware of as a family because we were kept away.
MORGAN: Do you think that Conrad Murray was solely responsible for your brother's death?
JACKSON: My gut feeling is the fact that Conrad was present during his death, there's a lot of questions to be answered. And we don't know yet. Until the trial unfolds and we sort of get the facts. Whether they'll come to the facts or not.
By doing the book, I got a clear understanding of a lot of things that I didn't know from the past. And how all these things came about with Michael's life and who he interacted with during his business and all those things. Up to present day.
MORGAN: I mean it seems to come down to this. I would imagine Conrad Murray's defense is going to be that he was encouraged to prescribe this Propofol drug to Michael that night. The drug that is believed to have killed him.
I would imagine that on your side you will be arguing as a family, and I'm sure the prosecutors will, too, that this was all Conrad Murray's decision. It then comes down to addiction. Whether Michael was addicted, what he was addicted to, and whether the prescription of this drug was just a part of that addiction. What do you think of that?
JACKSON: Well, I think that, first of all, being a cardiologist and not an anesthesiologist, there's a big difference. Conrad Murray (INAUDIBLE) had no business giving my brother Propofol. I just learned about this drug by doing the book.
In terms of them trying to say my brother was an addict or addicted, Michael, we know my brother was on prescription drugs. Whether it was Demerol because of pains, excruciating pain, and also him wanting to have sleep.
MORGAN: I mean that's the powerful part of your book.
JACKSON: Yes.
MORGAN: Michael just had this chronic inability to sleep. I mean I knew, having worked in the media for years, that he had a difficulty with it. I had no idea how bad it was. I mean he would literally be unable to get any sleep at all. Like night after night. JACKSON: Well, just coming off the stage and there's like 180,000 people out there and your adrenaline is going so high, and you're doing so much and it's hard to just put your head on the pillow and sleep because it just goes on and on, even after you're off the stage.
He always said that he didn't want to tour because he didn't want to have the problems of not sleeping and having to take Demerol and things like that, but he wasn't addicted to it, because his behavior wasn't to the point that he was an addict. He was looking for this, too, for sleep. And he trusted whoever administered these things to him. He trusted them.
MORGAN: I mean when people hear about drug addictions like with celebrities they tend to think, you know, cocaine or ecstasy or heroin, whatever it may be. Clearly, we're not in that kind of situation with Michael. These were not drugs to make him high or get any kind of high experience. The drugs he was taking were all for pain and all for sleep.
JACKSON: Exactly.
MORGAN: Could it have been, though, that by the end, after years of insomnia, that he had become, in a way, addicted to any type of drug that would get him the sleep he craved? Do you think that's possible?
JACKSON: I really don't know but I do know that it's a difference between Demerol and Propofol. And --
MORGAN: Tell me about Propofol, because you studied this for your book.
JACKSON: Yes.
MORGAN: And it's fascinating what you found out. It's a much stronger drug than people realize.
JACKSON: It a much stronger drug. It puts you out and it's basically used when people are under the knife and they want to not feel the pain. But the key to this is, when you're a proven anesthesiologist and you're in the proper settings, and the right medical field, you know how much to administer to the patient to keep him above the line, but not so above where he'll feel the pain. And keep them from going below the line.
MORGAN: Is Propofol considered by most physicians to be an anesthetic, rather than just a sleeping pill?
JACKSON: I really don't know. But I do know for Michael to get sleep he had to be knocked out. And this wasn't just this one night. This was administered in him on an ongoing basis, which was causing his body to deteriorate and him to act differently and have different symptoms in his behavior.