Opinion Web Exclusive

Possible son of Michael Jackson crawls from woodwork

Michael Jackson’s brood could be expanding with new claims that the late singer fathered another child aside from Michael Joseph Jackson Jr., Paris-Michael Katherine Jackson and Prince Michael “Blanket” Jackson.

Brandon Howard, a 33-year-old singer, has an alleged 99.9 percent DNA match to the King of Pop. While one could dismiss this as just another fame-monger coming out of the woodwork to claim stardom, Howard’s circumstance could be quite different.

His mother, a famous songbird from the ’80s, supposedly had the nickname “Billy” around that time. If the hit song “Billie Jean” has a deeper meaning, Howard could be expected to garner even more attention than he already has.

The lyrics are curiously specific, calling a woman by name “Billie Jean,” and referencing a little boy, “the kid is not my son,” which makes one wonder where Jackson found his inspiration.

In the late ’80s, Miki “Billy” Howard was a popular R&B and jazz singer represented by Joe Jackson, Michael’s father. She is said to have known Michael in the early ’80s, just before Brandon Howard was born in 1982 and a year before “Billie Jean” was released.

The online television channel FilmOn.TV first revealed the story when Alkiviades David, the site’s owner and Greek heir to the Coca-Cola fortune, had a suspicion of Brandon Howard’s relation to Jackson. David then claimed to have obtained the pop star’s dental impression from Dr. Joseph Goodman, a Beverly Hills dentist, and tested it to compare it with Howard’s DNA. Despite the sample being 30 years old, David believes it still retained Jackson’s DNA.

But before the results were released, Howard took to social media to clarify that he did not consent to his DNA being used in such a manner.

“It’s true I had a DNA test,” Howard said. “But this had nothing to do with any of this, I swear on my life.”

Howard’s father, Augie Johnson, who was a backup singer on Jackson’s 1979 album “Off the Wall,” strictly denies any romantic involvement between Miki Howard and Jackson before Brandon’s birth.

“She didn’t even know Michael at that time,” Augie told TMZ.

“I know Brandon’s my son.”

Johnson also revealed that Brandon Howard did know Jackson as a child, having taken him to the superstar’s “Neverland” home, where he played with the Jackson children. Calling their friendship with the Jacksons an “entertainment relationship,” Johnson believes the scrutiny around his son’s paternity to be the work of “greedy people.”

Howard Weitzman, the Jackson estate lawyer, spoke out against the evidence.

“It sounds like fraud to me,” he said.

In the midst of the controversy, Scott Broomfield — Howard’s manager — released a statement on behalf of the 31-year-old.

“To this day, I have never claimed to be Michael Jackson’s son nor do I have any intention of pursuing the family’s estate,” according to the statement.

Even so, the resemblance between Howard and the “Thriller” singer is quite astonishing. It is so striking that new claims have now arisen that if Michael Jackson is not Howard’s father, then Joe Jackson, patriarch of the Jackson family, could be.

Considering the longstanding suspicion surrounding the paternity of Michael Jackson’s three children, the truth may never be revealed as to whom Jackson truly fathered.

Despite this, Howard seems content with his own path — no doubt brightened by his name being linked to Jackson’s. He relayed to his fans on Facebook.

“Wherever you guys go from here … make sure everybody knows this is me.”

Opinion columnist Alex Meyer is a creative writing freshman and may be reached at [email protected] 

7 Comments

    • This story has never been debunked. What the media is reporting is not 100% accurate. As a matter of fact, on 3/22, Brandon did an interview that he didn’t find out Michael was his father until he was 7 or 8 years old. The link to the interview is in the comment right below mine.

      • Strange how my reply to you has vanished, yet I get another email suggesting someone has replied and when I get here, not only has nobody replied, but my post has vanished?
        Anyway, I will say the same thing…The idea of him being MJ’s son has been debunked. False DNA tests, being the biggest contributor in debunking this PR stunt! Again, I am not interested in the link that brings you to a person who is a complete, attention seeking time-waster.

        • First of all, I have nothing to do with the disappearance of your last comment. I saw your last comment and I tried to reply to it a couple of times, but for some reason, there wasn’t a reply option for that comment and it said that it was awaiting approval from a moderator, plus it was hidden and I had to click “unhide” to see it.
          As for Brandon, I still stand by what I said. False DNA tests do not prove that Brandon is not Michael’s son. Everyone has their own opinion and perception of this situation. There’s more information out there that points to him being MJ’s son than not. Also, Brandon is not an “attention seeking time-waster”. It’s unfair that he’s become the object of all this animosity. He didn’t ask for any of this.

          • 1. Firstly, people can ask a question out laud, without it being directed at a specific person…You should know that by now.
            No one suggested you had anything to do with the “disappearance” of my comment. Only moderators can do those kinds of things.

            2. False DNA test are a HUGE indicator that something fishy and NOT honest, is going on – How come that eludes you?

            There is NO “information out there” that points to him being MJ’s son.

            3. Lastly, if Brandon was not seeking more attention and was more genuine regarding this episode, he’d have made a point of either holding some kind of conference / interview to be completely clear and precise once and for all about this latest saga – He doesn’t and still isn’t …. Instead, he has one half-assed video on FB, claiming he never said this and that, then another half-assed video edited to hint more at the opposite of what he is saying in the other video…At the very least, THAT is pure bullshitting and time-wasting. A ploy to cause commotion and drag it on…And if it is others who are the masters of manipulation with this, then again, up to Brandon to do the above. He is happy enough the way things are. You can bet if he was being accused of a serious crime he’d have wasted no time being out there making himself clear and precise, and with NO mincing of words and two-way subtleties.Think about that one.
            It is all smoke and mirrors – half this and half that – half hints here and half hints there, with everything. As for any “animosity”, I don’t hate on or get involved with any animosity on the guy. I do, however, stand by what I say…He is not being straight-forward and genuine with any of this…He is full of hints, half-hints, smoke and mirrors. That is the game here…Leave some (Not me and some others, mind you) hanging, wondering, nudging and talking about it…And drag it all out.

            Notice how this didn’t even register on mainstream media, and even the few outlets that did pick up on it have gone very quiet now. When this first broke many of us had a quick and apprehensive goggle into it and copped on pretty quickly what was going on.

            Of course, you have the ones that fall for these kinds of things…Reminds me of the ones who used to put up YouTube videos, trying to claim how Omar Batty is some kind of long-lost son, etc.

            There are lots of details I could go into here about all of this, but can’t be bothered spending much more time on it, to be honest. Another thing is for sure – People believing these kinds of things are actually insulting to Michael Jackson and his legacy – whether they claim to be fans or not.

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