(Thanks to Sowmya from Iced Media for the clips of Joe Jackson on TV One for their Michael Forever Week)

whoa…..

Last week there was speculation about why this 25-year-old Norwegian man, Omer Bhatti, was seated with the Jackson Family inner circle at Michael Jackson’s memorial….was Bhatti, Michael Jackson’s secret son? Was his mom, Pia Bhatti, the mystery surrogate mother of MJ’s youngest child, Blanket?

Then came denials from people who knew Omer and Michael.. former MJJ Records artist, Ricky Harlow in PeopleMag: “[Michael and Omer] had a father-and-son type of connection, but I never thought he was his biological father. They met when Little Michael did a contest impersonating Michael Jackson in Europe in the mid-1990s, and Michael saw it and was blown away and got in contact with the family.”

In the UK paper, The Mirror, they even claim that Omer Bhatti, himself, told friends, “Michael is not my father. He and I were just very, very close. He was my best friend.”

Well, despite the fact that Joe only found out about his son’s death from fans contacting him….He claims that Michael was, in fact, Omer’s biological father.

25 years old! Omer and MJ reportedly met while vacationing in Tunisia when Omer was 12, and then Omer moved to Neverland. hmm.

(Is it wrong that I don’t know if I believe Joe? Although I will say, if his claim checks out, then maybe I shouldn’t be so skeptical about all that talk of an unconfirmed Janet Jackson lovechild.)

More clips after the jump….