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tv   Nightline  ABC  July 14, 2009 11:35pm-12:05am EDT

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tonight on "nightline," the jackson children. who will care for prince, paris and blanket now that michael jackson is gone? will it be katherine and joe jackson? will deborah rowe make a case for custody? exclusive details as the future of the jackson children hangs in the balance. and the fastest cannibal on the planet. it's an extraordinary journey into the wild for a rare and intimate look at cheetahs, the magnificent cats whose strength goes up to 80 miles an hour and the woman trying to save them from exi think thesive. and in life, he was the
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animated face of so many products. in death, billy mays is still hard at work. why selling from behind the grave is tonight's "sign of the times". captions paid for by abc, inc. good evening, i'm cynthia mcfadden. we begin tonight with the uncertain future of the three children michael jackson leaves behind. it was a day of rumor and speculation with the bombshell report that biological mother deborah rowe agreed to forego any custody bid in exchange for a multimillion dollar settlement from the jackson family. by early afternoon, a complete refutation by the attorney who says that rowe has not decided if she wants to seek custody of the children. and the three young children who wi grow up without their
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father. ♪ >> it was exactly a week ago at michael jackson's star-studded memorial that his 11-year-old daughter paris -- >> daddy has been the best father you could ever imagine. >> -- took the stage with her two brothers and spoke publicly for the first time. >> and i just want to say i love him. so much. >> the children left the stage surrounded by the jackson family. but the question remains is that where they'll stay? today, there was a flurry of reports source close to the family, conflicts accounts as to whether there were ongoing negotiations between the jackson family and the biological mother of paris and her older brother. debbie rowe. >> are you ready to get your butt kicked? don't [ bleep ] touch me!
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>> rowe has spent the last two weeks under media scrutiny that intensified today amid rumors that rowe was asking katherine jackson for a cash payment to relinquish all claims to the children. $4 million according to one report. >> who do you think should raise these children now that michael is gone? >> their randmother, katherine and i. yes. >> in an exclusive interview with nbc's chris connelly, jackson's father joe said the children should live with him and his wife. >> there's no one else who can do what we can do for them. keep them all together, make them happy. and feed them like they're supposed to be fed. and let them get rest and grow up to be strong jacksons. >> michael jackson was clear in his 2002 will he wanted custody of his children to go to his now 79-year-old mother katherine and that is where they have been since his death. here in the encino, california,
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home, a compound of where a variety of siblings and grandchildren already reside. >> the kids love katherine. they really love their grandmother. and, you know, when i had heard that michael had her as the person to take care of the kids in the will, it was a natural choice. they love her. >> rowe gave up custody of the children to jackson years ago, but under california law as the only living parent, she has the right to claim custody now. >> debbie rowe, if she is in fact the biological parent and if she is not relinquished any parental rights has the strongest claim to custody of the children. she's their mother. >> some sources today said rowe was not seeking money, but visitation rights with the children. others said she was concerned about leaving the children within reach of their grandfather, joe. ♪
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>> we were terrified of him. terrified. i can't tell you. i don't think he realized to this day how scared -- scared. i mean, scared. >> remember, michael jackson said several times when he was alive that his father abused him. here he's talking to martin bashir as part of bashir's documentary "living with michael jackson". >> what would produce that sort of reaction in you? >> just seeing him. his presence. and sometimes i'd faint. and my bodyguards would have to hold me up. >> chris connelly asked joe jackson about such claims a few days ago. >> michael jackson was never beaten. katherine spanked michael more than i did. i was working two jobs and she was at home with him the most. >> none of which helps the
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grandparent's desire for custody of course, but it is complicated. ♪ pray for our fathers >> in the past as in this interview conducted in 2003, rowe has publicly insisted she does not consider herself the children's real mother. >> my kids don't call me mom because i don't want them to. they're not -- they're michael's children. it's not that they're not my children, but i had them because i wanted him to be a father. >> she has long said she bore the kids to give a dear friend a chance at fatherhood, not to become a parent herself. >>nese are the ultimate love children. if it hadn't been for how much i love him and because of how much i love him and because of our relationship, no. i would have never had children. >> and today, rowe has not filed any custody claims with the california courts. >> we're waiting to see if the other shoe drops, namely, if the mother debbie rowe is going to
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file for her own competing petition. >> indeed, all the rumors today about negotiations over money or visitation is contradicted by rowe's lawyer who in afternoon issued this letter saying deborah rowe has not accepted and will not accept y additional financial consideration beyond the spousal support she and michael jackson personally agreed to several years ago. moreover, he says she has not decided whether to seek custody or visitation yet. by her own admission, rowe's involvement with the children over the last decade has been limited. there are family photos, but rowe says that while she visited neverland, she never lived there. though she says she was involved. >> i obviously have some influence. as their faces are still covered. that was my request. not his. michael is very proud of his children. i'm the one who's terrified.
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i said, you know what? i wear a scarf no big deal. pretend it's halloween. >> don't touch them. >> if the custody hearing goes to court it is likely a judge will inquire not only about rowe's relationship with the children, but also katherine jackson's. katherine jackson was the only member of michael jackson's family who attended his nearly six-month long criminal trial and he was full of praise for her. though there had been inklings of difficulty. >> at neverland, michael had a rule. he had to okay his family's visits both in writing and verbally. michael would make his mother katherine wait outside his gate, three four hours, no matter what time of the day or night itas. if he was high on drugs, so he could clean up. he didn't want her or his family to see that. >> one thing is certain according to brown. jackson certainly would not want his father involved with raising his children. >> oh, gosh, it would be the
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worst nightmare for michael jackson to know that joe jackson is controlling or has any controlling interest at all in his children. it would be -- he'd be mortified. >> but joe jackson doesn't seem to be going anywhere. while there's been a lot of talk about he and katherine spending time apart, at one point he maintained a residence in vegas rather than encino, in this pie lot for a reality show being pitched last year, they seemed very much together. >> no, i just had a feeling that i thought he'd be my husband. >> you did? >> the first time i saw him i fell in love with him. we stayed together for many, many years. but we see each other all the time. i go to vegas and he'll come here. but, you know, the absence makes the heart grow fonder. >> in fact, there's published reports that he's hoping that michael's children might one day turn into the jackson 3. >> keep watching paris, she
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maybe wants to do something. you know? as far as i can see -- well, blanket, he can really dance. he can really dance, blanket. >> he can dance? >> not yet. i'm trying to wait and see. >> so you think they might have the little entertainer in them? >> they've got a lot of them. it has to come out. they're jacksons of course. >> today jackson's long-term termle to gist was questioned today and the coroner's final report including the toxicology report is not expected until week of july 27. when we come back, we'll turn the page and take you on a remarkable journey to meet the fastest animal on earth. and the woman who protects them.
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if speed were enough to save the cheetahs, they could run at speeds of up to 80 miles an hour, they'd be in a lot better shape. a hundred years ago there were 100,000 cheetahs this the world and the cheetah has no better friend than the american woman you are about to meet. dan harris journeyed deep into southern africa to tell the story for our series "into the wild". >> this is soraya. that's quasar and that's phoenix. >> this is dr. laurie marker introducing us to the cats who live in her backyard. >> that's a happy purr. >> very happy purr. >> watch out. >> hi, babies. >> three ten-month-old cheetahs. >> come here, babies. >> hi, guys. >> come on this way. come on in here too. >> how do i not lose a finger? >> well, ideally if you kind of
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hold it like that and then bring it down like this, and then give it right into their mouth. >> okay. it's snack time. >> i'd rather -- don't do him. do her. >> okay. here you go. >> here you go. >> they chirp like birds. >> these are just three of the dozens of big cats who live with dr. marker here at her facility in the country of namibia. what do you love about cheetahs? >> they're so beautiful. they're fast. they're the most amazing animal there is on the face of the earth. >> you' not biassed? >> i'm not biassed at all. >> this woman from california has become perhaps the leading expert on and fiercest protector of the fast and fast erappearing cats. it's been 19 years since dr. marker moved here to namibia
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which has the largest cheetah population on earth. since then her one-woman operation has exploded. her foundation now employs scores of people who study cheetahs in the lab, in the field, and on this huge reserve. >> go, go. >> when you're keeping the fastest land mammal on earth in captivity, you need to provide the opportunity to stretch the legs a little bit. these cheetahs are chasing our truck which they know is filled with fresh meat. after a suitable workout, lunch. do i get to do the honors? what are we feeding? >> donkey. >> okay. here's a donkey. great. boom. did she go down? >> okay. >> you're welcome. >> and this is how they're
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exercising the baby cheetahs today, letting them chase a rag attached to a lley. >> there's soraya. she's very fast. >> they can reach speeds up to 80 miles an hour. >> see, we keep them exercised because they're in captivity and they can't run after the antelope. >> in the audience today a group of students from the dwindling number of countries where cheetahs still exist. they have come here to learn from the master about how to save these animals from their number one predator -- humans. >> now, you are all the crowd -- the crowd going to help save the species, right? their extinction is happening now. if we're not working more quickly and rapidly in conservation, the cheetah is not going to be on earth in the next 20 years. >> a hundred years ago, there were 100,000 cheetahs on earth. now, 90% of them are gone.
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their greatest asset is also their greatest liability. their hunting prowess is getting them in trouble with farmers who are systematically killing cheetahs because they eat their livestock. it was a shooting by a farmer that caused soraya, quasar and phoenix to end up in laurie's care. >> they came in when they were two days old. a farmer had actually shot the mother and the mother was term pregnant and apparently he could see the stomach sort of moving. this is a kangol. and she just came from texas. >> dr. marker has now come up with a counterintuitive way to stop farmers from shooting cheetahs. she's using dogs to save cats. her organization is breeding dogs as they give way to farmers to protect thr flocks from cheetahs. >> they grow up in the flock. and then they act as a guardian.
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what they do is bark loudly. >> a dog like this can take on a predator cat? >> yeah. because of their power. but if they have to, they will fight to the death. >> to the death? >> yeah. >> usually they don't have to. a fascinating cetah paradox is that while they are ferocious hunters, they're not terribly aggressive otherwise. they're easily chased away. in fact, for centuries, cheetahs have proven relatively easy to domesticate. >> the cheetah has been revered by princes and others for years. the maharajahs had them in their stables. >> and these ones are too attached to their human handlers to be released back into the wild. >> when you bottle raise them, they become very socialized.
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>> others however have been successfully released. but it will not be enough and dr. marker knows there is a lot more work to be done. this is chewbacca who dr. marker adopted as an infant 14 years ago. he has been an ambassador and a companion for dr. marker. as you can see, he's reaching the end of the line. >> oh, chewbacca, it's not that easy anymore. >> a living reminder of how magnificent and how fragile this species is. >> everything about them is just amazing. and yet, they are truly one of the wonders of the world. >> and they could go away. >> they are going away. they are going away in front of our very eyes. >> for "nightline" this is dan harris in otjiwaranga, namibia. >> in danger but not forgotte dan harris reporting. when we come back, the pitch
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america's pitchman 50-year-old billy mays sadly and suddenly passed away on june 28 of a likely heart attack. in life, he was the king of a $300 million industry built on colorful infomercials, promoting everything from oxy clean to orange glow. in death, mays is still hard at work and for brian rooney, that's "a sign of the times".
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>> hi, billy mays here for the new mighty putty -- >> it turns out that even death cannot turn down the volume on the king of the pitch men. only two mens after a fatal heart attack, billy mays is back on the airwaves. mays has been allowed to keep pitching from the grave. but it's somewhat unchartered territory in the world of advertising to continue bei fronted by a man who isn't there. >> i would guess that if they're doing it in a tasteful way and if it's in memory of him, they're okay to do it for a while. but i don't know that they could do it for a really long time. >> billy mays was not just man, but an industry, supporting thousands of jobs that depended on creating, making and shipping the products he pitched. his pitch partner, anthony sullivan says if anyone would get the joke about working even after dying, it would be billy. >> wherever he is right now as he's looking down, i know he'd
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roll in the grave if he thought he was being pulled off the air. >> he has some new pitches. >> it's so strong, it lifted this ten-ton school bus. that's amazing. >> and the jupiter jack. >> the most convenient hands free device for any cell phone guaranteed. >> but wait, there's more. he still has several new commercials in production. if you call now -- >> and to make this a mightiest deal on tv, i'll triple it. >> billy mays will continue stepping up the offer. this is brian rooney for "nightline." >> and that's guaranteed. the consummate pitchman in life and death. when we come back, president tcama did his first presidential tdihed hrow a strike like hish predecessor, or was his pitch just a little bit short like a pop star? my doctor told me i had to start doing things for my heart,
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baked in apple with... a daring amount cinnamon.

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