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NewsMarch 10, 2005

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- Michael Jackson's young accuser took the witness stand Wednesday, saying he once considered the pop star now charged with molesting him "the coolest guy in the world." The 15-year-old was not asked about the molestation allegations before court ended for the day, but described viewing adult Internet sites with Jackson present and said the singer told him to "call me daddy" during the taping of a documentary...

Linda Deutsch ~ The Associated Press

SANTA MARIA, Calif. -- Michael Jackson's young accuser took the witness stand Wednesday, saying he once considered the pop star now charged with molesting him "the coolest guy in the world."

The 15-year-old was not asked about the molestation allegations before court ended for the day, but described viewing adult Internet sites with Jackson present and said the singer told him to "call me daddy" during the taping of a documentary.

With an expression that appeared to verge on a sneer, the young cancer survivor said yes when District Attorney Tom Sneddon asked him if he recognized the defendant.

The accuser followed to the stand his 14-year-old brother, who testified he saw Jackson grope his sibling in 2003.

The boy gave the same account his brother had of looking at sexually explicit Web sites on their second night at Neverland after their parents gave them permission to sleep in Jackson's room. He said it was Jackson's idea that they sleep in his room.

The boy said one of Jackson's employees, Frank Tyson, began looking at sites on the Internet as the others watched.

The witness said they looked at women or teenage girls on about seven sites for a period of 15 to 30 minutes, and he repeated an account his brother had given about a remark Jackson allegedly made.

"There was this girl with her shirt up and it was all quiet and stuff and Michael's like, 'Got milk?"' he said.

At another point, Jackson whispered in the ear of his sleeping son, Prince Michael, saying his son was missing out and using a slang for female genitalia.

Jackson, 46, is accused of molesting the boy, giving him alcohol and conspiring to hold the boy's family captive to get them to rebut a damaging TV documentary in which Jackson said he allowed children to sleep in his bedroom. Jackson's defense contends the family has a history of filing false claims to get money.

The accuser, who was a cancer patient when he met Jackson, talked about attending a Los Angeles comedy camp hosted by Jamie Masada, the comedy club owner who would eventually bring him and Jackson together.

The boy said Jackson invited him to Neverland the first time they talked. He said Jackson called his hospital room as he was being treated for cancer, and they later talked on the phone about 20 times.

The boy said Jackson later coached him on what to say in the documentary, which was produced by British journalist Martin Bashir and aired in February 2003.

The boy said that when he arrived at Jackson's ranch to participate in the video, Jackson "introduced me to Martin Bashir and he took me in the library and said, 'Hey, you want to be an actor, don't you?' And I said yes. He said, 'Hey, I'm going to put you in movies and this is your audition.' ... And he said, 'Tell them you call me daddy and daddy Michael."'

Under questioning by Sneddon, the boy continued: "He told me to say he helped me and that he pretty much cured me of cancer."

When asked if that was true, the boy said, "Not really. He was hardly there during my cancer," and that other celebrities such as comedian George Lopez visited him more often while he was sick.

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"Did you admire Mr. Jackson?" Sneddon asked.

"I thought he was the coolest guy in the world. He was my best friend ever," the boy said.

Earlier Wednesday, the accuser's younger brother, under cross-examination by defense lawyer Thomas Mesereau Jr., admitted discrepancies between his testimony and his other accounts of allegedly seeing Jackson molest his brother.

During questioning by the prosecution the boy told of twice looking through the doorway of Jackson's bedroom as the pop star molested his sleeping brother while masturbating.

Mesereau confronted the witness with a previous statement to sheriff's investigators in which he said that during the second incident he was in the room curled up on a small couch pretending to sleep.

When Mesereau asked if his account of the second molestation had changed, the boy interjected that there were actually three incidents, although that has never been alleged.

"I was nervous while I was doing the interview," he told Mesereau.

"Because you were nervous you didn't get the facts right?" the attorney asked.

"Yes," said the witness.

Mesereau also showed jurors a video of Jackson befriending his accuser, and another of the boy's brother playing TV host for a glimpse at Jackson's Neverland ranch.

"Hi from Neverland, USA," the brother said on the second video. "I'm the host of the Neverland Channel."

The younger boy said he felt tired, not excited, when he interviewed Jackson's elephant trainer and talked to children at Neverland's amusement park, and indicated that Jackson wasn't as close to his brother as the other video made it seem.

In a musically scored production that was apparently part of Jackson's personal video archives, the singer is seen with the accuser, then a ghostlike figure with little hair during the time he was undergoing chemotherapy.

Jurors saw the boy in a wheelchair being pushed by his brother. Jackson walks alongside with his umbrella, then walks with the boy to a tree where he spreads a blanket for them to sit on and look out over the lake at his Neverland ranch.

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Associated Press Writer Tim Molloy contributed to this report.

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