John Travolta`s Startling Decision; Joe Jackson`s Confession
A.J. HAMMER, HOST: Big news breaking today on SHOWBIZ TONIGHT - Travolta`s troubles. John Travolta`s startling decision related to his son`s tragic death. Joe Jackson`s startling confession today. Why Michael Jackson`s dad now admits he used to hit Michael. The great debate, can Joe really be forgiven? Kanye`s swift move. Kanye West`s bizarre new apology today for what he did to Taylor Swift at the VMAs.</s>KANYE WEST, SINGER: Taylor, I`m really happy for you. I`m going to let you finish, but Beyonce had one of the best videos of all time.</s>HAMMER: The "SHOWBIZ Flashpoint" - should Kanye just shut up already? The Lewis-Lindsay smack down.</s>JERRY LEWIS, COMEDIAN: I would smack her in the mouth and be arrested for abusing a woman.</s>HAMMER: The wild Lindsay Lohan lashing today by the legendary Jerry Lewis.</s>ANNOUNCER: TV`s most provocative entertainment news show starts right now.</s>HAMMER: Hello. I`m A.J. Hammer coming to you from New York City.</s>BROOKE ANDERSON, CO-HOST: Hi, there, everyone. I`m Brooke Anderson in Hollywood with big news breaking today - Travolta`s trouble.</s>HAMMER: And John Travolta has sure had his share of troubles, beginning with the sudden death of his teenage son in the Bahamas. But today, a shocking decision by the beloved star who has worked so hard to put the tragedy of his son`s death behind him, but getting in the way of that, was the trial over an alleged plot to extort him for $25 million related to his son`s death. Well, SHOWBIZ TONIGHT can tell you today John Travolta and his family are saying enough is enough.</s>IAN DREW, "US WEEKLY" MAGAZINE: John Travolta decided to step down and back away.</s>HAMMER: At Travolta`s request, prosecutors in the Bahamas say they`re dropping charges against two people accused of trying to extort $25 million from Travolta in exchange for information regarding the heartbreaking death of Travolta`s 16-year-old son Jett. With Preston going through an uncommon pregnancy at 47, Travolta tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, quote, "The long pending status of this matter continues to take a heavy emotional toll on my family causing us to conclude that it was finally time to put this matter behind us."</s>DREW: He doesn`t want to deal with it anymore. He`s basically succumbed to the emotional toll that it`s taken on him and his family.</s>HAMMER: SHOWBIZ TONIGHT learned more details about why Travolta made this shocking decision and where his still grieving famous family goes from here. In January of 2009, Travolta, Preston and their children, 16-year-old Jett and eight-year-old daughter Ella Bleu, were on a new year`s vacation in the Bahamas when tragedy struck. Jett, who had autism, suffered a seizure and was found unconscious in the bathroom. He was taken by ambulance to a nearby hospital where he was pronounced dead.</s>DREW: John Travolta and Kelly Preston were completely sent into a shock.</s>HAMMER: But even as Travolta and his family were in mourning, the unthinkable happened - the arrest of two people, ambulance driver Tarino Lightbourne and his attorney, former Bahamian senator, Pleasant Bridgewater. They were accused of blackmailing Travolta and demanding $25 million in exchange for a private document related to Jett`s treatment that tragic night. The two alleged extortionists were put on trial last October. Travolta and Preston had to return to the Bahamas where Travolta took the stand to relive the trauma of his son`s death.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: We have some good news,</s>HAMMER: During jury deliberations, in a clip posted on TMZ, a loose-lipped local official publicly announced that one of the defendants, Pleasant Bridgewater, had been acquitted.</s>UNIDENTIFIED MALE: Pleasant Bridgewater is a free woman.</s>HAMMER: Problem is, the jury was still deliberating and hadn`t announced any decision in the case. The judge declared a mistrial. The prosecutors scheduled another trial for this year, meaning Travolta would once again have to travel to the Bahamas and recount the painful details of his son`s death. But today, Travolta is saying he`s had enough.</s>DREW: He has a very busy life, a very busy career. And he has a lot that he`s mourning still from his son`s death. Going down there would have not only been an incredible time commitment, but it would not have brought his son back and would have only brought up all of the painful memories associated with his death.</s>HAMMER: In a statement, Travolta tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT, "After much reflection, I concluded that it was in my family`s best interest for me not to voluntarily return to the Bahamas to testify a second time at trial. We are thankful to the people of Bahamas for the friendship, love and support they provided to us during this matter." Last May, Travolta and Preston announced her pregnancy.</s>DREW: It`s a new gift they`re focusing on.</s>HAMMER: And "Us" magazine`s Ian Drew tells SHOWBIZ TONIGHT with Preston carrying a child at 47, the last thing this couple needs is the stress of traveling again to the Bahamas to revisit their son`s death, especially now that their family is starting a whole new chapter.</s>DREW: It`s way for him to focus on the new baby, his career, his life and moving forward and putting the tragedy finally behind them.</s>HAMMER: Now, both defendants in the extortion case have pleaded not guilty. I really hope that the Travoltas finally get the peace they so desperately deserve more than a year now after Jett`s tragic death. That brings us to the "SHOWBIZ Flashpoint" today - did John Travolta do the right thing asking to drop the extortion case? With me, in New York, is Midwin Charles. Midwin is a legal contributor for "In Session" on Tru TV. In Hollywood, Jim Moret, who is the chief correspondent for "Inside Edition" and an author of a book. It`s called "The Last Day of My Life." Well, I think it would be terrible if the people who allegedly tried to do such a horrible thing to the Travoltas end up not paying for their crime. But look, I totally get why John and his family are coming from. I respect their decision to be done with it. Jim Moret, to you first for our "SHOWBIZ Flashpoint" today - did John Travolta to the right thing here?</s>JIM MORET, SENIOR CORRESPONDENT, "INSIDE EDITION": I think he did, and for the reasons you just stated. I think it`s time for John Travolta and his wife and child to move forward. His wife`s pregnant. Imagine the stress of losing a child. Imagine the horrible pain of that and for them to have to relive it especially now when his wife is pregnant. I think he just made the decision, "I can`t go through this. I don`t want to put my family through this."</s>HAMMER: Yes. It is just terrible what these people allegedly did to Travolta and his family, Midwin, given all of the circumstances here. So it`s hard to think of them not paying for the crime if they committed it. But do you think he did the right thing?</s>MIDWIN CHARLES, LEGAL CONTRIBUTOR, "IN SESSION" ON TRU TV: You know, I do. I think he did what he thought was best for his family. Remember, his wife is pregnant. And at 47, it`s a high-risk pregnancy. And she`s due pretty soon, I believe, in November.</s>HAMMER: Right.</s>CHARLES: So I think he did what he thought was best for the family.</s>HAMMER: Yes. To both your points, the stress that all of this has added, we can`t even conceive what that is. So you know, good for John. Let`s hope this helps him get through it. Let`s move on now. There`s a brand new Michael Jackson shocker we`ve got to talk about today. M.J.`s dad, Joe, now speaking out about all of those brutal beatings that Michael accused him of. Brooke Anderson, I want to bring you in here to let us know what Joe Jackson is saying.</s>ANDERSON: Yes, A.J. Joe makes a startling claim today basically admitting that he spanked Michael to keep him out of gangs. Joe is speaking out in an interview released by "JacksonSecretVault.com." It`s part of a Michael Jackson documentary in the works being produced by Michael`s mother. Watch.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: How did it make you feel when he didn`t agree with, you know, some of the ways that you raised him? Maybe that you were a bit too strict? Or you know -</s>JOE JACKSON, FATHER OF MICHAEL JACKSON: Well, I had to be like that because in raising him in those days, so many gangs out there getting into trouble, going to jail, most of them are dead now, you know. And he didn`t have to worry about that. See, they tried to make it a big issue when I spanked Michael or some of the kids. You know, it was like they didn`t spank their kids when they did wrong. Now, the media twists everything.</s>ANDERSON: OK. Call me crazy, but maybe Michael didn`t have to worry about gangs because he was the lead singer of the biggest band on the planet when he was a kid. And Jim, Michael describes his dad`s discipline not just as spanking, but essentially as abuse. So I think that Joe`s latest excuse here is the most outrageous one he`s come up with yet.</s>MORET: First of all, the idea that you`re keeping Michael Jackson out of gangs, you`re right, is ridiculous.</s>ANDERSON: Ludicrous.</s>MORET: Ridiculous. But Michael Jackson talked about his father, not in terms of spanking, but in terms of beating.</s>ANDERSON: Yes.</s>MORET: Tremendous difference. This wasn`t discipline. It went beyond that to where Michael said he was terrified of his father.</s>ANDERSON: Afraid of him.</s>MORET: And so I think that the allegations aren`t new, but for him to somehow justify them, is really -</s>ANDERSON: A spanking, keeping - I know it`s just ludicrous. Well, Joe Jackson isn`t the only person, Jim, Midwin, who is sparking coast-to-coast outrage today. There are new revelations by Las Vegas cops today saying, "Yes, we gave Paris Hilton special treatment in jail after her cocaine arrest." The Las Vegas deputy police chief tells the local paper there, "Yes, she was treated differently, so I don`t have a disruption of my process here at the county jail. When you bring somebody in like that, everybody comes over and tries to look at them." Midwin, as an attorney, does this just make your blood boil or does the police chief make a good point here?</s>CHARLES: No, it does make my blood boil. Listen, he`s a police chief. He is in charge of making sure that every defendant that he has in his custody is taken care of and safe. He clearly needs to just step up the security and do his job. We already know that celebrities get preferential treatment. And the fact that he is admitting this, I think, is quite interesting.</s>ANDERSON: I detest celebrity treatment. I do, but I get it. I understand where he`s coming from. He wanted his jail to be run in the smoothest way possible, get her in and out of there. Midwin Charles, Jim Moret, thanks.</s>HAMMER: OK. I know there`s a lot of fighting on MTV`s "Jersey Shore." But I`ve got to tell you, I`ve never seen anything quite like this.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Right now you call me a</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop.</s>UNIDENTIFIED FEMALE: Stop.</s>HAMMER: Oh, boy. It`s J-Wwow versus Sammi Sweetheart. You`ve got the hair pulling, a lot of broken press-on nails. One nasty new catfight that got everybody talking today. Ladies - ladies, please. Somebody`s spray-on tan might get smeared here. All right. I don`t get this - Kanye West is apologizing again to Taylor Swift today. The "SHOWBIZ Flashpoint" - should Kanye just shut up already? Jerry Lewis` startling lashing for Lindsay Lohan today. Listen to this.</s>LEWIS: I would say you deserve this and nothing else - whack! And then, if she`s not satisfied, I would put her over my knee and spank her.</s>HAMMER: Oh, boy. Why the legendary 84-year-old comedian wants to tell Lindsay, lady, smack. This is SHOWBIZ TONIGHT on HLN news and views. And now, the "SHOWBIZ News Ticker" - more stories from the SHOWBIZ TONIGHT newsroom making news today.</s>TEXT: Possible plea deal in the works for former JetBlue flight attendant, Steven Slater. Bristol Palin`s official "Dancing with the Stars" press photo revealed.