# Emails concerning Michael Jackson and his comeback. **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [September 3, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519 "2012-09-03T04:27:45Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 14\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 4:27am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/1 "2012-09-03T04:27:45Z")
> [@](#): > > Emails in Jackson insurance litigation show AEG execs knew of concerns about the pop star’s stability. I don’t see a lot of fault with AEG. They were bankrolling this comeback tour and counting on Jackson’s professionalism. Michael had always come through no matter how screwed up his personal life was. I think the saddest part is that he attempted this so out of shape and unprepared. This was a man that had started performing at age six. He knew what was required. He should have spent six months quietly working out with dancers and a trainer before signing up for the tour. It sounds like he jumped into this without any training. He hadn’t performed in a over a decade. > **[Doubts surfaced early on Michael Jackson](https://www.latimes.com/entertainment/tv/la-xpm-2012-sep-02-la-me-aeg-jackson-20120902-story.html)** > > Doubts surfaced early on Michael Jackson > [@](#): > > “If you are in the creative arts business, you are going to be involved with individuals who have a great many problems,” said AEG attorney Marvin Putnam. “Michael Jackson was an adult and … it is supercilious to say he was unable to take care of his own affairs.” > [@](#): > > “We are holding all the risk,” Gongaware wrote to Phillips. “We let Mikey know just what this will cost him in terms of him making money… 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.” > > “He is locked. He has no choice … he signed a contract,” Gongaware wrote. **Where was the professionalism? Why would a man who performed since he was six show up so physically unprepared? Michael was always a perfectionist in his performances. That’s why he was the king of pop. No one worked harder than this guy. What the heck happened to him?** > [@](#): > > Those rehearsing with Jackson began sounding alarms in mid-June, according to the emails, a month before his scheduled debut in London. They complained he missed rehearsals, was slow picking up routines and would have to lip-sync some of his signature numbers. > > “MJ is not in shape enough yet to sing this stuff live and dance at the same time,” the show’s musical director informed supervisors in an email. Jackson missed another week of rehearsals, and when he finally showed up June 19, he was too weak to perform. > [@](#): > > 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. ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 6:17am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/2 "2012-09-03T06:17:28Z")
He was an addict, that’s what happened to him. That and he had major psychological issues, to put it mildly. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 1:49pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/3 "2012-09-03T13:49:26Z")
I didn’t want to believe he was this messed up. That even his life’s work was too much to handle in his last days. It reminds me of Elvis. Broke, bloated, drug addled and he died on the john. He was scheduled to go out on tour within days. ---
**Author:** ![Oakminster](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/o/77aa72/32.png) [@Oakminster](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Oakminster)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 1:55pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/4 "2012-09-03T13:55:34Z")
If he comes back now, he really will be bigger than Jesus. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 2:28pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/5 "2012-09-03T14:28:29Z")
Horse tranquilizer will do that to a man – and to a horse. ---
**Author:** ![Hampshire](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/hampshire/32/4887_2.png) [@Hampshire](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Hampshire)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 2:37pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/6 "2012-09-03T14:37:19Z")
Why did he try to comeback so unprepared? I think some big stars think they worked so hard to gain such success that once they get there and are critically acclaimed they don’t need to put in the practice anymore. Look at Brett Favre and his last couple years with the Vikings. He never wanted to put in any time at training camps or early preseason games. He thought he could just show up for the regular season. ---
**Author:** ![Larry\_Mudd](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/l/f14d63/32.png) [@Larry\_Mudd](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Larry_Mudd)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 5:32pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/7 "2012-09-03T17:32:14Z")
> [@Oakminster](#): > > If he comes back now, he really will be bigger than Jesus. Did he buy that title along with the Beatles’ catalogue? ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 5:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/8 "2012-09-03T17:35:15Z")
I think he bought Jesus’s catalog too. ---
**Author:** ![aceplace57](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/aceplace57/32/3500_2.png) [@aceplace57](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/aceplace57)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 5:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/9 "2012-09-03T17:56:10Z")
Jackson had been drinking for a long time. Somebody found a photo of him swigging vodka from a bottle with 2 sexy midgets in his lap. He looks about 25 here. [http://coedmagazine.com/2012/08/29/michael-jackson-funny-wtf-rare-photos/](http://coedmagazine.com/2012/08/29/michael-jackson-funny-wtf-rare-photos/) ---
**Author:** ![TBG](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/t/c89c15/32.png) [@TBG](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/TBG)\ **Post date:** [September 3, 2012, 10:04pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/10 "2012-09-03T22:04:16Z")
I came into this topic expecting it to be about a Michael Jackson hologram going on tour. ---
**Author:** ![sparky\_1](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/77aa72/32.png) [@sparky\_1](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/sparky_1)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 1:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/11 "2012-09-04T01:12:47Z")
> [@Boyo\_Jim](#): > > Horse tranquilizer will do that to a man – and to a horse. But not a midget, err dwarf. ---
**Author:** ![Boyo\_Jim](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/87869e/32.png) [@Boyo\_Jim](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Boyo_Jim)\ **Post date:** [September 4, 2012, 2:57am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/12 "2012-09-04T02:57:08Z")
> [@sparky\_1](#): > > But not a midget, err dwarf. Another _In Bruges_ fan – great movie! ---
**Author:** ![Guinastasia](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/guinastasia/32/5751_2.png) [@Guinastasia](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Guinastasia)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 3:12am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/13 "2012-09-07T03:12:48Z")
> [@aceplace57](#): > > Jackson had been drinking for a long time. Somebody found a photo of him swigging vodka from a bottle with 2 sexy midgets in his lap. He looks about 25 here. > [http://coedmagazine.com/2012/08/29/michael-jackson-funny-wtf-rare-photos/](http://coedmagazine.com/2012/08/29/michael-jackson-funny-wtf-rare-photos/) That can’t be him – those are adult women, from the looks of them. ---
**Author:** ![BigT](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/bigt/32/12044_2.png) [@BigT](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/BigT)\ **Post date:** [September 7, 2012, 12:56pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/emails-concerning-michael-jackson-and-his-comeback/633519/14 "2012-09-07T12:56:21Z")
> [@Guinastasia](#): > > That can’t be him – those are adult women, from the looks of them. How do you know he didn’t have a thing for short people, no matter the age or sex?