Ryan O’Neal vs. the Jacksons

It’s Ryan O’Neal vs. the Jackson family in a literal “Celebrity Deathmatch”: which one can make more appearances following the June 25th deaths of their loved ones?

The Jacksons were represented last night on “Larry King Live” by father Joseph and his business partner Leonard Rowe. Their joint interview with King was jumbled, unintelligible, illogical, and slightly illiterate. It was also considerably hilarious. One can only hope it will be played as evidence at some hearing soon in the Jackson custody-estate nightmare.

Each of these gentlemen seems to have a tracking issue, or maybe an undiagnosed learning disability: they weren’t able to answer any of the actual questions asked. It was like a Non Sequitir Festival.

Meanwhile, Ryan O’Neal is back. He’s on the “Today” show this morning, yapping about Farrah Fawcett’s “last moments.” O’Neal cannot be convincing. Each of his three kids has been drug-addicted. His youngest, with Fawcett, is in prison. The eldest two, Tatum and Griffin, were banned from Fawcett’s funeral. (Tatum did attend Michael Jackson’s memorial, however.)

The otherwise very good Fawcett documentary showed O’Neal as her staunch supporter and great love. It just omitted that in September 2008 he and his son, Redmond, were arrested on charges of possessing crystal meth. O’Neal pleaded guilty and had to complete a drug program — slap on the wrist, as they say. How he explained this to the love of his life as she battled cancer is anyone’s guess.