Jason Bateman says he almost ran over Michael Jackson in the 1980s

Actor Jason Bateman has claimed that he once almost ran Michael Jackson over with his bike while on set in the 1980s.

Bateman had a role on the American sitcom Silver Spoons at the time, which Jackson was apparently a fan of. The show aired throughout the early 1980s with Bateman starring as character Derek Taylor for the first two seasons, first appearing in the show when he was just 13.

While visiting the set during the time of filming, Jackson was apparently walking towards the stage when Batemen and his co-star Rick Schroder – the lead of the show – were riding down from it, almost knocking him over in the process.

“This is while we were doing Silver Spoons at Universal and we’d need to have our bikes because kids gotta play,” he explained while being interviewed on US show Jimmy Kimmel Live.

“[Jackson] was coming onto the stage while we were zooming off and almost took him down!”

Bateman, who is currently best known for his role in Netflix show Ozark, also explained why Jackson was visiting the show.

“Michael was there to see [Schroder],” said the actor before giving an odd look at the audience. The glance seems to be in reference to the child sexual abuse allegations made against the late singer.

“I don’t — listen, hey!” Batemean continued, before saying: “He was a fan of the show and a fan of the Ricker”.