THE JACKSON TRIAL

Blogger ate three of our Jackson posts in a row, so we guessed that might be a sign and gave it a rest; but now we'll pick up the story as the trial looks to be winding to a conclusion. The best hoot so far was the judge allowing Larry King to make the journey all the way down to Santa Barbara before saying "actually, we won't take your testimony"; Macauly Culkin popped up to deny that anything untoward happened and two of Jacko's cousins who claimed they saw Gavin masturbating when Jackson wasn't around. Which doesn't really seem to help much - "young boy masturbates" isn't much of a silver bullet of a character reference; and the cheerful admission by the cousins that they watched the kid wanking does again raise the "what sort of circus tent was this ranch" question.

Jay Leno was allowed to give testimony, but he did seem to give a lleg-up to the prosecution when he revealed the Arvizos had never actually asked him for any cash; the defence have to cling to Leno's vague mutterings that there was something "false" about the boy when he spoke to him on the phone. Back at work, Leno did a "you might know me from the TV" monologue:

"Well, I just got back from testifying. I don't want to say it was hot up there in Santa Maria, but Michael Jackson was asking boys what they'd do for a a Klondike Bar. ... I'll tell you, you know, it was really odd walking into that courtroom today because I realized it was the first time I had seen Michael since I was 12. ... I'll tell you, you know the worst part about testifying, I had to follow the chimp. The witness chair was a mess. It was awful. What an awful thing. ... Actually, there was one kind of embarrassing moment when I took the stand and they asked me to point to the defendant and I pointed out La Toya. ... I tell you one thing, though, seriously, you know what's amazing about being in the same room with Michael Jackson, in person he almost looks life-like. ... Well, there's a lot of talk about Michael Jackson, if he's acquitted he wants to leave the country as soon as the trial's over. That's what they said. One report says he wants to go to Africa and disappear. He want's to disappear in Africa. Africa? I think he has a better chance of disappearing in Sweden. ... Well, after, what, 12 weeks of trial Michael Jackson's attorneys, they have finally admitted that Michael slept with children, but it was about love not sex. Which just goes to prove that line works for all guys. ... Here's an odd story. An 11-year-old boy has been called two different times for jury duty. Got called the first time when he was 3 and again, now he's 11. An 11-year-old on jury duty. That sounds like Michael Jackson's worst nightmare, doesn't it?"

You'll just have to imagine the guffaws of the crowd bussed in from Little Gibblington, Texas, for yourself.

It's been confirmed that Jackson won't be saying anything in his own defence - maybe he's just not convinced he's innocent enough?

music michael jackson jay leno