Tag: Michael Jackson

  • Michael Jackson’s sexual abuse lawsuits revived by appeals court in California

    By Associated Press

    LOS ANGELES: A California appeals court on Friday revived lawsuits from two men who alleged Michael Jackson sexually abused them for years when they were boys.

    A three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found that the lawsuits of Wade Robson and James Safechuck should not have been dismissed by a lower court and that the men can validly claim that the two Jackson-owned corporations that were named as defendants in the cases had a responsibility to protect them. A new California law that temporarily broadened the scope of sexual abuse cases enabled the appeals court to restore them.

    It’s the second time the lawsuits — brought by Robson in 2013 and Safechuck the following year — have been brought back after dismissal. The two men became more widely known for telling their stories in the 2019 HBO documentary ” Leaving Neverland.”

    A judge who dismissed the suits in 2021 found that the corporations, MJJ Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc., could not be expected to function like the Boy Scouts or a church where a child in their care could expect their protection. Jackson, who died in 2009, was the sole owner and only shareholder in the companies.

    The higher court judges disagreed, writing that “a corporation that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not excused from an affirmative duty to protect those children merely because it is solely owned by the perpetrator of the abuse.”

    They added that “it would be perverse to find no duty based on the corporate defendant having only one shareholder. And so we reverse the judgments entered for the corporations.”

    Jonathan Steinsapir, attorney for the Jackson estate, said they were “disappointed.”

    “Two distinguished trial judges repeatedly dismissed these cases on numerous occasions over the last decade because the law required it,” Steinsapir said in an email to The Associated Press.

    “We remain fully confident that Michael is innocent of these allegations, which are contrary to all credible evidence and independent corroboration, and which were only first made years after Michael’s death by men motivated solely by money.”

    Vince Finaldi, an attorney for Robson and Safechuck, said in an email that they were “pleased but not surprised” that the court overturned the previous judge’s “incorrect rulings in these cases, which were against California law and would have set a dangerous precedent that endangered children throughout state and country. We eagerly look forward to a trial on the merits.”

    Steinsapir had argued for the defence in July that it does not make sense that employees would be legally required to stop the behaviour of their boss. “It would require low-level employees to confront their supervisor and call them paedophiles,” Steinsapir said.

    Holly Boyer, another attorney for Robson and Safechuck, countered that the boys “were left alone in this lion’s den by the defendant’s employees. An affirmative duty to protect and to warn is correct.”

    Steinsapir said evidence that has been gathered in the cases, which have not reached trial, showed that the parents had no expectation of Jackson’s employees to act as monitors. “They were not looking to Michael Jackson’s companies for protection from Michael Jackson,” the lawyer argued said.

    But in a concurring opinion issued with Friday’s decision, one of the panellists, Associate Justice John Shepard Wiley Jr., wrote that “to treat Jackson’s wholly-owned instruments as different from Jackson himself is to be mesmerized by abstractions. This is not an alter ego case. This is a same ego case.”

    The judges did not rule on the truth of the allegations themselves. That will be the subject of a forthcoming jury trial in Los Angeles. “We trust that the truth will ultimately prevail with Michael’s vindication yet again,” Steinsapir said Friday.

    Robson, now a 40-year-old choreographer, met Jackson when he was 5 years old. He went on to appear in three Jackson music videos. His lawsuit alleged that Jackson molested him over a seven-year period.

    Safechuck, now 45, said in his suit that he was 9 when he met Jackson while filming a Pepsi commercial. He said Jackson called him often and lavished him with gifts before moving on to sexually abusing him.

    The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were victims of sexual abuse. But Robson and Safechuck have come forward and approved of the use of their identities.

    The men’s lawsuits had already bounced back from a 2017 dismissal when Young threw them out for being beyond the statute of limitations. Jackson’s personal estate — the assets he left after his death — was thrown out as a defendant in 2015.

    LOS ANGELES: A California appeals court on Friday revived lawsuits from two men who alleged Michael Jackson sexually abused them for years when they were boys.

    A three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal found that the lawsuits of Wade Robson and James Safechuck should not have been dismissed by a lower court and that the men can validly claim that the two Jackson-owned corporations that were named as defendants in the cases had a responsibility to protect them. A new California law that temporarily broadened the scope of sexual abuse cases enabled the appeals court to restore them.

    It’s the second time the lawsuits — brought by Robson in 2013 and Safechuck the following year — have been brought back after dismissal. The two men became more widely known for telling their stories in the 2019 HBO documentary ” Leaving Neverland.”googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    A judge who dismissed the suits in 2021 found that the corporations, MJJ Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc., could not be expected to function like the Boy Scouts or a church where a child in their care could expect their protection. Jackson, who died in 2009, was the sole owner and only shareholder in the companies.

    The higher court judges disagreed, writing that “a corporation that facilitates the sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not excused from an affirmative duty to protect those children merely because it is solely owned by the perpetrator of the abuse.”

    They added that “it would be perverse to find no duty based on the corporate defendant having only one shareholder. And so we reverse the judgments entered for the corporations.”

    Jonathan Steinsapir, attorney for the Jackson estate, said they were “disappointed.”

    “Two distinguished trial judges repeatedly dismissed these cases on numerous occasions over the last decade because the law required it,” Steinsapir said in an email to The Associated Press.

    “We remain fully confident that Michael is innocent of these allegations, which are contrary to all credible evidence and independent corroboration, and which were only first made years after Michael’s death by men motivated solely by money.”

    Vince Finaldi, an attorney for Robson and Safechuck, said in an email that they were “pleased but not surprised” that the court overturned the previous judge’s “incorrect rulings in these cases, which were against California law and would have set a dangerous precedent that endangered children throughout state and country. We eagerly look forward to a trial on the merits.”

    Steinsapir had argued for the defence in July that it does not make sense that employees would be legally required to stop the behaviour of their boss. “It would require low-level employees to confront their supervisor and call them paedophiles,” Steinsapir said.

    Holly Boyer, another attorney for Robson and Safechuck, countered that the boys “were left alone in this lion’s den by the defendant’s employees. An affirmative duty to protect and to warn is correct.”

    Steinsapir said evidence that has been gathered in the cases, which have not reached trial, showed that the parents had no expectation of Jackson’s employees to act as monitors. “They were not looking to Michael Jackson’s companies for protection from Michael Jackson,” the lawyer argued said.

    But in a concurring opinion issued with Friday’s decision, one of the panellists, Associate Justice John Shepard Wiley Jr., wrote that “to treat Jackson’s wholly-owned instruments as different from Jackson himself is to be mesmerized by abstractions. This is not an alter ego case. This is a same ego case.”

    The judges did not rule on the truth of the allegations themselves. That will be the subject of a forthcoming jury trial in Los Angeles. “We trust that the truth will ultimately prevail with Michael’s vindication yet again,” Steinsapir said Friday.

    Robson, now a 40-year-old choreographer, met Jackson when he was 5 years old. He went on to appear in three Jackson music videos. His lawsuit alleged that Jackson molested him over a seven-year period.

    Safechuck, now 45, said in his suit that he was 9 when he met Jackson while filming a Pepsi commercial. He said Jackson called him often and lavished him with gifts before moving on to sexually abusing him.

    The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were victims of sexual abuse. But Robson and Safechuck have come forward and approved of the use of their identities.

    The men’s lawsuits had already bounced back from a 2017 dismissal when Young threw them out for being beyond the statute of limitations. Jackson’s personal estate — the assets he left after his death — was thrown out as a defendant in 2015.

  • Michael Jackson sexual abuse lawsuits on verge of revival by appeals court

    By Associated Press

    LOS ANGELES: A California appeals court on Wednesday will consider reviving the dismissed lawsuits of two men who alleged that Michael Jackson sexually abused them as children for years, a move the court appears likely to make after a tentative decision that would order the cases back to a lower court for trial.

    The suits were filed after Jackson’s 2009 death by Wade Robson in 2013 and James Safechuck the following year. The two men became more widely known for telling their stories in the 2019 HBO documentary, “Leaving Neverland.”

    Both sued MJJ Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc., two corporations for which Jackson was the sole owner and lone shareholder.

    In 2021, Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young ruled that the two corporations and their employees had no legal duty to protect Robson and Safechuck from Jackson and threw out the suits. But in a tentative decision last month, California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal reversed that judge and ordered the cases back to trial.

    Lawyers for the Jackson estate on Wednesday will try to convince the appeals court to reverse course.The lawsuits have already bounced back from a 2017 dismissal, when Young threw them out for being beyond the statute of limitations. A new California law that temporarily broadened the scope of sexual abuse cases led the appeals court to restore them. Jackson’s personal estate — the assets he left after his death — was thrown out as a defendant in 2015.

    Robson, now a 40-year-old choreographer, met Jackson when he was 5 years old. He went on to appear in Jackson’s music videos and record music on his label.

    His lawsuit alleged that Jackson molested him over a seven-year period. It says that he was Jackson’s employee, and the employees of two corporations had a duty to protect him the same way the Boy Scouts or a school would need to protect children from their leaders.

    Safechuck, now 45, said in his suit that he met Jackson while filming a Pepsi commercial when he was 9. He said Jackson called him often and lavished him with gifts before moving on to a series of incidents of sexual abuse.

    The Jackson estate has adamantly and repeatedly denied that he abused either of the boys, and has emphasized that Robson testified at Jackson’s 2005 criminal trial that he had not been abused, and Safechuck said the same to authorities.

    The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were victims of sexual abuse. But Robson and Safechuck have repeatedly come forward and approved of the use of their identities.

    LOS ANGELES: A California appeals court on Wednesday will consider reviving the dismissed lawsuits of two men who alleged that Michael Jackson sexually abused them as children for years, a move the court appears likely to make after a tentative decision that would order the cases back to a lower court for trial.

    The suits were filed after Jackson’s 2009 death by Wade Robson in 2013 and James Safechuck the following year. The two men became more widely known for telling their stories in the 2019 HBO documentary, “Leaving Neverland.”

    Both sued MJJ Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc., two corporations for which Jackson was the sole owner and lone shareholder.googletag.cmd.push(function() {googletag.display(‘div-gpt-ad-8052921-2’); });

    In 2021, Superior Court Judge Mark A. Young ruled that the two corporations and their employees had no legal duty to protect Robson and Safechuck from Jackson and threw out the suits. But in a tentative decision last month, California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal reversed that judge and ordered the cases back to trial.

    Lawyers for the Jackson estate on Wednesday will try to convince the appeals court to reverse course.
    The lawsuits have already bounced back from a 2017 dismissal, when Young threw them out for being beyond the statute of limitations. A new California law that temporarily broadened the scope of sexual abuse cases led the appeals court to restore them. Jackson’s personal estate — the assets he left after his death — was thrown out as a defendant in 2015.

    Robson, now a 40-year-old choreographer, met Jackson when he was 5 years old. He went on to appear in Jackson’s music videos and record music on his label.

    His lawsuit alleged that Jackson molested him over a seven-year period. It says that he was Jackson’s employee, and the employees of two corporations had a duty to protect him the same way the Boy Scouts or a school would need to protect children from their leaders.

    Safechuck, now 45, said in his suit that he met Jackson while filming a Pepsi commercial when he was 9. He said Jackson called him often and lavished him with gifts before moving on to a series of incidents of sexual abuse.

    The Jackson estate has adamantly and repeatedly denied that he abused either of the boys, and has emphasized that Robson testified at Jackson’s 2005 criminal trial that he had not been abused, and Safechuck said the same to authorities.

    The Associated Press does not typically name people who say they were victims of sexual abuse. But Robson and Safechuck have repeatedly come forward and approved of the use of their identities.

  • Michael Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson to play pop legend in Antoine Fuqua’s film 

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Singer Jaafar Jackson, the 26-year-old nephew of ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson, will play the late music icon in the Antoine Fuqua-directed film biopic for Lionsgate.

    Titled “Michael”, the film hails from producer Graham King, who earlier backed “Bohemian Rhapsody” which earned Rami Malek the Academy Award for best actor in a leading role.

    Fuqua, known for the “Equalizer” films “Training Day”, and “Southpaw”, shared the news on his official Instagram account on Monday.

    “Proud to announce @jaafarjackson as Michael – the motion picture event that explores the journey of the man who became the King of Pop.

    Coming soon,” the acclaimed filmmaker wrote.

    Jaafar Jackson — the son of Jermaine Jackson, the brother of Michael and member of The Jackson 5 — said he was “humbled and honoured to bring my Uncle Michael’s story to life”.

    “To all the fans all over the world, I’ll see you soon,” he added.

    Penned by John Logan of “Skyfall” fame, the film will explore all aspects of Michael Jackson’s life, including his most iconic performances that led him to become the greatest entertainer of all time.

    Regarded as the ‘King of Pop’, the singer-dancer has several hit tracks to his credit including “Beat It”, “Thriller”, “Black Or White”, “Smooth Criminal”, and “Billy Jean”.

    Michael Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50. Production of “Michael” will begin this year.

    LOS ANGELES: Singer Jaafar Jackson, the 26-year-old nephew of ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson, will play the late music icon in the Antoine Fuqua-directed film biopic for Lionsgate.

    Titled “Michael”, the film hails from producer Graham King, who earlier backed “Bohemian Rhapsody” which earned Rami Malek the Academy Award for best actor in a leading role.

    Fuqua, known for the “Equalizer” films “Training Day”, and “Southpaw”, shared the news on his official Instagram account on Monday.

    “Proud to announce @jaafarjackson as Michael – the motion picture event that explores the journey of the man who became the King of Pop.

    Coming soon,” the acclaimed filmmaker wrote.

    View this post on Instagram

    A post shared by Antoine Fuqua (@antoinefuqua)

    Jaafar Jackson — the son of Jermaine Jackson, the brother of Michael and member of The Jackson 5 — said he was “humbled and honoured to bring my Uncle Michael’s story to life”.

    “To all the fans all over the world, I’ll see you soon,” he added.

    Penned by John Logan of “Skyfall” fame, the film will explore all aspects of Michael Jackson’s life, including his most iconic performances that led him to become the greatest entertainer of all time.

    Regarded as the ‘King of Pop’, the singer-dancer has several hit tracks to his credit including “Beat It”, “Thriller”, “Black Or White”, “Smooth Criminal”, and “Billy Jean”.

    Michael Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50. Production of “Michael” will begin this year.

  • Michael Jackson’s nephew Jaafar Jackson to play pop legend in Antoine Fuqua’s film

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Singer Jaafar Jackson, the 26-year-old nephew of ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson, will play the late music icon in the Antoine Fuqua-directed film biopic for Lionsgate.

    Titled “Michael”, the film hails from producer Graham King, who earlier backed “Bohemian Rhapsody” that earned Rami Malek the Academy Award for best actor in a leading role.

    Fuqua, known for the “Equalizer” films “Training Day”, and “Southpaw”, shared the news on his official Instagram account on Monday.

    “Proud to announce @jaafarjackson as Michael – the motion picture event that explores the journey of the man who became the King of Pop. Coming soon,” the acclaimed filmmaker wrote.

    Jaafar Jackson — the son of Jermaine Jackson, the brother of Michael and member of The Jackson 5 — said he was “humbled and honoured to bring my Uncle Michael’s story to life”.

    “To all the fans all over the world, I’ll see you soon,” he added.

    Penned by John Logan of “Skyfall” fame, the film will explore all aspects of Michael Jackson’s life, including his most iconic performances that led him to become the greatest entertainer of all time.

    Regarded as the ‘King of Pop’, the singer-dancer has several hit tracks to his credit including “Beat It”, “Thriller”, “Black Or White”, “Smooth Criminal”, and “Billy Jean”.

    Michael Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50. Production on “Michael” will begin this year.

    LOS ANGELES: Singer Jaafar Jackson, the 26-year-old nephew of ‘King of Pop’ Michael Jackson, will play the late music icon in the Antoine Fuqua-directed film biopic for Lionsgate.

    Titled “Michael”, the film hails from producer Graham King, who earlier backed “Bohemian Rhapsody” that earned Rami Malek the Academy Award for best actor in a leading role.

    Fuqua, known for the “Equalizer” films “Training Day”, and “Southpaw”, shared the news on his official Instagram account on Monday.

    “Proud to announce @jaafarjackson as Michael – the motion picture event that explores the journey of the man who became the King of Pop. Coming soon,” the acclaimed filmmaker wrote.

    Jaafar Jackson — the son of Jermaine Jackson, the brother of Michael and member of The Jackson 5 — said he was “humbled and honoured to bring my Uncle Michael’s story to life”.

    “To all the fans all over the world, I’ll see you soon,” he added.

    Penned by John Logan of “Skyfall” fame, the film will explore all aspects of Michael Jackson’s life, including his most iconic performances that led him to become the greatest entertainer of all time.

    Regarded as the ‘King of Pop’, the singer-dancer has several hit tracks to his credit including “Beat It”, “Thriller”, “Black Or White”, “Smooth Criminal”, and “Billy Jean”.

    Michael Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50. Production on “Michael” will begin this year.

  • Antoine Fuqua to helm biopic on Michael Jackson titled ‘Michael’

    By PTI

    LOS ANGELES: Filmmaker Antoine Fuqua is set to direct a biographical movie on the life of music legend Michael Jackson.

    Titled “Michael”, the Lionsgate film comes from producer Graham King, who earlier backed “Bohemian Rhapsody” which earned Rami Malek an Oscar for best actor.

    According to the entertainment news website Variety, the movie will begin production in 2023 and is written by John Logan of “Skyfall” fame.

    Michael JacksonThe film will explore all aspects of Jackson’s life, including his most iconic performances that led him to become the greatest entertainer of all time.

    Regarded as the King of Pop, Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50.

    “The first films of my career were music videos, and I still feel that combining film and music is a deep part of who I am,” said Fuqua, known for movies such as “Training Day”, “Tears of the Sun”, “Olympus Has Fallen”, “The Equalizer” and “Southpaw”.

    “For me, there is no artist with the power, the charisma, and the sheer musical genius of Michael Jackson. I was influenced to make music videos by watching his work, the first Black artist to play in heavy rotation on MTV. His music and those images are part of my worldview, and the chance to tell his story on the screen alongside his music was irresistible,” he added.

    “Michael” will be distributed worldwide by Lionsgate.

    LOS ANGELES: Filmmaker Antoine Fuqua is set to direct a biographical movie on the life of music legend Michael Jackson.

    Titled “Michael”, the Lionsgate film comes from producer Graham King, who earlier backed “Bohemian Rhapsody” which earned Rami Malek an Oscar for best actor.

    According to the entertainment news website Variety, the movie will begin production in 2023 and is written by John Logan of “Skyfall” fame.

    Michael JacksonThe film will explore all aspects of Jackson’s life, including his most iconic performances that led him to become the greatest entertainer of all time.

    Regarded as the King of Pop, Jackson died in 2009 at the age of 50.

    “The first films of my career were music videos, and I still feel that combining film and music is a deep part of who I am,” said Fuqua, known for movies such as “Training Day”, “Tears of the Sun”, “Olympus Has Fallen”, “The Equalizer” and “Southpaw”.

    “For me, there is no artist with the power, the charisma, and the sheer musical genius of Michael Jackson. I was influenced to make music videos by watching his work, the first Black artist to play in heavy rotation on MTV. His music and those images are part of my worldview, and the chance to tell his story on the screen alongside his music was irresistible,” he added.

    “Michael” will be distributed worldwide by Lionsgate.

  • Michael Jackson used 19 fake IDs to score drugs, reveals new documentary

    By IANS

    LOS ANGELES: King of pop Michael Jackson, who died in June 2009, used up to 19 fake IDs to buy drugs, reveals a new documentary.

    The 50-year-old was found unresponsive in his Los Angeles home after suffering cardiac arrest brought on by the anesthetic propofol – a drug reportedly routinely administered by Jackson’s physician, Conrad Murray.

    The death was ruled a homicide, and Murray took all the blame. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison, serving just under two behind bars, reports nypost.com.

    But Murray endured the brunt of public hatred even though Jackson, who would have turned 64 on Monday, was abusing drugs throughout much of his life in alarming doses and was allegedly easily enabled to do so by an array of other doctors – ones who never saw a day in jail after the King of Pop’s death, according to a new documentary ‘TMZ Investigates: Who Really Killed Michael Jackson’ due out on Fox next month.

    “It’s a lot more complicated than just: Dr. Murray was at his bedside when he died,” Orlando Martinez, the LAPD detective assigned to Jackson’s death, says in the documentary.

    “Circumstances had been leading up to his death for years, and all of these different medical professionals had allowed Michael to dictate his own terms, get the medicines he wanted, when he wanted them, where he wanted them,” Martinez maintains.

    “All of them are the reason why he’s dead today.”

    Jackson had been taking the propofol in ‘Gatorade’-size bottles at the time of his death, according to Ed Winter, the assistant chief coroner for LA County.

    The medical community, in many ways, facilitated his obsession with the substance, according to Murray, who adds that propofol “was the only way he could go to sleep, especially when he was getting ready for a tour.”

    “It was not a big deal – he had been using it for decades, different doctors had given it to him from all around the world… and they allowed him to sometimes inject the medicine,” Murray, who routinely administered it to Jackson, says. “He was able to push the propofol himself, and the doctors allowed him to do it, and that was OK.”

    On top of the makeshift sleep medicine – one that addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky explicitly says is neither a medication that should be used to treat insomnia nor one that is routinely stored outside of medical facilities – Jackson was also hooked on other drugs throughout his career, according to the documentary.

    It all began in 1984 when he suffered both second and third-degree burns to his scalp during a pyrotechnic disaster while filming a Pepsi commercial and was given painkillers to recuperate.

    In Jackson’s own words, drugs had taken over his life in the years that followed.

    “I became increasingly more dependent on the painkillers to get me through the days of my tour,” Jackson says in archived audio, explaining why he cancelled the latter part of his 1993 ‘Dangerous’ world tour and announced that he was going into treatment.

    All that time on the road was misery for the star act. In archived footage, Jackson confesses: “I don’t like it… I go through hell touring.”

    Things had only gotten worse in the years to follow as Jackson fostered a relationship with famed Hollywood dermatologist Arnold Klein, who died of natural causes at age 70 in 2015. Klein admitted to dishing out the opioid Demerol along with more substances to the superstar.

    TMZ Executive Producer Harvey Levin says it was “routine” for MJ to go get high on Demerol “for hours at a time” at Klein’s office.

    “Dr Klein was more than happy to oblige and he justified with minor procedures,” Levin says. “And he did this over and over and over again.”

    Jackson was taking Demerol at a whopping 300 milligrams at a time, according to Pinsky. The pop singer even mentions the substance in his 1997 track “Morphine.”

    Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s ex-wife who worked for Klein as an assistant for years, spoke only about the doctor and not of her late ex-husband. She says that Klein was known for doing unethical things to woo the Hollywood elite in his office.

    “There were times he would write prescriptions for things that had nothing to do with what we were treating them for,” Rowe says in the doc. “He would write prescriptions that were not conducive to what a dermatologist would normally write a prescription for.”

    She added that Klein was “a person that you want to hang with because you’re going to be able to get something in return.”

    It was also revealed that as Jackson and Klein’s relationship turned into more of a friendship rather than that of doctor and patient, the dermatologist allegedly kept fraudulent documents on the singer.

    Jackson had created 19 false aliases to collect different drugs, and Klein had kept a special book noting which prescriptions went to each fake identity, according to Winter.

    “The way that Michael went about getting all these drugs was doctor shopping. He had multiple, different doctors that he was involved with and he would go to ‘Doctor A’ and ask for a sedative, and then he would go to ‘Doctor B’ and may ask for the same one,” Jackson’s plastic surgeon, Dr. Harry Glassman, claims.

    “Michael is responsible, to a great extent, for his own demise, but he certainly had a lot of help from the medical community.”

    Murray, who admits to having deeply cared for Jackson, says none of that information had ever been shared with him.

    “He made it look as though I was his sole physician… If I had known that Michael was going to a dermatologist’s office or any doctor and being shot up or dripped up with opioids on a daily basis, there would be a two-step dance. One, he has a problem; two, I’ll take you to where you need to be treated – and if you fail to do that, I am out,” Murray says.

    Things reached a boiling point in 2009 when Jackson was readying for his “This Is It” tour as his behaviour became a noticeable worry for director Kenny Ortega.

    “There are strong signs of paranoia, anxiety and obsessive-like behaviour. I think the very best thing we can do is get a top psychiatrist in, to evaluate him ASAP. There’s no one taking responsibility. Caring for him, on a daily basis,” Ortega wrote in an email of concern during rehearsals.

    “Today I was feeding him, wrapping him in blankets and calling his doctor,” he added.

    Jackson had also been rehearsing for the tour that took so much out of him up to the day before his death on June 25 – one more factor in his own demise.

    “Michael Jackson was a drug addict and he was a master at manipulation because I was manipulated by Michael,” Murray says. “I did not enable him at any time in his addiction.

    Even Martinez admits that Murray has unfairly suffered for consequences that were not necessarily his whole doing.

    “We knew that there were multiple doctors doing what Dr. Murray had done and that they had done it over the course of years,” Martinez says. “We decided to concentrate on that night for the criminal side of it. So that negated all of the other history with the other doctors.”

    “There are a lot of folks to blame who have never had a reckoning for his death.”

    LOS ANGELES: King of pop Michael Jackson, who died in June 2009, used up to 19 fake IDs to buy drugs, reveals a new documentary.

    The 50-year-old was found unresponsive in his Los Angeles home after suffering cardiac arrest brought on by the anesthetic propofol – a drug reportedly routinely administered by Jackson’s physician, Conrad Murray.

    The death was ruled a homicide, and Murray took all the blame. He was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and was sentenced to four years in prison, serving just under two behind bars, reports nypost.com.

    But Murray endured the brunt of public hatred even though Jackson, who would have turned 64 on Monday, was abusing drugs throughout much of his life in alarming doses and was allegedly easily enabled to do so by an array of other doctors – ones who never saw a day in jail after the King of Pop’s death, according to a new documentary ‘TMZ Investigates: Who Really Killed Michael Jackson’ due out on Fox next month.

    “It’s a lot more complicated than just: Dr. Murray was at his bedside when he died,” Orlando Martinez, the LAPD detective assigned to Jackson’s death, says in the documentary.

    “Circumstances had been leading up to his death for years, and all of these different medical professionals had allowed Michael to dictate his own terms, get the medicines he wanted, when he wanted them, where he wanted them,” Martinez maintains.

    “All of them are the reason why he’s dead today.”

    Jackson had been taking the propofol in ‘Gatorade’-size bottles at the time of his death, according to Ed Winter, the assistant chief coroner for LA County.

    The medical community, in many ways, facilitated his obsession with the substance, according to Murray, who adds that propofol “was the only way he could go to sleep, especially when he was getting ready for a tour.”

    “It was not a big deal – he had been using it for decades, different doctors had given it to him from all around the world… and they allowed him to sometimes inject the medicine,” Murray, who routinely administered it to Jackson, says. “He was able to push the propofol himself, and the doctors allowed him to do it, and that was OK.”

    On top of the makeshift sleep medicine – one that addiction specialist Dr. Drew Pinsky explicitly says is neither a medication that should be used to treat insomnia nor one that is routinely stored outside of medical facilities – Jackson was also hooked on other drugs throughout his career, according to the documentary.

    It all began in 1984 when he suffered both second and third-degree burns to his scalp during a pyrotechnic disaster while filming a Pepsi commercial and was given painkillers to recuperate.

    In Jackson’s own words, drugs had taken over his life in the years that followed.

    “I became increasingly more dependent on the painkillers to get me through the days of my tour,” Jackson says in archived audio, explaining why he cancelled the latter part of his 1993 ‘Dangerous’ world tour and announced that he was going into treatment.

    All that time on the road was misery for the star act. In archived footage, Jackson confesses: “I don’t like it… I go through hell touring.”

    Things had only gotten worse in the years to follow as Jackson fostered a relationship with famed Hollywood dermatologist Arnold Klein, who died of natural causes at age 70 in 2015. Klein admitted to dishing out the opioid Demerol along with more substances to the superstar.

    TMZ Executive Producer Harvey Levin says it was “routine” for MJ to go get high on Demerol “for hours at a time” at Klein’s office.

    “Dr Klein was more than happy to oblige and he justified with minor procedures,” Levin says. “And he did this over and over and over again.”

    Jackson was taking Demerol at a whopping 300 milligrams at a time, according to Pinsky. The pop singer even mentions the substance in his 1997 track “Morphine.”

    Debbie Rowe, Jackson’s ex-wife who worked for Klein as an assistant for years, spoke only about the doctor and not of her late ex-husband. She says that Klein was known for doing unethical things to woo the Hollywood elite in his office.

    “There were times he would write prescriptions for things that had nothing to do with what we were treating them for,” Rowe says in the doc. “He would write prescriptions that were not conducive to what a dermatologist would normally write a prescription for.”

    She added that Klein was “a person that you want to hang with because you’re going to be able to get something in return.”

    It was also revealed that as Jackson and Klein’s relationship turned into more of a friendship rather than that of doctor and patient, the dermatologist allegedly kept fraudulent documents on the singer.

    Jackson had created 19 false aliases to collect different drugs, and Klein had kept a special book noting which prescriptions went to each fake identity, according to Winter.

    “The way that Michael went about getting all these drugs was doctor shopping. He had multiple, different doctors that he was involved with and he would go to ‘Doctor A’ and ask for a sedative, and then he would go to ‘Doctor B’ and may ask for the same one,” Jackson’s plastic surgeon, Dr. Harry Glassman, claims.

    “Michael is responsible, to a great extent, for his own demise, but he certainly had a lot of help from the medical community.”

    Murray, who admits to having deeply cared for Jackson, says none of that information had ever been shared with him.

    “He made it look as though I was his sole physician… If I had known that Michael was going to a dermatologist’s office or any doctor and being shot up or dripped up with opioids on a daily basis, there would be a two-step dance. One, he has a problem; two, I’ll take you to where you need to be treated – and if you fail to do that, I am out,” Murray says.

    Things reached a boiling point in 2009 when Jackson was readying for his “This Is It” tour as his behaviour became a noticeable worry for director Kenny Ortega.

    “There are strong signs of paranoia, anxiety and obsessive-like behaviour. I think the very best thing we can do is get a top psychiatrist in, to evaluate him ASAP. There’s no one taking responsibility. Caring for him, on a daily basis,” Ortega wrote in an email of concern during rehearsals.

    “Today I was feeding him, wrapping him in blankets and calling his doctor,” he added.

    Jackson had also been rehearsing for the tour that took so much out of him up to the day before his death on June 25 – one more factor in his own demise.

    “Michael Jackson was a drug addict and he was a master at manipulation because I was manipulated by Michael,” Murray says. “I did not enable him at any time in his addiction.

    Even Martinez admits that Murray has unfairly suffered for consequences that were not necessarily his whole doing.

    “We knew that there were multiple doctors doing what Dr. Murray had done and that they had done it over the course of years,” Martinez says. “We decided to concentrate on that night for the criminal side of it. So that negated all of the other history with the other doctors.”

    “There are a lot of folks to blame who have never had a reckoning for his death.”

  • Paris Jackson looks stunning in chic style at Paris Fashion Week

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: Dance and music legend Michael Jackson’s daughter, Paris Jackson, recently again showcased her eclectic style during Paris Fashion Week.

    According to E! News, Paris turned heads off the runway with a rare appearance at Vivienne Westwood’s Womenswear fall/winter 2022/2023 show on Saturday.

    For the show, Paris wore a strapless, multi-coloured polka-dotted dress with a purple belt and thigh-high split, paired with black peep-toe strappy pumps, as she sat at the event with fellow model and fashion designer Kailand Morris, who also has a famous musician dad, Stevie Wonder.

    Paris and Kailand also hung out with Vivienne herself at the show, which featured runway appearances from Bella Hadid and Gigi Hadid.

    During the Paris Fashion Week last October, Paris had also showcased a chic look at Westwood’s Womenswear spring/summer 2022 show.

    As per E! News, in a recent cover interview with a luxury retailer for a magazine, Paris detailed her personal style.

    “I have had the same style since high school: a combination of Sixties, Seventies and Nineties. I love a good bellbottom, Earth tones, Doc Martens, ripped leggings, and band T-shirts for day-to-day. It’s boho grunge,” she said.

    Paris added that she wears “PJs and sweats most of the time” because she loves being comfortable. 

  • Janet Jackson’s documentary to air on January 28

    By PTI

    A four-hour documentary on the life and career of singer Janet Jackson will premiere on January 28. The two-part film “Janet” will be simulcast on Lifetime and A&E, reported Billboard.

    The release date and an extended trailer of the documentary was released on social media on Sunday.

    “Happy New Year! It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for – night one of #JanetJacksonDoc premieres Friday, January 28th at 8/7c. @janetjackson @aetv,” said Lifetime in a tweet.

    ✨Happy New Year! It’s the moment we’ve all been waiting for – night one of #JanetJacksonDoc premieres Friday, January 28th at 8/7c.✨@janetjackson @aetv pic.twitter.com/u8HtKs3edO
    — Lifetime (@lifetimetv) January 1, 2022
    The film comes in the 40th anniversary year of Janet Jackson’s eponymous debut album.

    “Janet” will see the singer discuss her famous family, including the deaths of brother Michael and father Joseph, her late-in-life motherhood to a moment where her team was approached by Justin Timberlake “about doing the Super Bowl,” which Timberlake was headlining in 2018.

    At the time, she had taken to social media to shut down rumours that they would be reuniting on the halftime show stage.

    Janet Jackson and Timberlake had a fallout after their controversial 2004 Super Bowl performance.

    Last year, Timberlake addressed his complicity in Jackson’s career downturn after one of her breasts was exposed during their infamous halftime show performance in the wake of the criticism he received for ill treating his former girlfriend and singer Britney Spears as depicted in the explosive documentary “Framing Britney Spears”.

    Timberlake apologised to both Spears and Jackson for his past actions.

    Ben Hirsch, known for documentaries on Idris Elba and “Bruno v Tyson”, serves as director on “Janet”.

    Janet Jackson also serves as an executive producer on the documentary alongside Randy Jackson (no relation) and Workerbee’s Rick Murray and A+E Networks’ Miranda Bryant.

    “Janet” gives exclusive access to archival footage, unseen home videos and interviews with famous stars like Missy Elliott, Whoopi Goldberg, Samuel L Jackson, Mariah Carey and Ciara.

  • Broadway performances for Michael Jackson musical ‘MJ’ cancelled till post Christmas

    By ANI

    WASHINGTON: The new Michael Jackson musical, ‘MJ’, has been announced to not return to Broadway’s Neil Simon Theatre until December 27, wiping out the show’s opportunity for the lucrative pre-Christmas and Christmas Day box office.

    According to Deadline, in a tweeted statement, producers said, “As a result of multiple positive COVID test results within the company, and out of an abundance of caution, ‘MJ’ is cancelling all performances through December 26th. Previews will resume Monday, December 27.”

    The ‘MJ’ announcement is the most far-reaching of the recent surge in Covid cancellations, which this week have tended toward one or two immediate performances followed by night-by-night decisions on further cancellations.

    The 10-day shutdown of ‘MJ’ is more in keeping with last month’s temporary shutdown of ‘Chicken and Biscuits’, the Douglas Lyons comedy at Circle in the Square that paused production from November 9-19 due to breakthrough COVID cases.

    ‘Chicken and Biscuits’ subsequently permanently closed later that month, with producers citing the devastating financial impact of the COVID cancellations.

    Though box office figures for individual shows are not available from the Broadway League this season, ‘Chicken and Biscuits’ was thought to have been struggling at the box office even before the cancellations, which isn’t the case with ‘MJ’.

    As per Deadline, the Michael Jackson musical, with a book by two-time Pulitzer Prize winner Lynn Nottage, a score of Jackson hits and a starring performance by newcomer Myles Frost, has been playing to sold-out houses since beginning previews on December 6. The musical is directed and choreographed by Christopher Wheeldon.