Joe Jackson, the controversial patriarch of music's famous Jackson family, is reportedly "very very frail" and near death. However, Jermaine Jackson says his family has been barred from being at his father's side during "his final days."

TMZ has reported that Jackson has been diagnosed with terminal cancer. The former music manager, father to 11 children including superstars Michael and Janet Jackson, has been battling various illnesses for years. He also suffered a stroke in 2015.

According to The Daily Mail, Jackson himself verbally instructed the hospital not to allow his family to visit him or obtain his medical records. “He’s very very frail, he doesn’t have long," Jermaine said. "The family needs to be by his bedside, that’s our only intention in his final days.”

(In a pair of tweets posted after the publication of the Daily Mail article, Jermaine Jackson clarified that it was the paper's headline writers, not him, who declared that his father is "dying.")

The family also contends they have not been properly informed of the elder Jackson's condition, casting blame on his current handlers. “No one knew what was going on – we shouldn’t have to beg, plead, and argue to see our own father, especially at a time like this," Jermaine explains. “My mother was worried sick. It’s what any family would want, but some people around him think they know better… and they don’t”.

According to the Daily Mail, Joe's wife Katherine Jackson, daughters Rebbie and Joh’Vonnie and granddaughter Yashi Brown were eventually granted permission to visit him at a hospital in Las Vegas.

The 89-year-old Jackson is credited with launching and managing the Jackson 5, which featured his sons Jermaine, Tito, Marlon, Michael and Jackie. The group signed to Berry Gordy's Motown record label in 1969 and became household names on the strength of songs such as "ABC," "I Want You Back" and "I'll Be There."

Years later, his children would detail Joe's alleged abuse growing up, leaving his relationship with many of his children, including Michael and Janet, strained. "I think my father means well... and wants nothing but the best for his kids... but that is not necessarily the right way," Janet said of her father in a 2011 CNN interview.

 

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