Ed Hardy designer Christian Audigier knew Michael Jackson. He partied with Michael Jackson. And Jon Gosselin is no Michael Jackson.

At least not when it comes to people he had plans to collaborate with on potential clothing lines. (Among any number of other distinctions.)

Despite reports to the contrary, spurred on by an Audigier-funded trip to St.-Tropez for Gosselin and girlfriend Hailey Glassman, the T-shirt purveyor tells E! News that the only celebrity he ever discussed going into business with was the King of Pop.

“I invited him to my birthday,” Audigier says of Jackson. “And he showed up. It was his last public appearance. He was testing [the public mood about him] at my party. So we became friends. He told me one day he would like to collaborate with me on a collection.”

A binding contract if ever there was one. Too bad no such deal ever existed with The Lying Channel’s No. 1 dad.

“I never said I was going to do a line with Jon Gosselin. I don’t want to do a line with Jon Gosselin.”

Well, not this week, anyway…

“Jon is going to give me a visit in Las Vegas because there is a trade show, Magic,” Audigier says, adding that he was open to the idea of a collaboration, but not on a much-rumored children’s line, as he doesn’t “want to use their kids to wear my clothes.”

“He is going to come…a week from today, and he is going to become more familiar with the product.”

And, we presume, pose for a photo or two along the way.

But their frequent conversations have never quite crossed over from personal to professional.

“He calls me every two days to see what is going on. He is talking about his kids a lot.”

As for other jobs Gosselin doesn’t have but seems to think he does: Audigier says that, despite appearances, the reality dad is not a paid spokesman for his clothing brand. (Though he has been the recipient of a seemingly endless gift box and is, like it or not, the brand’s unofficial ambassador.)

He may soon go pro with his shilling, however, and become a spokesman for another Ed Hardy offshoot. We think.

“He is really into bikes, so he want to do something around bikes so he can be the spokesperson for one of my brands on bikes.”

Now that that’s all cleared up…

About the photo op that started it all, Audigier says he originally flew Gosselin and Glassman to France earlier this summer simply because “he was wearing a lot of Christian Audigier every day, so I said, ‘I want to meet this guy.’”

“I just invite him because I see him on the Jon & Kate show asking for job. So I was curious to see what he was asking people for which kind of job.”

Apparently, Audigier’s viewing of Jon & Kate Plus 8 was a one-time-only deal, as evidenced by his bafflement over Gosselin’s plus-one for the trip.

Upon accepting Audigier’s invitation, the reality dad took it upon himself to request a second ticket.

“He told me he was coming with his stylist. It appeared his stylist was Hailey. A week after, I discovered those two guys were together. I didn’t even know that Jon and Kate were not together.”

Well, we knew there had to be someone.