Spanking kept MJ away from gangs, says Joe Jackson

Washington: Michael Jackson’s father Joe has said that his heavy parental hand kept the king of Pop away from gangs.

He made the comment in an interview shot by Jacksonsecretvault.com over the summer, which will be used as part of a movie Katherine Jackson is producing with Howard Mann. In the interview, he speaks about Michael`s past comments about Joe`s parenting -- alluding to allegations of physical abuse. "I had to be like that because when raising him, in those days, so many gangs out there getting into trouble, going to jail. Most of them are dead now. He didn`t have to worry about that," the TMZ.com quoted him as saying. When asked if he had any regrets, "No! They tried to make a big issue when I spanked Michael or some of the kids, ya know? Just like they didn`t spank their kids when they did wrong. The media twists everything," he added. ANI