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(November 28, 2005)
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      *It was a busy Thanksgiving weekend for the Michael Jackson camp.  His attorney Brian Oxman, who is Jewish, has come out swinging in defense of his superstar client and recent accusations that he is anti-Semitic. 

      "I have been with the Jackson family for 15 years, and I'm Jewish. I have never once seen anything anti-Semitic from him or from his family," said Oxman.

      Last week, the Anti-Defamation League (ADL) called on the singer to apologize for comments made during a recorded telephone call from 2003, aired by ABC’s “Good Morning America.”

       The message was left in the voicemail of former Jackson advisor Dieter Weisner, a German businessman who is suing Jackson for over $60 million. ABC said that they could not verify the authenticity of the message, in which a voice said to be Jackson’s is heard saying that Jewish members of the music industry had conspired to sabotage his career.

       "They suck them [stars] like leeches,” he said in the message. “I’m so tired of it. They start out the most popular person in the world, make a lot of money, big house, cars, and everything, and end up with, penniless. It's a conspiracy. The Jews do it on purpose."

       Oxman doesn’t deny that it’s probably Jackson’s voice on the tapes, but insists that he has never experienced any anti-Semitism from the singer or any other member of the Jackson family.

       Jackson’s rep Raymone Bain is also denying that Jackson is anti-Semitic. In a press release e-mailed Wednesday, she wrote:

       "Michael Jackson does not have a racist bone in his body. Never would he say anything, or do anything, that would be offensive to any ethnic group, or hurtful to any ethnic group. It is not in his character, or his being. He has spent his entire life reaching out to people throughout the world by spreading love through his music, and his philanthropic efforts. It is unfortunate that these tapes are being disseminated throughout the airways without any due diligence with regards to the authenticity.”

       Speaking of unsubstantiated information being disseminated, there were also reports over the weekend that Jackson may be planning to convert to Islam. According to Israeli Web site Ynot.com, an Arab Israeli newspaper quoted sources in Bahrain who said that Jackson is already following the five tenets of Islam.

       A second report from an Iranian news site says Jackson has donated money toward the construction of a new mosque near where he plans to live in Bahrain.  Jackson’s older brother Jermaine has already converted to Islam.

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