Donald Trump Slams Michael Jackson, and Brother Jermaine Isn't Having It

Billionaire and GOP presidential candidate Donald Trump spoke to CNN this week about Michael Jackson, and Michael's brother Jermaine wasn't having any of it.

referring to him as a great talent who had "lost his confidence" over "bad surgery." The controversy began earlier this week, when CNN hosted a South Carolina town hall event with Trump and host Anderson Cooper asked the Republican front-runner what kind of music he listened to.

After listing Elton John, The Beatles and The Rolling Stones, Trump said he'd been friends with Jackson and said the King of Pop and Lisa Marie Presley were in Trump Tower when they first got married.

Then he called Jackson "one of the truly most talented people,"  who "lost tremendous confidence because of, honestly, bad, bad, bad surgery."

"He had the worst -- he had people that did numbers on him that were just unbelievable -- facially, and -- you know, the plastic surgeons. But Michael was an unbelievable talent who actually lost his confidence."

Michael Jackson's family wasn't happy about the comments, particularly Trump's claimed of closeness with the singer.

As People Magazine reports, Michael's brother Jermaine responded to Trump's comments on Twitter, calling him "a fool." Jackson called out Trump for trying to fish votes out of his relation with his brother, saying real friends aren't "peddling b.s. theories" about the King of Pop's loss of confidence.

After media reports said Jackson had denied his brother and Trump were friends, he clarified his statement on Twitter.

.@TMZ, I never said 'You're no friend of Michael.' He was. It's 'botched surgery' talk that I don't expect from a friend.

— Jermaine Jackson (@jermjackson5) February 19, 2016