9/2/2012 3:50 PM PDT BY TMZ STAFF MICHAEL JACKSON 'This Is It' Promoters Called Jackson a 'Mess'

9/2/2012 3:50 PM PDT BY TMZ STAFF MICHAEL JACKSON 'This Is It' Promoters Called Jackson a 'Mess'

Michael Jackson was "an emotionally paralyzed mess" who was "scared to death" leading up to his planned "This Is It" concerts in 2009, this according to newly obtained emails sent by the promoters of the show.

In the emails, obtained by the LA Times, AEG's Randy Phillips traded messages back and forth with AEG President Tim Leiweke. In one email leading up to the 2009 press conference to announce the concerts, Phillips wrote, "MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent ... I (am) trying to sober him up."

Phillips said Jackson was "an emotionally paralyzed mess," that Jackson was "scared to death," and that Phillips and Jackson's manager had to dress him. The press conference ended up being very brief and very strange.

The emails were part of the discovery in an ongoing lawsuit between AEG and the insurance company that backed the tour ... which is suing to get the $17.5 million policy nullified.

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Michael Jackson: Emails show concert promoters' concern over Jackson's health

An email exchange between AEG's Randy Phillips and AEG President Tim Leiweke expressed concern over Jackson and his planned 2009 comeback. The emails may play a key role in two lawsuits set for trial next year


LOS ANGELES — Promoters of Michael Jackson’s planned 2009 comeback described in emails how they feared for the megastar’s stability, saying he was out of shape and consumed with self-doubt.

The Los Angeles Times obtained some 250 pages of messages, most between executives at Anschutz Entertainment Group, which was financing the ill-fated “This Is It” concerts set for London. Some of the emails indicated that executives were concerned that Jackson’s planned 50-show stand at AEG’s 02 Arena would be an expensive bust.

In one exchange AEG’s Randy Phillips wrote his boss that Jackson was “an emotionally paralyzed mess.” Phillips was writing from Jackson’s London hotel suite just hours before a press conference announcing the concert run.

“MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent,” Phillips said in an email to AEG President Tim Leiweke. “I (am) trying to sober him up.”

In the end, the emails show, Phillips and Jackson’s manager had to dress the pop star, the Times said.

“He is scared to death,” Phillips wrote to Leiweke.

Jackson arrived 90 minutes late for the press conference and made brief remarks that some of the 350 reporters described as odd and disjointed.

In an interview with the newspaper, AEG’s attorney Marvin Putnam suggested Phillips had exaggerated in his emails and said Jackson’s behaviour appeared to be a case of “nerves.”

The Times said the messages will probably play a key role in two lawsuits set for trial next year. The shows’ insurers are asking a judge to nullify a $17.5-million policy that they say AEG got with false claims about Jackson’s health and readiness to perform. And Jackson’s heirs filed a wrongful-death suit that accuses the entertainment giant of pressuring the singer to carry on with a comeback despite indications he was too weak.

Lawyers for AEG, which has denied any wrongdoing, told the Times most of the correspondence was produced as discovery in ongoing litigation. They said the messages reviewed by the newspaper were incomplete and leaked to portray the company in a negative light. The lawyers declined to provide additional emails that they said would give a fuller picture, citing a protective order imposed by a judge in the civil litigation.

Numerous emails show Lloyd’s of London unsuccessfully pushing for access to five years of Jackson’s medical records in order to expand insurance coverage for the concerts.

The insurer also wanted the singer to undergo a four-hour medical exam that would include three doctors, heart monitoring and blood work. AEG’s insurance broker tried to persuade Lloyd’s to drop the physical, according to the email discussions. AEG suggested that Jackson’s physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, could give an oral recitation of Jackson’s recent medical history instead, the Times reported. Lloyd’s refused.

A Lloyd’s underwriter wrote that repeated requests for written records and details about Jackson’s daily fitness program were met “always with no response.”

Murray responded to the last of the requests June 25 at Jackson’s Southern California home, according to emails presented at the doctor’s criminal trial. He wrote that he had talked to Jackson and “Authorization was denied.”

Jackson died less than an hour later, according to a timeline Murray gave investigators.

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E-mails show promoter's doubts before Michael Jackson's death
By Alan Duke, CNN

Los Angeles (CNN) -- The promoter for Michael Jackson's comeback concerts expressed doubts about the star's ability to be ready for the shows but expressed confidence in the private doctor eventually convicted in Jackson's death, according to e-mails published in Sunday's Los Angeles Times.

AEG Live President Randy Phillips was responding to "This Is It" director Kenny Ortega's e-mail, which said Jackson had "strong signs of paranoia, anxiety and obsessive-like behavior" and suggesting they hire a "top Psychiatrist in to evaluate him ASAP."
Jackson died on June 25, 2009, from what the Los Angeles County coroner ruled was an overdose of a surgical anesthetic and sedatives, drugs that Dr. Conrad Murray told police he used to help the entertainer sleep as he prepared for the concerts set to start two weeks later.

Murray was convicted of involuntary manslaughter and sentenced to four years in prison last year.
The e-mails, leaked to the newspaper, were gathered for an insurance company's lawsuit, which seeks to void a $17.5 million policy that AEG Live purchased in case Jackson was not able to perform the 50 shows scheduled for London's O2 Arena. The newspaper did not disclose the source of the leaks.

Lloyds of London contends AEG Live hid Jackson's health problems from the insurer and failed to respond to repeated requests for his medical history.
Katherine Jackson explains disappearance
While Phillips called Jackson's death "a terrible tragedy" in an e-mail weeks after he died, he added "but life must go on."

Conrad Murray invites MJ's mom to jail Michael Jackson $1B estate debate
"AEG will make a fortune from merch sales, ticket retention, the touring exhibition and the film/dvd," Phillips wrote. In fact, AEG Live was allowed to sell Jackson tour merchandise and share in the profits from the documentary "This Is It," produced from rehearsal video.
AEG Live and its lawyer did not immediately respond to a CNN request for comment.
The e-mails suggest AEG Live's president saw Jackson's problems first hand the day the pop star was to appear at the O2 Arena to publicly announce the shows.

"MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent," Phillips wrote in a March 5, 2009, e-mail to AEG Live's parent company, the paper reported. "I (am) trying to sober him up."
"I screamed at him so loud the walls are shaking," Phillips wrote. "He is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self loathing and doubt now that it is show time."
The promoter blamed London traffic when Jackson was 90 minutes late for the announcement that day.

"He's as healthy as he can be -- no health problems whatsoever," Phillips told CNN two months later to refute reports Jackson's health was threatening the concerts.
The Los Angeles Times story, however, said the e-mails indicated major doubts about Jackson's ability to perform.
"We cannot be forced into stopping this, which MJ will try to do because he is lazy and constantly changes his mind to fit his immediate wants," AEG Live executive Paul Gongaware e-mailed to Phillips.

Jackson's missed rehearsals in June triggered concerns in e-mails that he was slow in learning his dance routines and would have to lip-sync on stage, the newspaper reported.
"MJ is not in shape enough yet to sing this stuff live and dance at the same time," one e-mail from the show's music director read, the paper reported.
A production manager wrote: "He was a basket case. Doubt is pervasive."
Despite 'Unity' concert, family in uproar
A loud warning from Ortega, who worked closely with Jackson on previous tours, came in mid-June, just over a week before his death.

"It is like there are two people there. One (deep inside) trying to hold on to what he was and still can be and not wanting us to quit him, the other in this weakened and troubled state," Ortega wrote. "I believe we need professional guidance in this matter."
Ortega testified at Murray's trial about his concerns about Jackson's frail condition and missed rehearsals. It resulted in a meeting six days before Jackson's death in which Murray assured the promoters he would have Jackson ready for rehearsals that next week.

An e-mail from Phillips after that meeting said he had confidence in Murray "who I am gaining immense respect for as I get to deal with him more."
"This doctor is extremely successful (we check everyone out) and does not need this gig, so he (is) totally unbiased and ethical," Phillips' e-mail said.
Murray seeks new test in MJ's death
The correspondence could play a role in a wrongful death lawsuit filed by Jackson's heirs against AEG, which accuses the promoter of contributing to his death by pressuring him to prepare for the concerts despite his weak condition.
A lawyer for Jackson's mother and a spokesman for Jackson's estate declined to comment on the e-mails reported in the newspaper.

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