14 DAY TRIAL // Michael Jackson would have been 54 this year, still recording music for his fans, still being a devoted father for his 3 children. Three years ago, the King of Pop died of a propofol overdose – and leaked emails confirm AEG Live knew about the bad state he was in all along.
Back in 2009, Michael was gearing up for a series of concerts that would take him out of financial trouble while also re-establishing him as one of the greatest live artists of the moment.
No less than 50 live shows were announced to take place in London, at the O2 Arena, through a partnership with promoter AEG Live.
As sad as it might sound to say it out loud, when Michael died, AEG made more money than they could have ever hoped to make with him alive.
The Los Angeles Times got a hold of email correspondence between AEG bosses (Randy Phillips and AEG President Tim Leiweke, among them) and the people who worked with Michael during rehearsals for the tour.
Besides confirming that AEG was always in the know about Michael’s poor condition, including his addictions, his confidence issues and health problems, the series of emails also reveal a much sadder truth: they knew and still pushed him on and on, until he could no more.
“MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent. I [am] trying to sober him up,” Phillips wrote to his boss as Michael was refusing to leave his hotel room to attend a scheduled press event.
“I screamed at him so loud the walls are shaking. He is an emotionally paralyzed mess riddled with self loathing and doubt now that it is show time,” Phillips added.
“He is scared to death,” Phillips was saying in another email, sent right before Michael was supposed to make his big comeback announcement in London.
The star showed up 90 minutes late to that press conference and did not look himself, but AEG still urged him on.
Not even when Kenny Ortega, who had worked with him for 20 years, and was in charge of the show tried to sound the alarm, did they listen.
“MJ is not in shape enough yet to sing this stuff live and dance at the same time,” Ortega wrote as rehearsals had started.
“There are strong signs of paranoia, anxiety and obsessive-like behavior. I think the very best thing we can do is get a top Psychiatrist in to evaluate him ASAP,” he wrote in another message, trying to get Michael some help – other than what he was getting from Conrad Murray, who was found guilty of administering to him the deadly dose of propofol.
“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. I believe we need professional guidance in this matter,” Ortega said.
He was told to do his job and not turn into a psychiatrist when none was needed.
That was Michael’s final week. Summoned for one last time and urged not to miss any more rehearsals or face financial hell for breach of contract, he gave it his best for 2 days in a row, and then asked Murray to help him sleep.
He, in turn, pumped his body full of drugs and killed him.
“Michael's death is a terrible tragedy, but life must go on. AEG will make a fortune from merch sales, ticket retention, the touring exhibition and the film/dvd,” Phillips wrote to a colleague in August 2009.
See here for the full piece in the LA Times.