Michael Jackson's family has dismissed reports the pop superstar "bullied" medics into supplying him with prescription drugs - insisting the singer "would not threaten anyone."
The grieving relatives, who finally laid the King of Pop to rest on Thursday night (03Sep09), have been rocked by allegations the star's personal physician Dr. Conrad Murray told Los Angeles police Jackson "bullied and threatened" him into administering a dose of powerful anaesthetic Propofol on the day he died (25Jun09).
Murray is currently being investigated in connection with the star's death and could face manslaughter charges if cops find evidence linking him to the tragedy.
The medic has reportedly told police he was coerced into giving the star a cocktail of drugs, admitting he was "bullied" by the Thriller hitmaker.
A police source tells British tabloid the Daily Star Sunday, "At the moment we can only speculate. Did Michael Jackson threaten to set his minders on Dr. Murray if he didn't co-operate? Or did he have some kind of hold over the doctor, with which to blackmail him into giving him the treatment he wanted?"
But a Jackson family spokesman has hit out at the claims, insisting the King of Pop would never have mis-treated his staff.
The rep says, "Michael would not threaten anyone. This family maintains he was murdered."