MICHAEL Jackson chose a white boy rather than a black one to portray him as a youngster in a new Pepsi commercial, a newspaper has claimed.
Producers wanted the advert to show Jackson performing his classic tune I'll Be There opposite footage of himself as a member of The Jackson Five singing the same song, the New York Post said.
But the idea was scrapped at least in part because the pictures would make Jackson's plastic surgery and skin-bleaching makeover too obvious, the newspaper said, quoting anonymous ''insiders''.
After several months of auditions, the producers, with Jackson's approval, selected a young black boy to play him.
''Michael then changed his mind. He decided he wanted to cast a white boy who'd tried out,'' the paper said, quoting an unidentified source.
The boy was fitted with a wig and his skin was darkened slightly through video colourisation, the paper said.