Jason Bateman has admitted that he came dangerously close to running over Michael Jackson in the 1980s while filming a show.
On Friday, the “Ozark” actor told the incident during a visit to “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” Kimmel quizzed Bateman on his encounters with other 1980s stars while reciting their names. According to IMDb, Bateman began his his career in 1981 as a young actor on “Little House on the Prairie.”
When Kimmel named Jackson, Bateman told him that he and fellow child star Ricky Schroder bumped into the singer while filming the NBC sitcom “Silver Spoons” at Universal Studios.
“This is while we were doing Silver Spoons at Universal and we’d need to have our bikes because kids gotta play. Michael was there to see [Schroder],” he revealed on Jimmy Kimmel Live.
The actor then paused his story to give the crowd an apprehensive look — seemingly a subtle nod to the child sexual abuse allegations against Jackson that eventually surfaced — which caused them to respond in shock and awe and with some laughter.
“I don’t — listen, hey! He was a fan of the show and a fan of the Ricker!” Bateman then said, before adding to his story: “[Jackson] was coming onto the stage while we were zooming off and almost took him down.”
