Scarborough Country' for Feb. 24
Read the complete transcript to Tuesday's showUpdated: 1:40 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2004
Guests: Sid Rosenberg, Stacie Burns, Raoul Felder, Pat LaLama, Marc Schneier, Maria Thomas, Jennifer Giroux, William Donahue, Anne Graham Lotz
...
SCARBOROUGH: The SmokingGun.com reported today that Michael Jackson and his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, filed court documents last Friday in which they agreed to the appointment of a retired Los Angeles judge to handle a trial on a new–quote–“family law matter.”
It‘s been well documented that Rowe, who is Jewish, is not happy about her children being exposed to the Nation of Islam, who many say is an anti-Semitic group, and that she may actually challenge Michael Jackson‘s custody of their kids.
Pat LaLama from “Celebrity Justice” joins us now for the very latest.
Pat, it is getting ugly again in Neverland. What do you know about this latest dust-up?
PAT LALAMA, “CELEBRITY JUSTICE”: Well, welcome to the West Coast freak show once again. There are script writers, wanna-be script writers who can‘t come up with these kinds of scripts to sell.
The reality is surreal, in fact. Now, all of a sudden, there‘s an interest. She has two claims, one of them you just mentioned, the issue of the Nation of Islam. She converted to Judaism. She is very concerned about their alleged or, in some people‘s prospects, very, very clear anti-Semitism. She doesn‘t want that group to have influence over the children, should something happen to Michael Jackson.
Secondly, this is really interesting to me, Joe. She heard rumors that he went into rehab over the weekend, and that concerned her. Now, let me get this straight. Your father–excuse me, your ex–dangles a baby over a balcony. There is no noise. She does a documentary with Martin Bashir and said she‘d have another child with Michael Jackson in a heartbeat.
There‘s all these allegations of child molestation. However, the one thing–the two things that spark her are the Nation of Islam, and secondly, if it is true that he decided to go to rehab, wouldn‘t that be considered a positive move to adjust his behavior? So I‘m a little bit perplexed by all this.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, it‘s bizarre.
And I want to play for what you Debbie Rowe had to say earlier on what she told a British journalist about Michael‘s ability as a father. Actually, I‘ll read you the full screen.
She said: “There could be no other person that could be a better father and I resent anyone making allegations that he‘s not a parent and that he‘s not a proper parent.”
And yet again, this is a guy, as you said, that dangles babies over balcony ledges, a guy that‘s been charged with these child molestation accusations, a guy who was charged 10 years ago, at least in the press of them. Explain to me exactly what‘s going on behind the scenes. Could she possibly be shaking Michael Jackson down for money now, too?
LALAMA: Well, it‘s interesting that you should say that. And the bottom line, Joe, is that the devil is in the details. And the details are something we really aren‘t privy to, because we don‘t know what deal she allegedly made with Jackson all those years ago, when she bore his first two children. The rumors, the reports are that she accepted a large sum of money.
And you have to understand the history with Debbie Rowe, for example. She was the nurse to Michael Jackson‘s very, very famous dermatologist, Arnie Klein. So she had built up a friendship with Michael Jackson. And it seems almost as if he said, oh, gee, she‘d be good stock for some babies, and then she had two children.
They got married first, of course. But I don‘t know that anyone really bought that it was a romance. So, if her initial endeavor was for money, then, boy, I‘m scared. I‘m scared about trying to get children back. It‘s not right for us to judge perhaps what was in her mind at that time. Maybe she really wanted to do a favor for Michael Jackson. But if it was all about money, then I feel very sorry that these two children are pawns in this horrid chess game.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: Let me bring in Raoul Felder.
And let me ask you, Mr. Felder, do you believe these children are, as Pat said, pawns in this horrendous chess game?
RAOUL FELDER, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, they‘re victims, certainly, I think more than pawns.
Joe, part of the problem is that this lady comes forward, and on the surface, a very sensible point. He is alleged to be a degenerate and all these things. But where was she when she gave him custody? That‘s like Claude Rains in “Casablanca” being shocked to find out gambling is going on.
And she may be opening a can of worms. This happens frequently, that someone will complain that the spouse is abusive to children. Then they come and take the children away from both of them, because they say, if that spouse was abusive, what were you doing sitting by all these years?
SCARBOROUGH: Yes, and, of course, as we said before, you had Michael Jackson dangling the baby over the ledge. You have these child molestation charges. Is a judge really going to look at her charges and her claims about being concerned about the Nation of Islam and say, well, gee, I‘m going to give you the kids because of that?
FELDER: Well, being concerned about the Nation of Islam and its anti-Semitism vis-a-vis custody and his being a fit father is like being concerned about a pimple when somebody has cancer.
There‘s an overriding question of his ability to be a father. Now, when you go to these rent-a-judges, they‘re not going to take children away. The people that take children away are the public authorities and judges. They‘re going there with some kind of sort of quasi-high-powered mediation where somebody is going to resolve some differences they have. But that‘s not the full game here.
It seems to me, at some point, the child welfare authorities in California should be stepping in.
SCARBOROUGH: All right, Well, thank you so much for being with us, Mr. Felder.
FELDER: Thank you.
SCARBOROUGH: Also appreciate you being with us, Pat LaLama.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4372624/
Read the complete transcript to Tuesday's showUpdated: 1:40 p.m. ET Feb. 25, 2004
Guests: Sid Rosenberg, Stacie Burns, Raoul Felder, Pat LaLama, Marc Schneier, Maria Thomas, Jennifer Giroux, William Donahue, Anne Graham Lotz
...
SCARBOROUGH: The SmokingGun.com reported today that Michael Jackson and his ex-wife, Debbie Rowe, filed court documents last Friday in which they agreed to the appointment of a retired Los Angeles judge to handle a trial on a new–quote–“family law matter.”
It‘s been well documented that Rowe, who is Jewish, is not happy about her children being exposed to the Nation of Islam, who many say is an anti-Semitic group, and that she may actually challenge Michael Jackson‘s custody of their kids.
Pat LaLama from “Celebrity Justice” joins us now for the very latest.
Pat, it is getting ugly again in Neverland. What do you know about this latest dust-up?
PAT LALAMA, “CELEBRITY JUSTICE”: Well, welcome to the West Coast freak show once again. There are script writers, wanna-be script writers who can‘t come up with these kinds of scripts to sell.
The reality is surreal, in fact. Now, all of a sudden, there‘s an interest. She has two claims, one of them you just mentioned, the issue of the Nation of Islam. She converted to Judaism. She is very concerned about their alleged or, in some people‘s prospects, very, very clear anti-Semitism. She doesn‘t want that group to have influence over the children, should something happen to Michael Jackson.
Secondly, this is really interesting to me, Joe. She heard rumors that he went into rehab over the weekend, and that concerned her. Now, let me get this straight. Your father–excuse me, your ex–dangles a baby over a balcony. There is no noise. She does a documentary with Martin Bashir and said she‘d have another child with Michael Jackson in a heartbeat.
There‘s all these allegations of child molestation. However, the one thing–the two things that spark her are the Nation of Islam, and secondly, if it is true that he decided to go to rehab, wouldn‘t that be considered a positive move to adjust his behavior? So I‘m a little bit perplexed by all this.
SCARBOROUGH: Well, it‘s bizarre.
And I want to play for what you Debbie Rowe had to say earlier on what she told a British journalist about Michael‘s ability as a father. Actually, I‘ll read you the full screen.
She said: “There could be no other person that could be a better father and I resent anyone making allegations that he‘s not a parent and that he‘s not a proper parent.”
And yet again, this is a guy, as you said, that dangles babies over balcony ledges, a guy that‘s been charged with these child molestation accusations, a guy who was charged 10 years ago, at least in the press of them. Explain to me exactly what‘s going on behind the scenes. Could she possibly be shaking Michael Jackson down for money now, too?
LALAMA: Well, it‘s interesting that you should say that. And the bottom line, Joe, is that the devil is in the details. And the details are something we really aren‘t privy to, because we don‘t know what deal she allegedly made with Jackson all those years ago, when she bore his first two children. The rumors, the reports are that she accepted a large sum of money.
And you have to understand the history with Debbie Rowe, for example. She was the nurse to Michael Jackson‘s very, very famous dermatologist, Arnie Klein. So she had built up a friendship with Michael Jackson. And it seems almost as if he said, oh, gee, she‘d be good stock for some babies, and then she had two children.
They got married first, of course. But I don‘t know that anyone really bought that it was a romance. So, if her initial endeavor was for money, then, boy, I‘m scared. I‘m scared about trying to get children back. It‘s not right for us to judge perhaps what was in her mind at that time. Maybe she really wanted to do a favor for Michael Jackson. But if it was all about money, then I feel very sorry that these two children are pawns in this horrid chess game.
(CROSSTALK)
SCARBOROUGH: Let me bring in Raoul Felder.
And let me ask you, Mr. Felder, do you believe these children are, as Pat said, pawns in this horrendous chess game?
RAOUL FELDER, FAMILY LAW ATTORNEY: Well, they‘re victims, certainly, I think more than pawns.
Joe, part of the problem is that this lady comes forward, and on the surface, a very sensible point. He is alleged to be a degenerate and all these things. But where was she when she gave him custody? That‘s like Claude Rains in “Casablanca” being shocked to find out gambling is going on.
And she may be opening a can of worms. This happens frequently, that someone will complain that the spouse is abusive to children. Then they come and take the children away from both of them, because they say, if that spouse was abusive, what were you doing sitting by all these years?
SCARBOROUGH: Yes, and, of course, as we said before, you had Michael Jackson dangling the baby over the ledge. You have these child molestation charges. Is a judge really going to look at her charges and her claims about being concerned about the Nation of Islam and say, well, gee, I‘m going to give you the kids because of that?
FELDER: Well, being concerned about the Nation of Islam and its anti-Semitism vis-a-vis custody and his being a fit father is like being concerned about a pimple when somebody has cancer.
There‘s an overriding question of his ability to be a father. Now, when you go to these rent-a-judges, they‘re not going to take children away. The people that take children away are the public authorities and judges. They‘re going there with some kind of sort of quasi-high-powered mediation where somebody is going to resolve some differences they have. But that‘s not the full game here.
It seems to me, at some point, the child welfare authorities in California should be stepping in.
SCARBOROUGH: All right, Well, thank you so much for being with us, Mr. Felder.
FELDER: Thank you.
SCARBOROUGH: Also appreciate you being with us, Pat LaLama.
Source: http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/4372624/