Michael Jackson missed a meeting at one of the twin towers by oversleeping on the morning of 9/11, according to his brother.
The King of Pop was allegedly due to attend a meeting at the top of one of the Twin Towers on the morning of Tuesday, September 11, 2001. However, he ended up missing it when he slept in after staying up late to talk to his mother, Katherine, and sister Rebbie.
In Jermaine Jackson's 2012 biography, You Are Not Alone: Michael: Through a Brother's Eyes, he revealed that Michael later thanked his family for saving him.
“Thankfully, none of us had had a clue that Michael was due at a meeting that morning at the top of one of the Twin Towers," Jermaine wrote. "We only discovered this when Mother phoned his hotel to make sure he was okay. She, Rebbie [Jackson] and a few others had left him there around 3am. 'Mother, I’m okay, thanks to you,' he told her. 'You kept me up talking so late that I overslept and missed my appointment.'"
The series of four coordinated terrorist attacks killed 2,996 people and injured over 6,000 more, with other victims passing away in the months and years following from cancer and respiratory diseases linked to 9/11.
Michael died eight years after 9/11 after suffering a cardiac arrest brought on by a prescription pill overdose.
A decade after his passing, he remains a subject of controversy, with a new documentary Leaving Neverland featuring interviews with two men who allege that they were abused by the singer as children.
The four-hour documentary goes into vivid detail on the alleged relationships between the Beat It star and Wade Robson and James Safechuck. It has been attacked by the Jackson family as "the kind of tabloid character assassination Michael Jackson endured in life, and now in death."
In an interview with Good Morning Britain, Jermaine Jackson said: "I am a thousand per cent sure because Michael was tried by a jury of his peers and he was acquitted on all of this because there was no real evidence. There was nothing there. And I will say this, our family are tired. We’re very tired."
He went on to say that his brother's legacy should be left alone, stating: "Let this man rest. He did a lot for the world, let him rest. I’ll just say this, there is no truth to this documentary. You look at the series of events of Wade shopping book deals, the lawsuit and, not to say it, but he was very close to the family. He even went out with two of my nieces.
"We’re living in a time where people can say anything and it’s taken as truth. Under oath he said what he said, they would rather believe a documentary than looking at what was said under oath, under a judge, jury, everything."
However, the documentary’s director stands by the legitimacy of his project. Discussing his work, Dan Reed said: "If there’s anything we’ve learned during this time in our history, it’s that sexual abuse is complicated, and survivors’ voices need to be listened to. It took great courage for these two men to tell their stories and I have no question about their validity.
"I believe anyone who watches this film will see and feel the emotional toll on the men and their families and will appreciate the strength it takes to confront long-held secrets."
