Michael Jackson was whipped by father, but not beaten up

Michael Jackson's father says he never beat his son up, but said he whipped him instead.

Joe Jackson was being interviewed by Louis Theroux when he was asked what violence was used against the singer as a child.

The star's father denied hitting him, but argued: "I never beat him you beat someone with a stick. I whipped him with a switch and a belt."

In the controversial interview with Martin Bashir earlier this year, Michael claimed he's still so scared of his father that he regurgitates when he sees him, reports the Daily Record.

But Joe, 69, laughed off the claim during the Theroux interview: "He regurgitates all the way to the bank," he said. When Theroux pressed him on the point, Joe replied: "Do I really care? I really don't."

For the interview, conducted in a US hotel, Joe was accompanied by Majestik Magnificent, who claims to be Michael's former personal magician.

In the programme Joe becomes furious at the suggestion that Michael might be homosexual, shouting: "I can't stand gays."

He refused to discuss his youngest son's plastic surgery. He also complained that Michael has been dubbed Wacko Jacko in Britain. "You all should stop calling him Jacko Wacko and all that stuff. You started that. In America, when someone's wacko they think he's crazy."

Throughout the chat, the magician constantly interrupts and threatens to end the interview because of Theroux's questions. When Theroux asks what Joe thinks of Michael's nose, he replies: "I don't think anything. If that's what he wants, that's what he did. It's up to him."