TJ Jackson, nephew of Michael Jackson, said that he hadn’t actually planned to bring the King of Pop’s son along on his new reality series, The Jacksons: The Next Generation. But he just couldn’t tell Blanket no.
“There’s a camping trip with a variety of cousins. And to be flat-out honest, Blanket wasn’t even invited,” TJ admitted to the Daily News.
“But when he’s packing his bag and expecting to go, what am I supposed to tell him, ‘You’re not allowed to come because you’re Michael Jackson’s son and that’s just life?'” he asked.
He went on to explain, “There’s no way I’m going to do that. He’s part of my family. He wanted to come. He understood there were going to be cameras. And that’s what I think people are going to see. They’re going to see kids that are happy.”
Michael’s older son, Prince, will also be in the reality show. TJ said he didn’t want anyone to be left out simply because of their relationship with the King of Pop.
“We didn’t want to penalize them as Michael Jackson’s kids and say you cannot be on the show because of who you are,” he explained to the Daily News.
The series will be premiering on Friday at 10 p.m. on Lifetime.