Brando, Jacko, 60 Minutes, And TSG

FEBRUARY 5--TSG would like to take this opportunity to formally apologize to Ed Bradley and his "60 Minutes" colleague for putting the kibosh last year on a CBS exclusive with Michael Jackson.

Following last February's ABC broadcast of the damning Martin Bashir documentary, Jackson agreed to an interview with Bradley, presumably to counter fallout from Bashir's "Living with Michael Jackson."

As Bradley told CNN's Larry King last night, Jacko was about to sit down for the February 8 Q&A when he got a call from pal Marlon Brando. The actor told Jackson that a sealed deposition from the original child molestation case had been "released" on the Internet and it "would be all over the world by tomorrow and it would be in the tabloids in the United States the next day."

Bradley said that after the Brando call, the "60 Minutes" crew--which had set up for the interview at Jackson's Neverland estate--never saw the King of Pop again. "He just disappeared," Bradley told King.

Well, since it was TSG who "released" that document last February 6 (as you can see here, it's a sworn declaration, not a deposition), we're sorry that it caused Jacko such consternation that some fellow journalists were denied their scoop. But we must admit being pleased to see that Brando is helping to disseminate our stories. In fact, Marlon, just drop us a line and we'll send you a pack of TSG mug shot playing cards or an XL t-shirt.