CBS and representatives for Michael Jackson denied Wednesday that the network paid the pop star a special fee in exchange for the interview he granted to "60 Minutes" correspondent Ed Bradley.
In a quid pro quo, CBS told Jackson that it would not revive the singer's entertainment special unless Jackson agreed to do the highly coveted interview.
Network executives had shelved the special in November when Jackson was arrested on suspicion of child molestation. CBS confirmed that it paid Jackson for the entertainment special that will air on the network Friday but would not say how much. Sources close to Jackson have said he netted more than $2 million.
But the network took the unusual step of issuing two separate statements -- from its news and entertainment divisions -- refuting a New York Times article that said Jackson was paid an additional $1 million to sit down for the interview and perform on the special. Jackson's criminal attorney, Mark Geragos, and a Jackson business advisor, Charles Koppelman, also said Jackson received no extra payment.
The New York Times issued a statement in response, which said: "Our story was accurate. We stated CBS' position in the second paragraph as well as in other paragraphs."
Spokesman Toby Usnik declined to comment further.
The controversy comes at a time when lines between news and entertainment have blurred. Indeed, Jackson was paid several million dollars by Fox Broadcasting Network -- not Fox News -- in February for pro-Jackson interviews and footage put together by Jackson's own camp.
Similar deals were proposed to the Jackson camp in recent weeks, said Koppelman, noting that if Jackson had been seeking money for his interview, "we probably could have done an interview with another network and gotten a tremendous amount of money. Everybody wanted to do an interview."
CBS did admit to striking a deal to get the interview, telling Jackson's camp that the singer would have to publicly address the charges elsewhere on the network before the entertainment program, originally scheduled to air Nov. 26, could be revived. "To air the entertainment special in isolation would have been to ignore the elephant in the room," CBS spokesman Chris Ender said. Ender underscored again that Jackson was not paid for the interview.
Koppelman negotiated the deal for the special. He said Jackson's payment for the Friday special was the same amount the two sides agreed to in early September, before the charges were filed and before the CBS News interview was scheduled. "There was no additional payment," Koppelman said.
