Michael Jackson declares innocence in interview with Jesse Jackson

Los Angeles — Declaring himself “completely innocent” of child molestation charges, Michael Jackson said Sunday that he is the victim of a conspiracy and asked fans around the world to pray for him.

In an interview with the Rev. Jesse Jackson, the entertainer would not elaborate on his conspiracy belief, citing the court-imposed gag order that prevents him from discussing his trial in detail.

However, he said he believes he is just the latest of several “black luminaries” to be unjustly accused, citing former South African President Nelson Mandela and former heavyweight boxing champions Muhammad Ali and Jack Johnson as others.

“I just want to say to fans in every corner of the Earth, every nationality, every race, every language, I love you from the bottom of my heart,” Jackson said toward the end of the hourlong interview broadcast live on the Internet.

“I would love your prayers and your goodwill, and please be patient and be with me and believe in me because I am completely, completely innocent. But please know a lot of conspiracy is going on as we speak,” he said.

Jackson also said he is in “intense pain” since falling in the shower earlier this month, although he said at another point that his health was perfect. He arrived late to court on March 10, wearing pajama bottoms, a T-shirt and walking stiffly, and his representatives said at the time he had been treated at a hospital for a serious back injury.

“I was coming out of the shower and I fell and all my body weight — I’m pretty fragile — all my body weight fell against my rib cage,” Jackson said. “And I bruised my lung very badly.”

He said the injury has caused him to cough up blood and was so painful that it brought him to tears in court one day when he was seen wiping his eyes with a tissue. He said he remains under a doctor’s care.

When Jesse Jackson noted how thin he is, the pop star replied that he has never been a big eater, something he said has always concerned his mother and others, including actress Elizabeth Taylor, a friend.

“Elizabeth Taylor used to feed me, to hand-feed me, at times,” he said.

“Please, I don’t want anybody to think I’m starving, I’m not.” he quickly added. “My health is perfect, actually.”

The entertainer also denied recent rumors that he is teetering on the verge of bankruptcy. “That’s not true at all. It’s just one of their many schemes to embarrass me. It’s to drag me through the mud,” he said.

However, he indicated some sort of battle is under way over the music catalog he owns that contains the rights to songs by the Beatles, Little Richard and others.

“There’s a big fight going on, right now as we speak, about that,” he said. “I can’t comment on it, but there’s a lot of conspiracy out there.”

He spent the first 40 minutes of the interview reminiscing warmly about his career, his family and such childhood musical heroes as James Brown, Jackie Wilson, Sammy Davis Jr. and the Beatles.

Jesse Jackson told The Associated Press earlier this month that he and Michael Jackson frequently pray together, and he told his audience Sunday that he speaks by phone with the entertainer nearly every day.

Michael Jackson, a Jehovah’s Witness, said prayer is helping him get through his trial, which resumes today.

“I gain strength from God. I believe in Jehovah God very much,” he said.

O as in Oprah …

Kula, Hawaii — Oprah Winfrey may be getting into the vacation rental business.

The Maui County Council has given preliminary approval to a bill granting O.W. Ranch LLC a five-year conditional permit to operate a 12-bedroom vacation rental in Kula. O.W. Ranch lists an address in care of Bob Greene, Winfrey’s friend and personal trainer, according to Maui property tax records.

Winfrey and Greene bought 102 acres on Maui’s Hana Coast in 2002 with plans to build separate homes. A year later, O.W. Ranch bought the land in Kula.

Solar-powered performance

Sacramento, Calif. — Gov. Arnold Schwarzenegger is taking his latest campaign to television.

For Sunday’s episode of ABC’s “Extreme Makeover: Home Edition,” the governor had a cameo promoting the use of solar electricity — something he’s backing in California with his Million Solar Roofs Initiative.

In the program, a home was renovated with a solar photovoltaic system that allows the house to produce its own electricity. Schwarzenegger’s legislation would create a 10-year incentive fund to encourage use of solar power systems.

Life-affirming talk

Chapel Hill, N.C. — Folk singer Judy Collins discussed her son’s suicide and her own experience trying to overdose on pills at a conference on preventing suicide among young people.

Collins spoke last week at the Saving Tomorrows Today conference about her son Clark’s death in 1992 at the age of 33.

“His death has been a catalyst,” Collins said. “It has been about breaking open the secrets that have been in this family.”

Collins, who was a gifted child musician, also said she once tried to overdose on pills. She was 14 when the demands of her father seemed overwhelming.

Her father wrote her an apology letter, but the suicide attempt was not otherwise discussed.