Posted: Sun, 30 Jun 2013, 17:11
24 dzień procesu - 5 czerwca 2013
Nikogo z rodziny Jacksonów nie było podczas dzisiejszej rozprawy.
Zeznania składa Randy Phillips
Pytania oskarżenia
Brian Panish kontynuował przesłuchanie. Wskazał na kilka przykładów, gdzie Randy Phillips co innego mówił składając zeznania pod przysięgą przed procesem i co innego na sali sądowej.
Panish pytał Phillipsa, która odpowiedź jest właściwa.
Odp.: Chce pan usłyszeć prawdę, czy to, co zeznawałem?
Panish pytał Phillipsa, czy zna strukturę AEG Live. Powiedział, że firma należy do AEG, ale nie wie dokładnie, kto jest jej właścicielem. Panish pokazał informacje ze spotkania zarządku z 26.05.2009, zwołanego w celu omówienia trasy MJa.
Panish odtworzył fragment wywiadu, jakiego Phillips udzielił Sky News i w który powiedział, że AEG zatrudnili Murraya. Świadek zeznał, że miał wtedy na myśli, iż AEG zatrudnili lekarza na żądanie MJa. Phillips powiedział, że pracownik AEG odpowiedzialny za kontakty z mediami po śmierci MJa umawiał go na kolejne wywiady. Wyjaśnił, że każdy wywiad był inny, ale zawsze próbował powiedzieć, że AEG zatrudnili Murraya na prośbę MJa. „Taka była prawda.”
Kolejne pytania dotyczyły spotkań z Murrayem w domu MJa. Phillips potwierdził, że podczas przynajmniej jednego ze spotkań rozmawiano o wadze MJa. Phillips nie mógł sobie przypomnieć dat, więc być może temat ten poruszany był podczas dwóch spotkań. Panish próbował wykorzystać raport policyjny z przesłuchania Phillipsa, by „odświeżyć pamięć świadka”.
Phillips powiedział, że w raporcie tym jest kilka nieścisłości. Panish zaproponował, by zanalizować dokument. Sędzia Yvette Palazelos: „Nie musimy przecież robić tego linijka po linijce,” Phillips skupił się więc na dwóch fragmentach, które jego zdaniem były niewłaściwe.
Phillips powiedział, że policjanci pomylili się w swoim raporcie dotyczącym jego osoby. Fragm.: „Randy powiedział, że Kenny naskoczył na MJa i wtedy Murray upomniał Randy’ego.” Phillips: „Policjanci się pomylili. Policjant przeinaczył to, co powiedziałem i popełnił błąd. Dr Murray wtrącił się i upomniał Ortegę; powiedział mu, by nie bawił się w lekarza-amatora – tak Phillips miał powiedzieć policjantom. Phillips odczytał fragment z przesłuchania o spotkaniu w domu MJa z udziałem Phillipsa, Murraya i Ortegi. Raport: Randy powiedział, że zwrócił się do MJa, a wtedy Murray upomniał Randy’ego, twierdząc: ‘Nie jesteś lekarzem. Odpieprz się.’” Phillips powiedział, że policja popełniła błąd. Phillips: “Jeżeli pan to przeczyta, to nie ma to sensu. Sądzę, że policjanci z Los Angeles są świetną jednostką i wierzę w system sprawiedliwości”, ale zapewnia, że to był ich błąd. Phillips wskazał na jeszcze jeden fragment policyjnego dokumentu – zapisano tam, że Phillips i Gongaware organizowali dwie trasy MJa, ale Phillips powiedział, że nie był w nie zaangażowany. Gongaware owszem, ale Phillips nie. Rozmowa Phillipsa z policjantami najwidoczniej nie była nagrywana na prośbę prawników AEG.
Odnośnie MJa, który nie pojawiał się na próbach, Phillips wyjaśnił: „MJ pojawiał się na próbach, ale zdaniem Kenny’ego na zbyt niewielu.”
Phillips opowiadał o rozmowie telefonicznej z Murrayem, jaka trwała ok. 25 minut. Phillips powiedział Panishowi, że będzie wiedział, ile razy dzwonił do dr Murraya, ponieważ prawnicy są w posiadaniu jego billingów telefonicznych. Panish powiedział, że nigdy nie żądał żadnych billingów, że zrobiła to policja. Świadek wyjaśnił, że było to jego założenie. Jedyna rozmowa telefoniczna z Murrayem, jaką Phillips pamięta, miała miejsce 20.06.2009.
Podczas przesłuchania Phillips powiedział, że z Gongaware nie rozmawiali o e-mailu, w którym pisał, że to AEG a nie MJ płacą Murrayowi. Phillips powiedział, że podczas przesłuchania po raz pierwszy zobaczył wiadomość Gongaware. Panish wskazał, że wiadomość ta została przekazana do Franka Dileo i Phillipsa. Podczas przesłuchania Phillips mówił, że nie pamięta, by otrzymywał tę wiadomość. Podczas dzisiejszych zeznań świadek przyznał, że wiadomość tę otrzymał. Panish naciskał na Phillipsa, wskazując, że zmieniał odpowiedź trzy razy. Phillips odpowiedział, że za każdym razem twierdził to samo, tylko innymi słowami. „Szczerze mówiąc, nie pamiętam, bym odczytywał wiadomość Paula, bardziej niepokoił mnie e-mail od Kenny’ego.”
Panish przedstawił e-mail z 17.06.2009 od Phillipsa do Tohme:
Kenny Ortega, Gongaware, Dileo, jego lekarz Conrad z Vegaz i ja urządzamy interwencje, by skupił się i przychodził na próby. Zdobycie jego zaangażowania jest trudne i bardzo naglące, ponieważ za 20 dni ma odbyć się pierwszy z koncertów.
Phillips powiedział, że nie chodziło mu o stricte interwencje, a o spotkanie. Nie miało ono mieć nic wspólnego z narkotykami.
Panish pytał, czy MJ zwolnił Tohme. Phillips: „Tak, ale wciąż pozostawał z nim w kontakcie.”
Tłumaczenie zostanie uzupełnione:
Phillips said he had lunch with Dr. Tohme in Beverly Hills within the past month. Panish asked if Phillips discussed Dr. Tohme's testimony. Phillips said he didn't, but Marvin Putnam, AEG's attorney, was also present. Phillips said they discussed something regarding Dr. Tohme's case against MJ's estate. He said he doesn't remember talking about this case. (ABC7) Phillips was asked about a lunch meeting he had with Jackson's former manager Tohme Tohme about a month ago. AEG attorney was present too. Phillips said he didn't directly discuss Tohme's possible testimony in the Jackson vs AEG Live case. Phillips said he testified in a Labor Commission hearing over Tohme's claim against Michael Jackson's estate. Plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish said he would had a witness who could testify about what was discussed at the table later in the trial. Panish asked Phillips if he testified at Tohme's Labor Commission hearing to "try to help him out." Phillips said no. "I was completely impartial," Phillips said of testifying at the labor hearing. "I was an impartial witness." (AP) (After court, AEG attorney Marvin Putnam, who was at the lunch meeting, said it was standard for attorneys to interview witnesses before they testify. It remains unclear whether Tohme Tohme will testify during the Jackson vs AEG Live trial. (AP))
The Jacksons' attorney brought the courtroom to attention when he asked Phillips if he met with Tohme at the Polo Lounge recently. Phillips said they had lunch there about a month ago. “And you were discussing his testimony in this case at the Polo Lounge with him?” Panish asked. “I wasn’t,” Phillips said. “You know there were witnesses sitting around you?” Panish said. “You know people took pictures of you? Phillips said he didn’t remember exactly what was discussed. “I don’t remember what I ate,” he said. “I didn’t ask you what you ate,” snapped Panish. Phillips said the meeting had to do with the case Tohme filed against Jackson’s estate with the state labor board for money he was never paid. Phillips was a witness. (LATimes)
Panish: Isn't it true, sir, that when Dr. Murray was hired no one was acting as MJ's personal manager? Phillips: He had someone in that capacity. My understanding Frank DiLeo was his manager. Phillips said AEG advanced DiLeo $50,000 at MJ's direction. "We never hired Dr. Murray," Phillips said. (ABC7)
Phillips said he didn't know anything about Dr. Tohme in January 09 other than he was a consultant for Colony Capital and repped MJ. (ABC7)
“With Michael Jackson and his advisers you needed a scorecard,” testified Randy Phillips. Phillips said he was introduced to Tohme in a meeting at the Century City offices of Colony Capital, the investment firm that held the mortgage on Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. It was AEG owner Phillip Anschutz’s friendship with a Colony Capital partner that led to the firm’s promotion of the planned 50 “This Is It” concerts at the 02 Arena in London. Phillips said Tohme was an adviser to Colony Capital who had no background in the music business and represented no other clients when he began working with the singer. Brian Panish, the attorney for Jackson’s mother and three children in an ongoing wrongful death suit against AEG, asked Phillips what kind of doctor Tohme was, whether he was a physician or if he had a doctorate. Phillips said that although he had met this doctor 25 times, he never asked him. (LATimes)
Randy Phillips was also asked about Tohme's $100k/mo. contract between him, AEG Live and Michael Jackson. Phillips said he could recall of only one other instance where AEG Live paid fee for artist's manager. He said it was a standard practice for Michael Jackson during his career. Phillips said Bon Jovi has a similar deal. (AP) Phillips said in MJ's career they always paid his personal manager. Phillips recalls AEG paying artist's manager 1 other time, for Bon Jovi (ABC7)
Panish later showed Phillips an agreement in which AEG agreed to pay Tohme $100,000 a month and asked if that was common practice, even though the manager is supposed to represent the performer, not the promoter. “In Michael Jackson’s case it was standard,” Phillips said. Panish persisted, and Phillips said AEG’s payments to Jon Bon Jovi’s manager were the only other time it had made a similar arrangement. He also said two of Jackson’s attorneys helped draft the agreement. (LATimes)
Randy Phillips denied that he told Sharon Osbourne that AEG Live had kept all the money from ticket sales for "This Is It." "That would be the most idiotic thing in the world" to say, Phillips said of the statement attributed to him in Osbourne conversation. Phillips said it was more of a "hi-goodbye" conversation with Sharon Osbourne. They lived in same building at time of conversation. (AP)
Panish: Did you talk to Sharon Osbourne about the show?
Phillips: No, not to the extent that Sharon is alluding to we did.
Phillips said he ran into Sharon at the lobby of their building. She asked how it was going, he said it's tough but we're going to get there. Phillips said the encounter with Sharon Osbourne was just a hi and bye. They never talked about ticket sales or anything else related to MJ (ABC7)
93% of the "This Is It" tickets sold were refunded, Phillips said. "7-8% people elected to hold the tickets as souvenirs." Out of $75 million in sales, AEG kept more than $5 million, which Phillips said they gave back to MJ's estate. (ABC7) Phillips said AEG didn't refund 7 or 8% of ticket purchases for "This Is It" because the buyers opted to hold on to the tickets. He said the un-refunded ticket revenues totaled more than $5 million. He indicated the money was handed over to the estate. (AP)
Phillips testified it was a "miracle" that the singer showed up at a news conference in London to announce his comeback. Randy Phillips testified that Jackson was hung over, although in emails he says the singer was drunk. "The fact that the press conference even happened is a miracle," Phillips wrote to Jackson's manager. In another email he wrote to Tim Leiweke, then-chief executive of parent company Anschutz Entertainment Group, Phillips said: “MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent. Tohme [another Jackson manager] and I are trying to sober him up and get him to the press conference with his hairdresser/make-up artist.”
In a second email to Leiweke, Phillips wrote: “I screamed at him so loud the walls are 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 ever see. 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 his press conference.”
In another email Phillips wrote to a business partner: “I haven’t pulled it off yet. We still have to get his nose on propery (sic). You have no idea what this is like. He is a self-loathing, emotionally paralyzed mess.” (LATimes)
“Was Mr. Jackson drunk?” Panish asked.
“No, to the best of my knowledge no,” Phillips testified.
“Was he despondent?” Panish asked. “No,” Phillips replied.
Later Panish produced an e-mail writted by Phillips to AEG President Tim Leiwicke the day of the news conference.
“MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent,” Phillips wrote. “Tohme (Jackson’s manager) and I are trying to sober him up and get him to the press conference.”
“Are you kidding me?” Leiwicke responds.
“I screamed at him so loud the walls are shaking. Tohme and I have dressed him and they are finishing his hair and then we are rushing him to the O2. This is the scariest thing I have ever seen, he is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self loathing and doubt now that it is showtime. He is scared to death. Right now I just want to get through this press conference,” Phillips writes.
After showing the e-mail to the jury, Panish asked his witness if he had yelled at Jackson on the day the e-mail was written.
“In the two-and-a-half hours this all took place, if you take it out of context the answer won’t make any sense,” Phillips said.
The executive later acknowledged “I raised my voice”.
“So the answer is no? Did you or did you not scream at Mr. Jackson? Yes, no or I don’t remember?” Panish asked.
Phillips said he couldn’t answer the question. (CBSLA) (An attorney for AEG told KCAL9 he will show there are no inconsistencies in Phillips’ accounts when he calls witnesses to the stand.)
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." (NYPost)
Phillips began worrying about Jackson backing out of the concert tour just a month after he signed the contract with AEG Live to promote and produce it and more than a week before the announcement.
"I was worried that we would have a mess, his career would be over," Phillips testified. "There were a lot of things I was worried about."
But instead of pulling the plug then, before millions of dollars were spent, AEG LIve chose to force Jackson ahead.
"Once we go on sale, which we have the right to do, he is locked," Gongaware wrote to Phillips.
Jackson, his children and manager Tohme Tohme boarded a private jet for the London announcement,
but he was not ready when Phillips went to his hotel suite to escort him to the O2 Arena.
"MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent. Tohme and I are trying to sober him up and get him to the press conference with his hair/makeup artist," Phillips told parent-company AEG CEO Tim Leiweke in an e-mail.
Phillips testified it was "a very tense situation" and "frankly, I created the tension in that room. Because I was so nerve-racked, OK, the time slipping away, and his career slipping away."
AEG was hosting thousands of Jackson fans and hundreds of journalists for the anticipated announcement, which would be seen live around the world.
"I screamed at him so loud the walls were shaking," Phillips wrote to Leiweke. "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 ever seen. He's an emotionally paralyzed mess, filled with self-loathing and doubt now that it is show time. He is scared to death. Right now I just want to get through this press conference."
Phillips e-mailed a man who was waited outside the hotel with a convoy of vehicles that he put Jackson in a cold shower and "just slapped him and screamed at him."
In court, Phillips downplayed his words as "an exaggeration."
"I slapped him on the butt," he testified, comparing it to what a football coach would do to a player. (CNN)
Źródło: Ivy dla MJJC
Nikogo z rodziny Jacksonów nie było podczas dzisiejszej rozprawy.
Zeznania składa Randy Phillips
Pytania oskarżenia
Brian Panish kontynuował przesłuchanie. Wskazał na kilka przykładów, gdzie Randy Phillips co innego mówił składając zeznania pod przysięgą przed procesem i co innego na sali sądowej.
Panish pytał Phillipsa, która odpowiedź jest właściwa.
Odp.: Chce pan usłyszeć prawdę, czy to, co zeznawałem?
Panish pytał Phillipsa, czy zna strukturę AEG Live. Powiedział, że firma należy do AEG, ale nie wie dokładnie, kto jest jej właścicielem. Panish pokazał informacje ze spotkania zarządku z 26.05.2009, zwołanego w celu omówienia trasy MJa.
Panish odtworzył fragment wywiadu, jakiego Phillips udzielił Sky News i w który powiedział, że AEG zatrudnili Murraya. Świadek zeznał, że miał wtedy na myśli, iż AEG zatrudnili lekarza na żądanie MJa. Phillips powiedział, że pracownik AEG odpowiedzialny za kontakty z mediami po śmierci MJa umawiał go na kolejne wywiady. Wyjaśnił, że każdy wywiad był inny, ale zawsze próbował powiedzieć, że AEG zatrudnili Murraya na prośbę MJa. „Taka była prawda.”
Kolejne pytania dotyczyły spotkań z Murrayem w domu MJa. Phillips potwierdził, że podczas przynajmniej jednego ze spotkań rozmawiano o wadze MJa. Phillips nie mógł sobie przypomnieć dat, więc być może temat ten poruszany był podczas dwóch spotkań. Panish próbował wykorzystać raport policyjny z przesłuchania Phillipsa, by „odświeżyć pamięć świadka”.
Phillips powiedział, że w raporcie tym jest kilka nieścisłości. Panish zaproponował, by zanalizować dokument. Sędzia Yvette Palazelos: „Nie musimy przecież robić tego linijka po linijce,” Phillips skupił się więc na dwóch fragmentach, które jego zdaniem były niewłaściwe.
Phillips powiedział, że policjanci pomylili się w swoim raporcie dotyczącym jego osoby. Fragm.: „Randy powiedział, że Kenny naskoczył na MJa i wtedy Murray upomniał Randy’ego.” Phillips: „Policjanci się pomylili. Policjant przeinaczył to, co powiedziałem i popełnił błąd. Dr Murray wtrącił się i upomniał Ortegę; powiedział mu, by nie bawił się w lekarza-amatora – tak Phillips miał powiedzieć policjantom. Phillips odczytał fragment z przesłuchania o spotkaniu w domu MJa z udziałem Phillipsa, Murraya i Ortegi. Raport: Randy powiedział, że zwrócił się do MJa, a wtedy Murray upomniał Randy’ego, twierdząc: ‘Nie jesteś lekarzem. Odpieprz się.’” Phillips powiedział, że policja popełniła błąd. Phillips: “Jeżeli pan to przeczyta, to nie ma to sensu. Sądzę, że policjanci z Los Angeles są świetną jednostką i wierzę w system sprawiedliwości”, ale zapewnia, że to był ich błąd. Phillips wskazał na jeszcze jeden fragment policyjnego dokumentu – zapisano tam, że Phillips i Gongaware organizowali dwie trasy MJa, ale Phillips powiedział, że nie był w nie zaangażowany. Gongaware owszem, ale Phillips nie. Rozmowa Phillipsa z policjantami najwidoczniej nie była nagrywana na prośbę prawników AEG.
Odnośnie MJa, który nie pojawiał się na próbach, Phillips wyjaśnił: „MJ pojawiał się na próbach, ale zdaniem Kenny’ego na zbyt niewielu.”
Phillips opowiadał o rozmowie telefonicznej z Murrayem, jaka trwała ok. 25 minut. Phillips powiedział Panishowi, że będzie wiedział, ile razy dzwonił do dr Murraya, ponieważ prawnicy są w posiadaniu jego billingów telefonicznych. Panish powiedział, że nigdy nie żądał żadnych billingów, że zrobiła to policja. Świadek wyjaśnił, że było to jego założenie. Jedyna rozmowa telefoniczna z Murrayem, jaką Phillips pamięta, miała miejsce 20.06.2009.
Podczas przesłuchania Phillips powiedział, że z Gongaware nie rozmawiali o e-mailu, w którym pisał, że to AEG a nie MJ płacą Murrayowi. Phillips powiedział, że podczas przesłuchania po raz pierwszy zobaczył wiadomość Gongaware. Panish wskazał, że wiadomość ta została przekazana do Franka Dileo i Phillipsa. Podczas przesłuchania Phillips mówił, że nie pamięta, by otrzymywał tę wiadomość. Podczas dzisiejszych zeznań świadek przyznał, że wiadomość tę otrzymał. Panish naciskał na Phillipsa, wskazując, że zmieniał odpowiedź trzy razy. Phillips odpowiedział, że za każdym razem twierdził to samo, tylko innymi słowami. „Szczerze mówiąc, nie pamiętam, bym odczytywał wiadomość Paula, bardziej niepokoił mnie e-mail od Kenny’ego.”
Panish przedstawił e-mail z 17.06.2009 od Phillipsa do Tohme:
Kenny Ortega, Gongaware, Dileo, jego lekarz Conrad z Vegaz i ja urządzamy interwencje, by skupił się i przychodził na próby. Zdobycie jego zaangażowania jest trudne i bardzo naglące, ponieważ za 20 dni ma odbyć się pierwszy z koncertów.
Phillips powiedział, że nie chodziło mu o stricte interwencje, a o spotkanie. Nie miało ono mieć nic wspólnego z narkotykami.
Panish pytał, czy MJ zwolnił Tohme. Phillips: „Tak, ale wciąż pozostawał z nim w kontakcie.”
Tłumaczenie zostanie uzupełnione:
Phillips said he had lunch with Dr. Tohme in Beverly Hills within the past month. Panish asked if Phillips discussed Dr. Tohme's testimony. Phillips said he didn't, but Marvin Putnam, AEG's attorney, was also present. Phillips said they discussed something regarding Dr. Tohme's case against MJ's estate. He said he doesn't remember talking about this case. (ABC7) Phillips was asked about a lunch meeting he had with Jackson's former manager Tohme Tohme about a month ago. AEG attorney was present too. Phillips said he didn't directly discuss Tohme's possible testimony in the Jackson vs AEG Live case. Phillips said he testified in a Labor Commission hearing over Tohme's claim against Michael Jackson's estate. Plaintiff's attorney Brian Panish said he would had a witness who could testify about what was discussed at the table later in the trial. Panish asked Phillips if he testified at Tohme's Labor Commission hearing to "try to help him out." Phillips said no. "I was completely impartial," Phillips said of testifying at the labor hearing. "I was an impartial witness." (AP) (After court, AEG attorney Marvin Putnam, who was at the lunch meeting, said it was standard for attorneys to interview witnesses before they testify. It remains unclear whether Tohme Tohme will testify during the Jackson vs AEG Live trial. (AP))
The Jacksons' attorney brought the courtroom to attention when he asked Phillips if he met with Tohme at the Polo Lounge recently. Phillips said they had lunch there about a month ago. “And you were discussing his testimony in this case at the Polo Lounge with him?” Panish asked. “I wasn’t,” Phillips said. “You know there were witnesses sitting around you?” Panish said. “You know people took pictures of you? Phillips said he didn’t remember exactly what was discussed. “I don’t remember what I ate,” he said. “I didn’t ask you what you ate,” snapped Panish. Phillips said the meeting had to do with the case Tohme filed against Jackson’s estate with the state labor board for money he was never paid. Phillips was a witness. (LATimes)
Panish: Isn't it true, sir, that when Dr. Murray was hired no one was acting as MJ's personal manager? Phillips: He had someone in that capacity. My understanding Frank DiLeo was his manager. Phillips said AEG advanced DiLeo $50,000 at MJ's direction. "We never hired Dr. Murray," Phillips said. (ABC7)
Phillips said he didn't know anything about Dr. Tohme in January 09 other than he was a consultant for Colony Capital and repped MJ. (ABC7)
“With Michael Jackson and his advisers you needed a scorecard,” testified Randy Phillips. Phillips said he was introduced to Tohme in a meeting at the Century City offices of Colony Capital, the investment firm that held the mortgage on Jackson’s Neverland Ranch. It was AEG owner Phillip Anschutz’s friendship with a Colony Capital partner that led to the firm’s promotion of the planned 50 “This Is It” concerts at the 02 Arena in London. Phillips said Tohme was an adviser to Colony Capital who had no background in the music business and represented no other clients when he began working with the singer. Brian Panish, the attorney for Jackson’s mother and three children in an ongoing wrongful death suit against AEG, asked Phillips what kind of doctor Tohme was, whether he was a physician or if he had a doctorate. Phillips said that although he had met this doctor 25 times, he never asked him. (LATimes)
Randy Phillips was also asked about Tohme's $100k/mo. contract between him, AEG Live and Michael Jackson. Phillips said he could recall of only one other instance where AEG Live paid fee for artist's manager. He said it was a standard practice for Michael Jackson during his career. Phillips said Bon Jovi has a similar deal. (AP) Phillips said in MJ's career they always paid his personal manager. Phillips recalls AEG paying artist's manager 1 other time, for Bon Jovi (ABC7)
Panish later showed Phillips an agreement in which AEG agreed to pay Tohme $100,000 a month and asked if that was common practice, even though the manager is supposed to represent the performer, not the promoter. “In Michael Jackson’s case it was standard,” Phillips said. Panish persisted, and Phillips said AEG’s payments to Jon Bon Jovi’s manager were the only other time it had made a similar arrangement. He also said two of Jackson’s attorneys helped draft the agreement. (LATimes)
Randy Phillips denied that he told Sharon Osbourne that AEG Live had kept all the money from ticket sales for "This Is It." "That would be the most idiotic thing in the world" to say, Phillips said of the statement attributed to him in Osbourne conversation. Phillips said it was more of a "hi-goodbye" conversation with Sharon Osbourne. They lived in same building at time of conversation. (AP)
Panish: Did you talk to Sharon Osbourne about the show?
Phillips: No, not to the extent that Sharon is alluding to we did.
Phillips said he ran into Sharon at the lobby of their building. She asked how it was going, he said it's tough but we're going to get there. Phillips said the encounter with Sharon Osbourne was just a hi and bye. They never talked about ticket sales or anything else related to MJ (ABC7)
93% of the "This Is It" tickets sold were refunded, Phillips said. "7-8% people elected to hold the tickets as souvenirs." Out of $75 million in sales, AEG kept more than $5 million, which Phillips said they gave back to MJ's estate. (ABC7) Phillips said AEG didn't refund 7 or 8% of ticket purchases for "This Is It" because the buyers opted to hold on to the tickets. He said the un-refunded ticket revenues totaled more than $5 million. He indicated the money was handed over to the estate. (AP)
Phillips testified it was a "miracle" that the singer showed up at a news conference in London to announce his comeback. Randy Phillips testified that Jackson was hung over, although in emails he says the singer was drunk. "The fact that the press conference even happened is a miracle," Phillips wrote to Jackson's manager. In another email he wrote to Tim Leiweke, then-chief executive of parent company Anschutz Entertainment Group, Phillips said: “MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent. Tohme [another Jackson manager] and I are trying to sober him up and get him to the press conference with his hairdresser/make-up artist.”
In a second email to Leiweke, Phillips wrote: “I screamed at him so loud the walls are 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 ever see. 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 his press conference.”
In another email Phillips wrote to a business partner: “I haven’t pulled it off yet. We still have to get his nose on propery (sic). You have no idea what this is like. He is a self-loathing, emotionally paralyzed mess.” (LATimes)
“Was Mr. Jackson drunk?” Panish asked.
“No, to the best of my knowledge no,” Phillips testified.
“Was he despondent?” Panish asked. “No,” Phillips replied.
Later Panish produced an e-mail writted by Phillips to AEG President Tim Leiwicke the day of the news conference.
“MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent,” Phillips wrote. “Tohme (Jackson’s manager) and I are trying to sober him up and get him to the press conference.”
“Are you kidding me?” Leiwicke responds.
“I screamed at him so loud the walls are shaking. Tohme and I have dressed him and they are finishing his hair and then we are rushing him to the O2. This is the scariest thing I have ever seen, he is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self loathing and doubt now that it is showtime. He is scared to death. Right now I just want to get through this press conference,” Phillips writes.
After showing the e-mail to the jury, Panish asked his witness if he had yelled at Jackson on the day the e-mail was written.
“In the two-and-a-half hours this all took place, if you take it out of context the answer won’t make any sense,” Phillips said.
The executive later acknowledged “I raised my voice”.
“So the answer is no? Did you or did you not scream at Mr. Jackson? Yes, no or I don’t remember?” Panish asked.
Phillips said he couldn’t answer the question. (CBSLA) (An attorney for AEG told KCAL9 he will show there are no inconsistencies in Phillips’ accounts when he calls witnesses to the stand.)
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." (NYPost)
Phillips began worrying about Jackson backing out of the concert tour just a month after he signed the contract with AEG Live to promote and produce it and more than a week before the announcement.
"I was worried that we would have a mess, his career would be over," Phillips testified. "There were a lot of things I was worried about."
But instead of pulling the plug then, before millions of dollars were spent, AEG LIve chose to force Jackson ahead.
"Once we go on sale, which we have the right to do, he is locked," Gongaware wrote to Phillips.
Jackson, his children and manager Tohme Tohme boarded a private jet for the London announcement,
but he was not ready when Phillips went to his hotel suite to escort him to the O2 Arena.
"MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent. Tohme and I are trying to sober him up and get him to the press conference with his hair/makeup artist," Phillips told parent-company AEG CEO Tim Leiweke in an e-mail.
Phillips testified it was "a very tense situation" and "frankly, I created the tension in that room. Because I was so nerve-racked, OK, the time slipping away, and his career slipping away."
AEG was hosting thousands of Jackson fans and hundreds of journalists for the anticipated announcement, which would be seen live around the world.
"I screamed at him so loud the walls were shaking," Phillips wrote to Leiweke. "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 ever seen. He's an emotionally paralyzed mess, filled with self-loathing and doubt now that it is show time. He is scared to death. Right now I just want to get through this press conference."
Phillips e-mailed a man who was waited outside the hotel with a convoy of vehicles that he put Jackson in a cold shower and "just slapped him and screamed at him."
In court, Phillips downplayed his words as "an exaggeration."
"I slapped him on the butt," he testified, comparing it to what a football coach would do to a player. (CNN)
Źródło: Ivy dla MJJC