Even the late pop star Michael Jackson was not safe from Donald Trump’s strange and random remarks. The GOP frontrunner made some rather awkward comments about the “real story” of the King of Pop’s emotional downward spiral, which his brother Jermaine did not appreciate.
Jermaine Jackson slams Donald Trump over his latest comments about Michael Jackson: https://t.co/vtSt02GYFI pic.twitter.com/ofKnFgZlr0
— E! Online (@eonline) February 20, 2016
During the second installment of CNN Republican Town Hall on Thursday night, Anderson Cooper served as the master of ceremonies and GOP presidentiables Jeb Bush, John Kasich, and Donald Trump attended. Each of the candidates was given 30 minutes to explain their views to the audience as well as take questions from them.
One of the issues that Trump discussed during his turn was his controversial Twitter feud with Pope Francis about building walls and ISIS attacking the Vatican. In typical Trump fashion, he downplayed the argument and claimed that the pontiff might have been “given false information” and misinterpreted his earlier remarks about building an impenetrable wall along the U.S.-Mexico border to keep illegal immigrants from getting in. He then praised the Pope for being “a great guy with a great personality and lots of energy.”
#DonaldTrump softens his tone after feud with #PopeFrancis @OutnumberedFNC | https://t.co/6KfubdaEu4 pic.twitter.com/8tkYztXelc
— Fox News Video (@foxnewsvideo) February 19, 2016
Cooper then asked Trump about his musical influences, which he responded to by enumerating a few rock musicians. He then mentions Michael Jackson whom he called “a very good friend” of his and once lived at one of the Trump Towers with then-wife Lisa Marie Presley. He also claimed to know the “real story” of Michael Jackson and went on to elaborate that he was “an unbelievably talented guy” who lost his confidence due to “bad, bad surgery.”
Donald Trump Talks About Michael Jackson During the GOP Town Hall
Michael’s older brother Jermaine did not take kindly to Trump’s comments and spoke out on Friday through Twitter.
“Friends’ don’t pay tribute by peddling b.s. theories about Michael’s ‘loss in confidence’. This fool Trump needs to sit down,” said Jermaine in one his posts.
‘Friends’ don’t pay tribute by peddling b.s. theories about Michael’s ‘loss in confidence’. This fool Trump needs to sit down.
— Jermaine Jackson (@jermjackson5) February 19, 2016
Jermaine added that it wasn’t his botched surgeries that affected Michael Jackson but rather the “pressures, injustice and vitriol of external circumstances.”