A music executive who claims to have been one of Michael Jackson's closest confidants has revealed why the singer's child abuse scandals were never up for discussion.
Marketing whizz Dan Beck worked alongside the King of Pop for several years and acted as a product manager on the iconic two-disc album HIStory, which was released in 1995.
In his memoir that details his close relationship with Jackson, titled 'You've Got Michael': Living Through HIStory, Beck says that he was the hitmaker's 'main marketing contact' at Epic Records.
The label helped mould the late singer and his band of brothers, The Jackson 5, into global superstars back in the 1970s.
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Beck and Jackson began working in tandem from 1991 - and according to the marketing mogul, he assisted the star in both a personal and professional capacity.
While acting as the Senior VP of Marketing and Sales at Epic Records, Beck said that he built a strong bond and a foundation of 'trust' with the legendary crooner.
Explaining that Jackson 'appreciated his straightforwardness', Beck told The Sun: "There were a couple of times that I felt like I was his only friend, but obviously that’s not true.
"Michael liked to ask a lot of questions, and a lot of times, and that’s kind of how we started to build a trust, a relationship. I never tried to tell him, 'You’ve got to do this'.
"I’d often take ideas to him to say, ‘Maybe this would play out this way or that way'. He was in charge. He’s the artist, he’s the one who has to go out on stage. It was not me.
"He appreciated that straightforwardness that I never tried to establish that I was his best friend."
Beck believes that Jackson - who died in June 2009 - was 'somewhat naive' to the ulterior motives a lot of people around him had at the height of his fame.
"It seemed like Michael had two types of people in his camp," Beck said. "There were extreme professionals, who were just the best, and producers, engineers and the musical people, who were just the top of the list.
"And then there were also these hangers-on. There always seemed to be the kind of people taking advantage of him.
"I always thought that he found odd people quirky and interesting, and he felt bad for them."
Beck went on to say that he feels as though many of the people who accused Jackson of wrongdoing fell into the latter category.
A number of child sexual abuse allegations were lodged against the singer both during his career and following his death, although both Jackson and his estate have always vehemently denied the claims.
"In every one of these situations, the people involved in these cases, whatever they were claiming - they always seemed to be in that second group of people, in my mind," Beck continued.
The marketing mastermind insists he never witnessed Jackson do anything untoward, saying: "I’ve thought about it a thousand times, but I could never connect the dots to anything real that I saw."
However, Beck did admit that record label executives never personally quizzed Jackson about the allegations themselves.
He suggested that the general consensus was that it would be inappropriate for them to pass comment, saying 'it wasn't our place'.
Beck went on: "What’s the truth? I don’t know. On that very personal level, we may have had thoughts about it and if we had comments about it, it would be presented to his management.
"It wasn’t our place to say anything, unless somebody felt that there was a total breach of a contract or something like that."
LADbible has contacted Sony Music Entertainment, which Epic Records is a subsidiary of, for comment.
Topics: Celebrity, Celebrity News, Michael Jackson, Music
Olivia Burke