June 28, 2005 - Thomas Mesereau Appears on TV Comedy Show J

Jay Leno welcomed Thomas Mesereau, Michael Jackson’s senior attorney, to his Friday night show with a bit of comic business—raising his right hand the way he did when he testified in court.

For more than three months on his show, Jay Leno kept entertaining viewers with jokes about Michael Jackson’s court proceedings and about himself. He was also called to the witness stand on behalf of the defense team to testify that, in 2000, he had received suspicious phone calls from the complainant. He said he had thought the complainant might be reading his messages from a script.

Throughout his conversation with Thomas Mesereau, the comedian was completely serious. Mesereau, too, managed only a single, barely-there smile during the entire segment. He described Michael as “a misunderstood musician who could never hurt a child or imprison a family in Neverland.”

“Michael is an artist. He has a creative spirit. He likes to sit inside the trunk of a tree and make music.”

Mesereau attacked Tom Sneddon, saying that “the prosecutor has it out for Michael and had described this case as bad from day one.” He said the prosecutor had been looking for a complainant since the previous case closed in 1993—someone to bring charges against Michael.

“It was like they were openly looking for an actor to frame Michael. This family was the best cast they could find—so their testimony from A to Z was completely discredited.”

Speaking about Michael’s settlement of the 1993 allegations, which led to a $20 million payment from him to the complainant’s family, Mesereau said, “That amount of money was insignificant compared to the income Michael had at the time.” But he also said that paying it had been a mistake.

“He used the money he had. After that settlement, others thought they could get Michael to pay them money on a daily basis. (referring to new complainants)”

Mesereau referred to the jury members as “people with strong willpower, independence, and open minds.”

“We had very respectful, courageous people on the jury, and they made the right decision.”

Jay Leno asked Mesereau why Michael, despite having plenty of employees, had been taken to the hospital several times during the court sessions:
“Someone holds the umbrella for him. He’s got a magician. So why didn’t he hire a doctor, too?”
Mesereau said he didn’t know the reason, but added that Michael’s back pain caused by stress was a serious issue.

“Emotionally, Michael wasn’t built for processes like this. He sat in court for months and listened to the nonsense they were saying about him.”