TV & Video - Dec. 20, 1989

Was Jackson Video Hijacked?”A Current Affair” was ready to air an exclusive home video of Michael Jackson on Monday and Tuesday nights, until Jackson’s lawyers showed up at the last minute and prevented the show from running the video as planned, according to the syndicated show’s executive producer, Gerald Stone. “A Current Affair” had gotten the video from Steve Howell, a cameraman who worked with Jackson on some videos and had taken extra footage of Jackson around his house. Stone said Howell told “A Current Affair” that Jackson gave up the rights to the video, but Jackson’s lawyers claimed the video was “hijacked,” and Howell did not have legal access to it. “A Current Affair” smelled a news story, and on Monday did a piece on the confusion surrounding the tape (another segment was scheduled for Tuesday night). While the program used excerpts from the tape as part of the news story, “in deference to Michael Jackson, we didn’t run the whole thing,” Stone said. He added that Howell denied Jackson’s attorneys’ accusations.