Joe Jackson Admits He Beat the Kids

[jobeterob]

Michael Jackson’s father admits he beat his kids



During a sensational interview with US talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, Jackson admitted hitting his kids with a strap.


Michael Jackson’s father has confessed for the first time that he beat his children.

During a sensational interview with US talk-show queen Oprah Winfrey, Jackson admitted hitting his kids with a strap.

“I don’t [regret the beatings],” he said. “It kept them out of jail and kept them right.”

During the interview, which airs on US TV this afternoon, Jackson was initially defensive about his relationship with his son Michael, insisting: “I don’t think he was afraid of me. I never beat him. That never happened.”

But he was forced to reveal the truth when his wife, Katherine, stepped in.

“You might as well admit it. That’s the way black people raised their children,” she interjected.

“He used a strap,” she added.

Katherine also revealed for the first time that the King of Pop was addicted to plastic surgery and had hated his appearance since adolescence.

She also rubbished his claims that he only ever had two operations – both on his nose – and said that he was just too embarrassed to tell the truth.

“He had more than two, he was just embarrassed,” she said. “I hear that people get addicted to plastic surgery and I think that’s what happened to him…”

[carlo]

That interview made me laugh, it made me cry. It was beautiful.

As for the beatings, Katherine is right [[not just limited to "black people", but it was common to use a strap on your kids in that era--European families did it too). However, that doesn't make it right. We've heard Michael talk about this subject before. I think he was hit much more than he needed to be. It was abuse.

Seeing Katherine and Joe together confused me. I'm wondering if they're still really together, or if they just did it for appearances sake?

I thought it was a really nice interview. The Jacksons raised some great kids.

[marv2]

What I am amazed at and sometimes laugh a bit about the fact that so many people in recent years find that fact that parents whipped their children in the 50's, 60's 70's and I am sure much, much earlier with belts, switches and the big wooden spoon, LOL!

Just about every kid we knew in the sixities got whipped/spanked as just normal, routine child rearing activity. I can promise you Mr and Mrs Jackson were surprised and confused by all the ruckus that has been made over the years about there spanking their kids when they were out of line. Could it be a cultural thing?

[marv2]

Oh another thing, the word "beat" conjures up the image of abuse. I never heard a parent in those days say, "get ready because I am going to beat you", it was usually, "ok you're getting a whipping..."

[soulster]

Rob, there's absolutely nothing new here.

[soulster]

What I am amazed at and sometimes laugh a bit about the fact that so many people in recent years find that fact that parents whipped their children in the 50's, 60's 70's and sure much, much earlier with belts, switches and the big wooden spoon, LOL!

Just about every kid we knew in the sixities got whipped/spanked as just normal, routine child rearing activity. I can promise you Mr and Mrs Jackson were surprised and confused by all the ruckus that has been made over years about there spanking their kids when they were out of line. Could it be cultural thing?

I think it's a little bit of everything, but mostly, I think it's about class and generation, not culture. I've talked with people from all races who grew up in the U.S. up to the 80s, and almost every one of them could tell of how their parent[[s) whupped them. I was talking with a Latino woman in their early 40s not too long ago who told me that her father made them pick a switch off the tree in the front yard to get whupped with, and this was in the 70s in the suburbs! My best friend in the mid-70s got whuppins in the toolshed by his father. Just the way it was. But, younger people, and some from higher economic brackets that i've met seem to think it was child abuse. That thinking started in the 80s.

My mom used to have a very thin black belt that she kept in her dresser drawer. When it came time to get that whuppin' for not cleaning up my room or doing my homework after a week grace period, i'd get it when I least suspected it. She liked the element of surprise, especially on those days when I wore cutoff pants. She's always go for the legs. If you tried to block the strap, your arms would get hit too. I'd be doin' that pleading "OK! OK! I'll clean up my room!" And, she'd be chewin' me out while she was lashing them hits out, with a lash after every phrase. And I you made her hit herself, that was two more hits! Then, i'd be sitting in my room rubbing those welts on my legs. They'd always go away after a half hour. Those were the days!

But, it wasn't getting beaten.

[midnightman]

Joe psychologically, emotionally and mentally abused his children. I don't know why they keep focusing on the "beatings". I don't think that's what set Michael over the edge. If you hear those Rabbi tapes that was leaked last year, it was much worse than what y'all heard from the interview. Plus most of the elder children from Rebbie to Michael seem to have more scars from Joe's actions than the younger two, Michael more so because he was pressured to be "the chosen one" so to speak in the family. It's easy to say he whup his kids because that does happen when you discipline your kids but his kind of discipline was not even standard parenting. I know fathers are stereotypically the rough, tough-heart kind of guy but Joe to me seems to not have a heart.

[soulster]

Joe psychologically, emotionally and mentally abused his children. I don't know why they keep focusing on the "beatings". I don't think that's what set Michael over the edge. If you hear those Rabbi tapes that was leaked last year, it was much worse than what y'all heard from the interview. Plus most of the elder children from Rebbie to Michael seem to have more scars from Joe's actions than the younger two, Michael more so because he was pressured to be "the chosen one" so to speak in the family. It's easy to say he whup his kids because that does happen when you discipline your kids but his kind of discipline was not even standard parenting. I know fathers are stereotypically the rough, tough-heart kind of guy but Joe to me seems to not have a heart.

This post is on the money!

I imagine people focus on the beatings because it's physical, what one can see, or see the effects of, and is what leaves visible scars. Emotional scars are not apparent. Why did Michael try to change his appearance? His father kept telling him how ugly he was, and he allegedly resembled his father so much, the very one who insulted and abused him. Mix that in with the usual pimples that go with puberty, mix it all with being in a business and culture where the value of your looks is at a premium, and you get Michael Jackson. And, even that's physical. Joe's emotional abuse is what helped mold Michael's personality.

Perhaps people don't consider the effects of emotional abuse because out culture is filled with it. It's so common, so seemingly normal, that we don't think about it.

And, I seem to recall news reports of Jermaine beating Hazel when they were married too.

[ladyvanaye]

Midnight - thank you for your post. As a person in the field of the MIND, if you will - so often the other aspects of what is determined as abuse is often jaded or re-shaped for convenient thinking. I deal with this process in the court room, hearings, et al - and the abuser always has limited insight into what harm they have caused.

While I semi-appreciate what Mother Jackson has said - it is not the way ALL Black people disciplined their children. For that matter there is also a geographic response to this as well which will and can get technical - but white folks of that genre, and again, of certain geographic aspects were just as merciless to their children as well. Too much documentation to prove it. That was a cop out statement on her behalf to once again co-sign her estranged husbands behavior and accepting it to just brush it under the rug. I wonder when she is going to admit that she got her tail whupped too. Trust me, she has. CLASSIC PHYSIOLOGICAL FAMILY VIOLENCE. Joe Jackson has foremost personality issues he must deal with as well. That is why he will never admit to FULL domestic abuse. 'It kept them out of jail didn't it?'...heh heh...'Come round here' Joe...I got something for ya...lol...

PS - Jermaine is Joe Jackson - PART 2.

Ill be back.

[jonc]

Joe psychologically, emotionally and mentally abused his children. I don't know why they keep focusing on the "beatings". I don't think that's what set Michael over the edge. If you hear those Rabbi tapes that was leaked last year, it was much worse than what y'all heard from the interview. Plus most of the elder children from Rebbie to Michael seem to have more scars from Joe's actions than the younger two, Michael more so because he was pressured to be "the chosen one" so to speak in the family. It's easy to say he whup his kids because that does happen when you discipline your kids but his kind of discipline was not even standard parenting. I know fathers are stereotypically the rough, tough-heart kind of guy but Joe to me seems to not have a heart.

Great posting midnight.

[nomis]

I remember La Toya on Donahue when she came out with stories of Joes beatings - the audience tore her apart and there was a phone call with Joe and katherine on that and Katherine said "Joe never beat La Toya..I did.." and the audience laughed at this....

[arrr&bee]

what i am amazed at and sometimes laugh a bit about the fact that so many people in recent years find that fact that parents whipped their children in the 50's, 60's 70's and sure much, much earlier with belts, switches and the big wooden spoon, lol!

Just about every kid we knew in the sixities got whipped/spanked as just normal, routine child rearing activity. I can promise you mr and mrs jackson were surprised and confused by all the ruckus that has been made over years about there spanking their kids when they were out of line. Could it be cultural thing?

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,hey marv you got that right,my mom was so sweet she would let me pick my poison...thin belt[don't try me..thicker belt..oh you gonna be a knuclehead..thickest belt..boy you must be out of your mind..ouch i won't sit down for a week]haaaaaaaaaaa but i thank her for every lick i got!!

[Motown_M_1056]

Great posting midnight.

I think Joseph Jackson has a problem with the word "beatings." o many people a beating means the kind of torture slavemasters did with slaves, with a whip. Beating someone until they were unconscious. The word is offensive to many and means something different from spanking or a whipping with a belt. I was raised in the Sixties and I seldom received whippings and was never beaten.
Now my siblings see it differently, they say they were beaten. But they were bad. They were whipped with a belt if they did something unusually wrong or did something to endanger themselves. After they got to be a certain age, they got talked to. My dad would discuss why they did certain things. But my parents were never heavy- handed disciplinarians.

I was punished more than whipped because that usually worked with me. I didn't like seeing my mother upset, so that made me tow the line.
When I went to visit my relatives that was different. I had an aunt who believed in the switch. She only used it on me once. My parents put a stop to it. If they didn't whip me, she couldn't either.

Some of these kids today need their asses whupped. I think we have so many problems with young people today because their parents don't whip them. They don't respect older people because they are taught it's OK to smartmouth an adult.

[rich]

Joe is a creep.

[jobeterob]

Joe is a creep. He should just stay quiet because he damages his family and himself every time he talks.

The odd smack or swat certainly isn't a beating nor is it child abuse. But with Joe, it was intimidation, mental pressure, emotional pressure and isolation on top of some significant beltings.

It will be very interesting to see what Katherine does in her will and who ends up with the kids and with Katherine's new found wealth.

[marv2]

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,hey marv you got that right,my mom was so sweet she would let me pick my poison...thin belt[don't try me..thicker belt..oh you gonna be a knuclehead..thickest belt..boy you must be out of your mind..ouch i won't sit down for a week]haaaaaaaaaaa but i thank her for every lick i got!!

Shoot man, JAI you know what I'm talking about! In winter it was the belt! In spring and summer it was go pick a switch! LOL!!!

My Mom's motto or routine phrase was "Stop, Quit, Behave! that's all I have to say all day with you kids" hehehehe..... I thank her and my Dad now for it and wouldn't have changed a thing!

[marv2]

haaaaaaaaaaaaaaaaa,hey marv you got that right,my mom was so sweet she would let me pick my poison...thin belt[don't try me..thicker belt..oh you gonna be a knuclehead..thickest belt..boy you must be out of your mind..ouch i won't sit down for a week]haaaaaaaaaaa but i thank her for every lick i got!!

"don't try me" LOL! I forgot about that one! LOL!!! I remember one time we were in church and my Dad had to take my brother George down to the basement and straighten him out because he wouldn't stop kicking the pew in front of us. "Keep crying hear and I'm going to give you something to cry about" was his phrase! LOL!!!

[marv2]

I remember La Toya on Donahue when she came out with stories of Joes beatings - the audience tore her apart and there was a phone call with Joe and katherine on that and Katherine said "Joe never beat La Toya..I did.." and the audience laughed at this....

I remember that and I was a bit embarassed for LaToya that a grown 30- 40 year old woman was on TV complaining about getting a whipping when she was a kid. Geez! LOL!!!!

[soulster]

I remember that and I was a bit embarassed for LaToya that a grown 30- 40 year old woman was on TV complaining about getting a whipping when she was a kid. Geez! LOL!!!!

But we weren't there and don't know how bad it may have been. Also, Katherine may have been protecting Joe. That's what mothers like this do for abusive men, protect them in stead of the children out of fear. Even when they no longer have anything to fear, they never unlearn their behavior.

[marv2]

But we weren't there and don't know how bad it may have been. Also, Katherine may have been protecting Joe. That's what mothers like this do for abusive men, protect them in stead of the children out of fear. Even when they no longer have anything to fear, they never unlearn their behavior.

You are right, we weren't there and it may not have been that bad at all or at least as much as we are reading into the Jackson's private family matters today. You see as a kid, your parents at times can appear as giants standing over you and even angry giants when they are about to discipline you. The Jacksons were over in Gary, In and we were over in Ohio/Michigan growing up at the same time. I just have an open mind about all of this "abuse" as we call it today that Joe Jackson supposedly dished out. Now had they thrown in that he was a heavy drinker or drunk when he whipped/beat his children for no reason at all, then I may find it easier to believe what is being said now.

You have to give the man this much credit. He raised what 9-10 children, he did not abandon them. They grew up to be World famous, millionaire superstars and none ended up in jail or prison. That may not be much of a consolation prize to some, but to me, I say "beat my m%@tha Freekin A** every day if it is going to make me end up a millionare by the time I am 18! LOL!!!

[midnightman]

Sometimes it don't make much difference if a father stayed around or not. In some of the children's views, Joe treated them like objects/employers rather than his sons and daughters.

Michael once said in the tapes that he and Janet used to play a game and Michael asked her who she wanted dead and she said "Joseph". Remember, the children by the time Joe began managing them could no longer under their dad's thumb call him "Father" or "Papa" or "Daddy", it was either "Joseph", "Joe" or "Papa Joe" [[I think his grandkids call him that). All of them still call him Joseph to this day even though they're not managed by him anymore.

The man did a lot of things that when you think about it I wouldn't quite commend him for even if that was the only way he could think of getting his kids out of Gary. The children were well-disciplined anyway [[especially Michael) so it wasn't that hard to do if you were in that household raised by a God-fearing mother.

But believe me there's deep scars that would never be admitted because it hurts so much.

Just like Marvin's father. Yeah he stayed around but dude messed with Marvin and his siblings psychologically and mentally. Marvin, like Michael, was also very sensitive and his father's actions, like Joseph's on Michael's, affected him until the day his old man ended up shooting him.

In the late '80s, Joe almost killed Jackie over something allegedly. There's accounts of Joe bringing guns in front of his children, not to shoot them but scare them I guess. He did that on Michael one time in the early '80s.

I guess it's easy for folks to say they wanna be under Joe Jackson's thumb but if you were his child, would you think the same way if you weren't? Just a thought.

Believe me Joe DID abuse his children just not in the way the media's portraying it. The whippings are just one-sided and besides whippings don't equal abuse but somehow it's been portrayed that way, now that's the inaccurate part.

[soulster]

You are right, we weren't there and it may not have been that bad at all or at least as much as we are reading into the Jackson's private family matters today.

And, it may have been just as bad as Latoya and Michael say it was. I'll take the side of a messed up kid before I take the word of a self-centered, egotistical, abusive parent.

[midnightman]

^ In Margaret Maldonado's book about the Jacksons, Margaret said both Jackie and Tito recounted to her how badly their father treated them. So Michael and Latoya were far from the only ones saying this. Of course they don't wanna say it in public. But it's too late to kinda defend your father after it's been put out of the oven.

[soulster]

It seems like the only one who defends Joe is Jermaine.

[arrr&bee]

"don't try me" lol! I forgot about that one! Lol!!! I remember one time we were in church and my dad had to take my brother george down to the basement and straighten him out because he wouldn't stop kicking the pew in front of us. "keep crying hear and i'm going to give you something to cry about" was his phrase! Lol!!!

haaaaaaaaaaaaa,hey marv,once my cousin and i were on the road with our grandparents and grandpop[god bless him]kept telling us to be quiet[well he actually told us twice which was once too many,hehe]so he just pulled the car to the side of the road and took off that thick belt he wore...those were the days..where did it all go wrong???

[marv2]

haaaaaaaaaaaaa,hey marv,once my cousin and i were on the road with our grandparents and grandpop[god bless him]kept telling us to be quiet[well he actually told us twice which was once too many,hehe]so he just pulled the car to the side of the road and took off that thick belt he wore...those were the days..where did it all go wrong???

My father was the "fastest draw in the West" [[The Old West End Neighborhood that is ,hehehehe) He could get his belt off in one, super fast pull, like Zorro could make a "Z"! You didn't have time to cry until the second or third rap on your butt LOL! Now if we were in the car and cuttin up, he would reach over the seat and give us the thump in the forehead with his big work fingers! LOL! Ouch!!!!

Where did it all go wrong? It's those darn bleeding heart Liberals that don't even want you to have a dog and a gun in the house at the same time anymore.

[soulster]

Where did it all go wrong? It's those darn bleeding heart Liberals that don't even want you to have a dog and a gun in the house at the same time anymore.

I hope your post was tongue-in-cheek...

[arrr&bee]

my father was the "fastest draw in the west" [[the old west end neighborhood that is ,hehehehe) he could get his belt off in one, super fast pull, like zorro could make a "z"! You didn't have time to cry until the second or third rap on your butt lol! Now if we were in the car and cuttin up, he would reach over the seat and give us the thump in the forehead with his big work fingers! Lol! Ouch!!!!

Where did it all go wrong? It's those darn bleeding heart liberals that don't even want you to have a dog and a gun in the house at the same time anymore.

haaaaa,not only did we have a gun and a dog in the house,but the dog knew how to use the gun!

[marv2]

I hope your post was tongue-in-cheek...

It is a J-O-K-E big deal right?

[marv2]

haaaaa,not only did we have a gun and a dog in the house,but the dog knew how to use the gun!

You better quit! You hav me crying laughing here. LOL!!! We had a German Sheperd. I miss that dog so much

[jonc]

It seems like the only one who defends Joe is Jermaine.

And Jermaine is as greedy as his rotten old father.