Behind the scenes of the WMA—or when the stadium becomes a dinner market

And the award for the most “give-it-to-everyone” ceremony goes to… the 2006 World Music Awards in London! Michael Jackson’s return—one that kept all of us waiting for a long time, and in the end ended with him singing just four words of We Are The World—wasn’t the only thing that made the faces of the WMA executives turn red with embarrassment after the disastrous ceremony on Wednesday. Since we were backstage, our mouths were left open in shock at seeing a series of truly ridiculous and disgraceful events. And we were like, “What the heck!!!!” That night, the WMA executives were begging Beyoncé to come and present the MTV award to her on stage, because she was the only one available. And then Beyoncé had to make an extra effort for thirty minutes to convince Michael to go on stage—because he was really upset. Our usually cool star was getting angry and was telling the WMA staff: “You know I never get angry. But right now I’m really, really losing it!!!???” Beyoncé got even more furious when she found out that the tough guys backstage—Matthew and Tina Knowles—didn’t allow her parents to get close to Michael’s dressing room. Michael’s microphone also turned off when he finally made it onto the stage, because at exactly 11 p.m. the “silent trumpet” is sounded at Earl’s Court—and by then, Michael’s time was already past 11. One of Michael’s friends told us: “He was terribly disappointed. He had practiced four of his songs for the performance, but he didn’t agree to Thriller at all. He decided to sing She’s Out Of My Life. But every time he wanted to come on stage and sing something, the staff told him the song wasn’t ready. Then his microphone turned off. That was the last straw.” Yesterday, a WMA spokesperson said: “The stadium cuts off the microphones at exactly 11 p.m.” An Earl’s Court representative added: “As far as we know, Michael’s singing was already finished.” Peaches Geldof, an ordinary person, was pulled out of the audience so she could present the Latin America award to the person who was about to receive it—only five minutes before that person came on stage. Lindsay Lohan also got booed. She fell down the stairs and then had to hand over her hosting role to someone else. The organizers realized there was an awkward situation in their scheduling, and as a result they forcibly pulled Katie Melua out of the room where she was getting dressed, to summon an artist called “Tokyo Hotel” to the stage with the top German award. After being left in limbo for 20 minutes, they informed her that Sugababes would do it instead. Angry managers backstage were forcing Sugababes onto the stage with all kinds of pressure and trouble—until it was announced that the legal time for “Tokyo Hotel” had ended. And since there was no extra time and everything had to be shut off at 11, “Tokyo Hotel” was left without the award. Pixie Geldof got into a fight and brawling, and the stars’ jackets and bodies were crushed as they tried to squeeze into the 800-pound VIP seats. Now this was the first case of stars getting shoved around. The ceremony, which was in its 19th year, had attracted big names. Paris Hilton, Ellie McPherson, Natalie Imbruglia, and Jade Jagger. And almost everyone we spoke to said it was the worst ceremony they had ever attended. A source who asked not to be named told us: “It was an unusual night. Everything that could cause sabotage happened exactly. Everything was late. Instructions were given during the ceremony. The stars were informed exactly 10 minutes before they were supposed to do their job. There was nobody to hand Michael’s award to. Even Ben Jovi turned it down. In the end, they had to ask Beyoncé. She accepted. But surely nothing like that was in the program.” Beyoncé missed her flight to the United States because of Michael’s award. Luckily, billionaire Philip Green stepped in and lent her his private jet. In fact, this man saved the ceremony by himself. A check with a seven-figure number was drawn out at the last minutes and paid to the WMA organizers—buying back the management team’s reputation. Because at the last minutes they remembered that besides the performers’ fees, they also had to pay for travel, tickets, food and drink, and of course the backstage equipment. But what was the benefit of this story? At least now we know not to count on anyone for the Christmas celebration. Source: eMJey / Mirror