Concert exec says Michael Jackson was 'drunk and despondent' when final tour was announced

by **Admin** Fri Jun 07, 2013 11:29 pm

Concert exec says Michael Jackson was 'drunk and despondent' when final tour was announced
By RICHARD JOHNSON

June 6, 2013

LOS ANGELES -- The top executive in charge of Michael Jackson's final doomed concert tour testified today he had to slap the "drunk and despondent" star on the day those gigs were announced.

AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips also called Jackson "a self-loathing emotionally paralyzed mess," in a March 5, 2009, to his then-boss at parent company AEG, Tim Leiweke.

Phillips told jurors today he was "exaggerating" in those e-mails, and hopes to make them go away in this civil lawsuit being pushed by Jackson's family. Phillips doesn't want jurors to believe he and other AEG officials knew how sick he was before The King of Pop died on June 25, 2009.

"MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent," Phillips wrote on March 5, when Jackson showed up two hours late for his press conference at London's O2 Arena. "(Jackson's manager) Tohme and I are trying to sober him up and get him to the press conference with his hair-dressing/make-up artist."

Leiweke replied: "Are you kidding me?"

Philips wrote back: "I screamed at him so loud the walls were shaking. Tohme and I have dressed him and they are finishing his hair and then we are rushing to the O2. This is the scariest thing I have seen. He is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self-loathing and doubt now that it is show time. He is scared to death. Right now I just want to get through the press conference."

At his deposition six months ago, before he was shown his e-mails, Phillips denied that Jackson was either drunk or despondent on the day of the president conference, and denied yelling at The Gloved One, saying he merely "raised his voice."

Phillips says he was telling the truth in his deposition, and was not accurate in his email. "I was relaying what Dr. Tohme told me... I wrote it as fast as I could write it."

Panish said, "You have to yell pretty loud to make the walls shake. Do you have a tendency to exaggerate?"

Phillips said, "No."

To another business associate, Phillips wrote: "I haven't pulled it off yet. We still have to get his nose on properly. You have no idea what this is like. He is a self-loathing emotionally paralyzed mess... I just slapped him."

Phillips admitted, "I slapped him on the butt."

[You must be registered and logged in to see this link.]

by midangerous Sat Jun 08, 2013 4:10 am

This article makes me sick!

Concert exec says Michael Jackson was 'drunk and despondent' when final tour was announced

Concert exec says Michael Jackson was 'drunk and despondent' when final tour was announced

Re: Concert exec says Michael Jackson was 'drunk and despondent' when final tour was announced