Jackson's retort to air in US

American TV giant Fox is to show out-takes Michael Jackson selected from his controversial interview with Martin Bashir, in a two-hour special next week.

The show, tentatively called “Michael Jackson, Take Two: The Interview They Wouldn’t Show You”, is due to air in the US on February 20.

The Jackson spectacle is fodder for hungry television networks, particularly in a hotly-contested ratings sweeps month. ABC’s airing of the reclusive interview with Bashir was last week’s most popular show, seen by 27.1 million people in the US.

Angered by how Bashir portrayed him – as an odd man-child who says he sometimes innocently lets children sleep in his own bed – Jackson came forward with videotape taken during the Bashir interview by his own production company.

Jackson’s British publicist said over the weekend that the footage “clearly shows that Bashir was actually continuing to praise Michael’s abilities as a father and Bashir making many statements about how he feels it is a pity that the world is so quick to criticise Michael”.

Fox spokesman Scott Grogin said he did not know how much the network paid Jackson for the video.

Fox’s special does not feature any new interview with Jackson, Grogin said.

Jackson was reportedly ready to give an interview to CBS 60 Minutes correspondent Ed Bradley over the weekend. But the singer got cold feet, and Bradley left Jackson’s Neverland ranch in California empty-handed.

Meanwhile, the VH1 cable network is rerunning the ABC version of the Bashir interview three times this weekend.