This Morning hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford came under fire on Friday for interrogating child star Mark Lester over his friendship with Michael Jackson.
Speaking in the wake of a documentary on the musician, which is premiering at the Sundance Film Festival on Friday, the Oliver! actor, 60, once again discussed the subject of the sperm donation he gave to Michael, who passed away in 2009.
While chatting about the scenario, Eamonn grilled Mark over his claims that he is the biological father to Michael's daughter Paris while Ruth asked Mark if the late singer was 'infertile' - leading to a furious reaction from fans on Twitter.
Shocking: Grilling: This Morning hosts Eamonn Holmes and Ruth Langsford came under fire on Tuesday for interrogating child star Mark Lester over his friendship with Michael Jackson
Mark found fame at the age of eight when he played the title role in the film of the Lionel Bart musical Oliver! in 1968. He became good friends with Jackson in London in 1978 when the singer was performing with the Jackson 5.
Since then Mark, who is now an osteopath and lives in Cheltenham with his second wife Lisa and the four children from his first marriage, has repeatedly discussed his friendship with Michael and the sperm donation he gave the star.
His appearance on This Morning comes ahead of the release of Leaving Neverland, which has exposed fresh sex abuse claims as one-time Michael Jackson fans Wade Robson and James Safechuck have made accusations against the late hitmaker
On Tuesday morning's show, Eamonn asked Mark about the sperm donation stories, to which Mark countered: 'I did give a sperm donation to MJ, I had four children, he said: “How do you do it?”...
Candid: Mark's interview was widely discussed on Twitter after his grilling from the couple
'Well, yeah, I think again, expanding on his naivety, I think he knew how to do it but was going on the fact of why I was so fertile and what was the secret.'
While he had previously claimed he is Paris' father, he said to the couple: 'Regardless of who the biological father is-was, whatever, MJ raised them as his own'.
In 2017, Mark discussed the possibility of fathering Paris as he said of his donation: ‘I was just helping out a friend. I think he had a problem with actually doing the physical act of sex and a very low sperm count as well.’
During Friday's interview, Ruth and Eamonn pushed: 'Do you ever look and see similarities between yourself and Paris? Is that not strange, if you realised you were the biological father of that child? Not weird?'
Weighing in: While chatting about the scenario, Eamonn grilled Mark over his claims that he is the biological father to Michael's daughter Paris while Ruth asked Mark if the late singer was 'infertile' - leading to a furious reaction from fans on Twitter
Mark countered: 'It was something given and discarded, Michael brought those kids up. He told me he had thrown it all away.'
Taking to Twitter, viewers penned: 'Regardless of how we feel about MJ, the way Mark Lester is being grilled about sperm donation is so outdated! I would find anyone asking myself questions like this when we have children so offensive...
'What the hell kind of interview was that?!! The talk with Mark Lester was meant to be about the bogus full of sh*t "Documentary" on @thismorning so what has sperm do at ion got to do with it!! #Disappointed...
Shocking: Ruth and Eamonn were scolded by viewers for the chat
Shocking: Speaking in the wake of a new documentary on the music legend, which is being premiered at the Sundance Film Festival, the Oliver actor once again discussed the widely-publicised subject of the sperm donation he gave to Michael
'He totally ballsed that opportunity for the #truth up!... Please ask Mark Lester about Paris Jackson, how it came about that Michael asked him to be a sperm donor.'
Ruth was heavily criticised for asking if Michael was infertile, with a Twitter user writing: 'I haven’t been a fan of this guy, Mark Lester, w/the whole im Paris father malarkey, but d’ya know what in this moment fair f**king play to him, publicly defending MJ like this...
'He’s got some loyalty & hopefully will shine light Taj as a result.. #ThisMorning #MichaelJackson. Ruth: “was he infertile?” - what kind of disrespectful f**king question is that...
'And I’m annoyed Mark Lester won’t just say “im not talking about this” boom done. You’re there to talk about the documentary ffs...
