NEW YORK – A recent GQ article spoofing Michael Jackson has the singer demanding the magazine apologize and pull the issue from circulation.
In a statement released Friday, Jackson's representative, Raymone K. Bain, said Jackson is "furious" about a series of photos featuring a Jackson impersonator in the magazine's May issue, now on newsstands.
The photos accompany an article called "Where's Michael?" which documents writer Devin Friedman's quest to find Jackson in Bahrain, the Middle Eastern country where he lives.
In one photo, a Jackson look-alike sits in a darkened movie theater amid a row of children. Another photo shows him standing in the desert draped in a black cloak and headscarf, with his trademark glittery white glove.
The statement said: "Mr. Jackson is furious that his image has been used in such a misleading way, and is demanding an apology from the editors of GQ, and its publisher, Conde Nast. Mr. Jackson is also demanding that the magazines be pulled from newsstands."
Jim Nelson, GQ editor-in-chief, responded with a statement Friday: "It is very clear that the pictures in the story ... are satirical, whether it's a picture of a Michael Jackson imitator sitting in a Bahraini cinema or an image of The Gloved One standing flamboyantly in the desert.
"Mr. Jackson may feel that the person in the photographs is an `impostor,' but he is merely an imitator," said Nelson.
Jackson, 47, moved to the Gulf state soon after being acquitted of child molestation charges in California last year.
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