Concert exec testifies he made request in email two weeks after singer’s death
Two weeks after Michael Jackson‘s death, the performers on his “This Is It” concert series were urged to avoid saying he looked “emaciated” before his overdose, a concert exec grudgingly testified Thursday.
Tour honcho Paul Gongaware made the request in an email shown to jurors during his testimony in the negligence lawsuit brought by Jackson’s mom Katherine against his company AEG Live.
“We are ok with the band, singers and dancers doing interviews now. The only thing we ask is that they keep it positive and stress that MJ was active, engaged and not the emaciated person some want to paint him as being,” the July 9, 2009, email to music coordinator JoAnn Tominaga read.
“You’re telling them what not to say, aren’t you sir?” Katherine’s lawyer Brian Panish asked Gongaware.
“I’m asking them to keep it positive,” Gongaware replied from the witness stand.
“And not say he was emaciated,” Panish shot back.
“Yes …we did ask them to keep it positive,” Gongaware said.
“So you were controlling the message as a producer of that documentary,” Panish said, referring to the follow-up “This Is It” movie that included taped interviews.
“I don’t think so,” Gongaware replied.
Panish also grilled Gongaware over an email sent by his boss Randy Phillips a month later asking him to scrap footage of Michael that made him look ill.
“Make sure we take out the shots of MJ in the red leather jacket at the soundstage where the mini movies were being filmed. He looks way too think (sic) and skeletal,” read the Aug. 9 email, previously mentioned during the trial.
Gongaware promised in a follow-up email to Phillips that he’d “have a look,” but he testified Thursday that he never dumped any footage.
“We didn’t keep anything out based on what Randy wrote,” Gogaware told jurors.
Katherine, 83, is suing for damages estimated in the billions, claiming AEG negligently hired the doctor who overdosed Michael.
AEG adamantly denies any wrongdoing, saying Michael personally hired Dr. Conrad Murray and kept his use of the intravenous anesthetic that killed him a closely guarded secret.
Earlier Thursday, Gongaware confirmed he received an email from “This Is It” tour production manager John Hougdahl “joking” that the skinny singer needed junk food and beer to gain some much-needed weight.
“He needs some burgers with a bunch of Wisconsin cheesehead bowlers…and a couple of brats and beers,” read the June 15, 2009, email projected on a screen for jurors.
“Was he joking around about this situation?” Panish asked Gongaware, referring to Hougdahl.
“I think he was,” Gongaware replied.
“Did you think that was funny?” Panish asked.
“I did,” Gongaware admitted.
Source: NYDaily News / MJ-Upbeat.com
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