Marlon Brando believed Michael Jackson 'may have had something to do with kids' after he confronted him over sex abuse claims
The late acting icon Marlon Brando once had a dinner conversation with Michael Jackson about his relationship with his father and his sexuality while having dinner at the latter's Neverland Ranch in Santa Barbara County, California.
According to an episode of the podcast 'Telephone Stories: The Trials of Michael Jackson', that is scheduled to air on Sunday, September 1, Marlon voluntarily spoke with prosecutors on March 14, 1994, about the candid conversation he had with the 'Thriller' singer, according to a Chicago Tribune report.
Details of the actor's sworn statement were never made public as it was not included in Michael's trial in 2005 when he was acquitted on all counts of child molestation charges.
A transcript of the statement was recently acquired by Brandon Ogborn, one of the podcast's creator-producers and verified by Lauren Weis, one of the prosecutors who investigated the popstar back then and is now a judge.
Marlon said that he did not hold back while discussing controversial topics with the famous singer and, in many ways, Michel did not act his age during their conversation.
"We were talking about human emotions and where it all comes from. I could see from the way he behaved — he talked like that, and he speaks in a very peculiar way for a man who is as old as my oldest son, 35. And he didn’t want me to swear," the actor said.
The actor said that the singer was not comfortable discussing his sexuality. "I had asked him if he was a virgin and he sort of laughed and giggled, and he called me Brando," the actor said. "He said, 'Oh, Brando'. I said, 'Well, what do you do for sex?' And he was acting fussy and embarrassed."
However, the King of Pop's deepest emotions came out when Marlon delved into the topic of his father. "He said he hated his father and started to cry. So I pulled back. I started to tiptoe. I realized that he was in trouble with his life because he was living in a never-never land, and he couldn't [swear], and for a 35-year-old man not to do that, being around people in show business, seemed very odd," the actor said.
Marlon said that Michael admitted that he did not have any friend his own age and he did not like people in his age group. While Marlon initially had a distinct impression that the singer was gay, he soon changed his viewpoint.
"With this mode of behavior that’s been going on, I think it’s pretty reasonable to conclude that he may have had something to do with kids," Marlon told the prosecutors. "My impression was that he didn’t want to answer because he was frightened to answer me."
Marlon was brought in by prosecutors after the investigators learned about the "special relationship" he shared with Michael. While the singer was teaching him to dance, Marlon was teaching the musician to act. The actor's Miko was working as Michael's driver at the time.
Ogborn said that Marlon's statement was important in a way that other testimonies in the case weren't.
"Brando is different from everyone else who figures into the Jackson investigations," Ogborn said. "He was a famous actor and rich beyond measure. Unlike other people who have 'spoken out' against Jackson, Brando didn't want or need anything from the pop star, and he offers the DA insider information that never came to light. He's also a weirdo, like Michael Jackson. So he's to me a weirdo who understands another weirdo in a weird world."