David Gest: Michael Jackson was innocent!

"He's a true gentleman and very talented. Each of us are different in certain ways, but when you put the four of us together, you get a bunch of nutters!"

"I felt more under pressure with the cooking, not the entertaining. I've been entertaining all my life. I used to have parties in my house in New York where I'd have Whitney Houston, the real Four Tops, Ashlee Simpson, Michael Jackson, everybody would come and sing and I'd have 200 people for dinner. They were legendary!

He hopes the Michael Jackson documentary, which will feature his own footage of conversations with his friend, will lift the lid on the real man behind the media hype.

"I hope the viewers see a guy that really loved people, that loved the innocence of kids and wanted to make sure they got the childhood he never got.

"He was very much a real human being. What people have to remember is that he was proven innocent in a court and if you watched that trial, you saw that it was all about money and greed, that's what it was all about.

"I hope they see the real man because he's a very special and unique person and the greatest entertainer of the last five decades."

[source: sundaymercury.net]