Transcript (Rush)
Show: Your World w/ Neil Cavuto — Fox News Alert
Air date: Thursday, November 11, 2004
GUEST HOST IN FOR CAVUTO: This is a Fox News Alert. Right now in Times Square there is a pro-Michael Jackson rally, as fans of the King of Pop protest Eminem’s new video that pokes fun at Michael Jackson in a very personal way. Fox News’s Geraldo Rivera is in the middle of it all in Times Square with the latest and a possible surprise guest. Hi there Geraldo.
GERALDO RIVERA HOST OF AT LARGE W/GERALDO: Hi Teri. Here I am just in the shadow of MTV. This is a group of Michael Jackson supporters as you mentioned including some of the officials of his fan club. But they’re here to protest the music channel’s continuing refusal to pull that controversial video by Eminem.
Called ‘Just Lose It’ , the video is a savage even racist parody of the embattled King of Pop. It’s so bad that Black Entertainment television and some other media outlets have decided to yank it. MTV, though, is refusing. And so this group of fans have gathered.
And I think we may have, on the telephone right now, a surprise called in his first live interview on network television–at least the year as far as I know–I believe Michael Jackson is there. Are you there Michael?
MICHAEL JACKSON KING OF POP: How are you Geraldo?
[claps and yells from the crowd]
RIVERA: Ok buddy. Let me ask you how do you feel, Michael, about the continuing support you’ve gotten from your fans despite all you’ve gone through?
JACKSON: Well Geraldo, it’s because of my fans that I’m calling you today. I mean I feel they’re the best fans in the world and I decided rather than have anyone else speak for me, that I would do it myself, you know. And I wanna thank my fans for their strong support over the years. They could’ve been anywhere today, you know, and they chose to be in New York in Times Square.
And I wanna thank them from the bottom of my heart. They’ve written thousands and thousands of letters and have made hundreds of calls regarding the Eminem video. And I love them so, so much. In London over 4,000 people showed up on my behalf.
I want to thank Reverend Jessie Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Minister Farrakhan, The Source, Steve Harvey, Bob Johnson and BET, Cathy Hughes and Radio One. All of the many others that have supported me.
Geraldo I also wanna thank you for your friendship and everything. All the wonderful things you’ve been doing. Thank you so much. And I made my feelings clear about the Eminem video; that it’s demeaning and disrespectful. But I also wanna make it clear that it’s not just about Michael Jackson, but a pattern of disrespect that he has shown to our community. He needs to stop it and he needs to stop it now.
RIVERA: Michael. Let me just say that I support you because I believe that you’re getting a raw deal not just by Eminem but by a lot of other aspects of life that I don’t need to mention. But let me go on the positive side for a minute. What do you have coming up? Anything that we can announce to these people–something, give them some optimism?
JACKSON: Yes. I’m always working on wonderful music. I’ve been working on music today. I’m in the process of making plans to do some other wonderful things that I’ll be announcing to the fans very, very soon. And I look forward to that Geraldo, you know. I’ll give you a call too, soon.
RIVERA: I bet you do. Ok, please do. But before I let you go, anything else you want to say?
JACKSON: I love my fans. I love you and thank you so much for being there on my behalf. Thank you Geraldo again. Thank you so, so much.
[claps and yells from the crowd]
RIVERA: Ok Michael thank you. Michael Jackson everybody. So back to Teri in the NY studio. Teri, you know, one thing about Michael Jackson, the constitution of the United States even applies to him. And that’s why in a sense, I’ve picked up the gauntlet in this case. It really seems so unfair that anyone can say anything they want about him including about his whatever and it’s gonna poison the atmosphere in that jury room.
It’s affecting him in a way I think is very malignant and very unfair. I think–if his name was ‘Jackson Michael’ and not ‘Michael Jackson’ I don’t think a lot of what the D.A. etc has been doing would be happening.
But that was–you heard him, Michael Jackson’s first live appearance on network television at least a year, albeit only a ‘phoner’. But that’s it from the rally for him in the shadow of Times Square–in the shadow of MTV in Times Square. Teri, back to you.
HOST: Geraldo before we let you do–thanks so much for that Fox news exclusive. I also wanna ask you why do you think Michael Jackson decided to come out now to defend his image?
RIVERA: Well he’s really, you know, I don’t wanna speak for him–he’s in a tough spot. And he’s got the gag order and he’s really restricted in anything he can say. Maybe in a way this fight against Eminem and this racist video is kinda picking a surrogate enemy for the fight he really wants to fight.
But the point is fairness applies even to this guy. It doesn’t matter about personal style. It doesn’t matter about the type of music, whatever. You gotta treat people equally. He calls me, I think, because he knows I’m gonna give him a fair shake. I’m not gonna hit him with a kidney shot or rank him out. And I really do back him on the Eminem video. I think it’s really a wretched kinda ‘Black Sambo’ comedy that went out of style 30, 40, 50 years ago, thank God, in this country.
HOST: And you know Eminem also is trying to kick George Bush out of office–put his efforts behind that. Do they detect reference to that in Michael Jackson’s comments perhaps? Saying that Eminem has shown disrespect in lots of areas?
RIVERA: Exactly. Exactly. It’s not just about him. He’s the easiest target. But look at the way they’ve been hitting at George Bush and all the others. I’m not making common-cause between those two very different personalities, but you know, fair fighting is fair fighting. And they all deserve some equity in this, don’t you think Teri? At least that’s the way I believe. Back to you.
HOST: And they got it from you. Thank you so much Geraldo. As always, we appreciate it. A Fox news exclusive from our own Geraldo Rivera with that interview of Michael Jackson. The first network interview in over a year.
(Transcript by whisper)
Show: Your World w/ Neil Cavuto — Fox News Alert
Air date: Thursday, November 11, 2004
GUEST HOST IN FOR CAVUTO: This is a Fox News Alert. Right now in Times Square there is a pro-Michael Jackson rally, as fans of the King of Pop protest Eminem’s new video that pokes fun at Michael Jackson in a very personal way. Fox News’s Geraldo Rivera is in the middle of it all in Times Square with the latest and a possible surprise guest. Hi there Geraldo.
GERALDO RIVERA HOST OF AT LARGE W/GERALDO: Hi Teri. Here I am just in the shadow of MTV. This is a group of Michael Jackson supporters as you mentioned including some of the officials of his fan club. But they’re here to protest the music channel’s continuing refusal to pull that controversial video by Eminem.
Called ‘Just Lose It’ , the video is a savage even racist parody of the embattled King of Pop. It’s so bad that Black Entertainment television and some other media outlets have decided to yank it. MTV, though, is refusing. And so this group of fans have gathered.
And I think we may have, on the telephone right now, a surprise called in his first live interview on network television–at least the year as far as I know–I believe Michael Jackson is there. Are you there Michael?
MICHAEL JACKSON KING OF POP: How are you Geraldo?
[claps and yells from the crowd]
RIVERA: Ok buddy. Let me ask you how do you feel, Michael, about the continuing support you’ve gotten from your fans despite all you’ve gone through?
JACKSON: Well Geraldo, it’s because of my fans that I’m calling you today. I mean I feel they’re the best fans in the world and I decided rather than have anyone else speak for me, that I would do it myself, you know. And I wanna thank my fans for their strong support over the years. They could’ve been anywhere today, you know, and they chose to be in New York in Times Square.
And I wanna thank them from the bottom of my heart. They’ve written thousands and thousands of letters and have made hundreds of calls regarding the Eminem video. And I love them so, so much. In London over 4,000 people showed up on my behalf.
I want to thank Reverend Jessie Jackson, Rev. Al Sharpton, Minister Farrakhan, The Source, Steve Harvey, Bob Johnson and BET, Cathy Hughes and Radio One. All of the many others that have supported me.
Geraldo I also wanna thank you for your friendship and everything. All the wonderful things you’ve been doing. Thank you so much. And I made my feelings clear about the Eminem video; that it’s demeaning and disrespectful. But I also wanna make it clear that it’s not just about Michael Jackson, but a pattern of disrespect that he has shown to our community. He needs to stop it and he needs to stop it now.
RIVERA: Michael. Let me just say that I support you because I believe that you’re getting a raw deal not just by Eminem but by a lot of other aspects of life that I don’t need to mention. But let me go on the positive side for a minute. What do you have coming up? Anything that we can announce to these people–something, give them some optimism?
JACKSON: Yes. I’m always working on wonderful music. I’ve been working on music today. I’m in the process of making plans to do some other wonderful things that I’ll be announcing to the fans very, very soon. And I look forward to that Geraldo, you know. I’ll give you a call too, soon.
RIVERA: I bet you do. Ok, please do. But before I let you go, anything else you want to say?
JACKSON: I love my fans. I love you and thank you so much for being there on my behalf. Thank you Geraldo again. Thank you so, so much.
[claps and yells from the crowd]
RIVERA: Ok Michael thank you. Michael Jackson everybody. So back to Teri in the NY studio. Teri, you know, one thing about Michael Jackson, the constitution of the United States even applies to him. And that’s why in a sense, I’ve picked up the gauntlet in this case. It really seems so unfair that anyone can say anything they want about him including about his whatever and it’s gonna poison the atmosphere in that jury room.
It’s affecting him in a way I think is very malignant and very unfair. I think–if his name was ‘Jackson Michael’ and not ‘Michael Jackson’ I don’t think a lot of what the D.A. etc has been doing would be happening.
But that was–you heard him, Michael Jackson’s first live appearance on network television at least a year, albeit only a ‘phoner’. But that’s it from the rally for him in the shadow of Times Square–in the shadow of MTV in Times Square. Teri, back to you.
HOST: Geraldo before we let you do–thanks so much for that Fox news exclusive. I also wanna ask you why do you think Michael Jackson decided to come out now to defend his image?
RIVERA: Well he’s really, you know, I don’t wanna speak for him–he’s in a tough spot. And he’s got the gag order and he’s really restricted in anything he can say. Maybe in a way this fight against Eminem and this racist video is kinda picking a surrogate enemy for the fight he really wants to fight.
But the point is fairness applies even to this guy. It doesn’t matter about personal style. It doesn’t matter about the type of music, whatever. You gotta treat people equally. He calls me, I think, because he knows I’m gonna give him a fair shake. I’m not gonna hit him with a kidney shot or rank him out. And I really do back him on the Eminem video. I think it’s really a wretched kinda ‘Black Sambo’ comedy that went out of style 30, 40, 50 years ago, thank God, in this country.
HOST: And you know Eminem also is trying to kick George Bush out of office–put his efforts behind that. Do they detect reference to that in Michael Jackson’s comments perhaps? Saying that Eminem has shown disrespect in lots of areas?
RIVERA: Exactly. Exactly. It’s not just about him. He’s the easiest target. But look at the way they’ve been hitting at George Bush and all the others. I’m not making common-cause between those two very different personalities, but you know, fair fighting is fair fighting. And they all deserve some equity in this, don’t you think Teri? At least that’s the way I believe. Back to you.
HOST: And they got it from you. Thank you so much Geraldo. As always, we appreciate it. A Fox news exclusive from our own Geraldo Rivera with that interview of Michael Jackson. The first network interview in over a year.
(Transcript by whisper)
