Day 28 of the A.J. trial: Phillips says it was Michael Jackson’s fight with Teme and shouting at Michael
Today, the lawyer for the company continued questioning Randy Phillips.
Most of today’s time was spent discussing the dismissed manager of Michael, Teme Teme. Phillips talked about a two-hour meeting with Teme at the Beverly Hills Hotel in the summer of 2008 to discuss Michael’s tour. On that day, they talked about the living arrangements, Michael’s career, where he lived, his finances, and his return to the world of music. These meetings continued and ultimately led to a meeting in Michael’s presence. Phillips said that Teme took control of expenses and even signed Michael’s checkbook. According to him, Teme had an accent and came from another country.
Why London?
He said the idea of holding the tour in London was given by Raymond Bain, the spokesperson and general manager of Michael’s team. Phillips explained that keeping the tour based in one place was much easier than traveling it to different cities around the world. It would also be better for Michael’s children.
“We thought London was an amazing city to hold the tour, and fans from all over the world would come to watch it.”
He said London people like to get out of the house and spend time outside. There are many tourists in the city and the population keeps changing. The O2 Arena, which had been chosen as the tour venue, was ideal for Michael because Michael was also an ideal person. According to Phillips, Michael welcomed performing in London because he personally liked the city.
“He had friends there and felt comfortable. He embraced the idea, and that made the rest of the work better.”
The name Mark Lester was brought up as one of Michael’s friends in court.
Meeting Michael and signing the contract
According to Phillips’ testimony, one of Michael’s important motivations for holding the tour was to raise enough money to buy a house for himself and his family.
Phillips requested a meeting with Michael. This meeting took place in October 2008 in the suite where Michael was staying at the Beverly Hills Hotel near Wilshire Boulevard. Phillips said he thinks it was the second meeting. The first meeting had taken place in Michael’s living room above the suite.
“We talked more about the concert dates and how tickets would be sold, and who he wanted to work with.”
During this meeting, Phillips thought Michael was ready for the tour. The only topics they discussed were music and the tour.
“He was dressed well. His eyes were clear. He was a mature, experienced man in his fifties. He was a very intelligent, articulate young man who held the reins of his life in his own hands.”
He then criticized the way this court has portrayed Michael:
“We talk about Michael as if he were the confused five-year-old boy from the Jackson 5.”
He said he knew Michael as a shrewd, strong businessman—not as the artist dependent on drugs that has been depicted in this trial.
“He was far more complex than what is being discussed in court.”
Randy Phillips said the image of Michael Jackson presented in court is wrong.
“This isn’t the man I met. The man I worked with was solid and strong. He was kind but determined. He was a force.”
Phillips described Michael as a man who wanted to work hard to return to his profession, who knew what he wanted and who he needed to work with, and said he was not that confused five-year-old boy introduced in court.
Phillips also referenced newspaper rumors and said: “I don’t believe any of the things I read in newspapers, especially British newspapers.”
In a shorter meeting with Michael, they discussed his London residence. Phillips said Michael acted with clever planning. He wanted to work with Kenny Ortega and Travis Payne, who later became the director and choreographer of the tour. Phillips said he hadn’t worked with Ortega and Payne before, but he knew them. Other meetings took place at the home of one of Michael’s friends, and the final meetings took place at Carolwood Estate, Michael’s last residence.
When Putnam asked whether he saw any sign of drug use or addiction in Michael, Phillips answered no.
Phillips said Michael moved to the rented home at Carolwood in December 2008 or January 2009. But before that, another meeting was arranged at the Beverly Hills Hotel, during which Michael revealed for the first time the real reason he was holding the tour.
Phillips: “He was tired of traveling. He was tired of living like a nomad. He wanted his children to have a permanent place to live. To feel like they belonged.”
This CEO said their meeting had an emotional atmosphere.
“He broke down crying. He said he wants his children to have a place they can call their own. That was his first reason for returning to work.”
Phillips said Michael wanted to hold the tour again because he was still young enough to do it, and his children were old enough to understand and enjoy it.
“I felt terrible that this extraordinary star was trying so hard to make enough money to buy a house. I cried too. I couldn’t understand why, after all the money he had earned over the years, he still couldn’t buy a house.”
Putnam: “Were you worried about his mental health?”
Phillips: “No, he was just emotional.”
Phillips said that at the time, Michael and his three children lived in Las Vegas, but when they came to Los Angeles, they stayed at the Beverly Hills Hotel.
After this meeting, which took place on Halloween, Michael took his children to a party at Elizabeth Taylor’s home. At the time, Michael was staying at the homes of wealthy friends or at a hotel. In 2005, after the police raid, he had left his Neverland ranch and had no intention of returning.
Phillips said that during this visit, Michael’s children played and ran in and out of the rooms.
The next day, Phillips went to a home in Beverly Hills, Carolwood, that Michael intended to buy. He tried to talk Michael out of buying the $93 million mansion, which covered 40,000 square meters. Phillips said the house was too big for Michael and wasn’t worth it.
Phillips paid Michael a $5 million down payment. Three million dollars of it was for settling a lawsuit with plaintiffs in Bahrain, and the rest was allocated to living expenses. Phillips said Michael couldn’t sign a contract with AEG without settling the Bahrain case.
Phillips said Teme had planned Michael’s house at Carolwood, not AEG.
Michael personally chose the title This Is It for the tour. Michael liked its double meaning. It was both his final tour and exactly what it should be.
The contract with Michael was signed in the living room of Carolwood Estate. Phillips said Michael carefully read it before signing and asked questions. MJ wanted to make sure the company’s obligations regarding the filming were included in the contract. Michael also checked the number of concerts. The number listed was 31. Phillips said that number was suggested by Michael. Prince (the Black singer) had held 21 concerts, and Michael wanted to break his record.
Phillips: “MJ and Phillips had a lot of competition with each other. He wanted to set a record that Prince couldn’t reach.”
Phillips said that after the contract was signed, they opened champagne. Michael held his drink, but Phillips said he doesn’t think Michael drank it.
Putnam: “Was Mr. Jackson excited?”
Phillips: “Yes, he hugged me.”
Phillips added that he was also very excited: “MJ was one of the biggest stars in the world. Bringing him back on stage was one of the biggest things I’ve done in my career.”
London press conference
Phillips said the tour wasn’t announced in the news because the company wanted Michael to announce it during a press conference to have the maximum impact. Gangwer, one of the company’s executives, had testified earlier that Michael didn’t want to do this conference.
Phillips said one of the difficulties in holding the tour was creating demand for the tickets. He knew in his heart that everyone wanted to see Michael perform, but Michael had been away from the stage for a long time, and the company was worried about ticket sales. The press conference was a way to attract an audience.
Phillips then discussed the preparations for the London conference held in March 2009, but he wasn’t sure Michael would attend because for a week before that he couldn’t contact Michael since Teme and Michael’s communication had been cut off. Michael no longer answered Teme’s calls because Teme had decided to sell some of Michael’s memorabilia at auction, and Michael didn’t agree. (Temi had put all the items from the Neverland home up for auction. Michael prevented it by filing a lawsuit./eMJey)
Phillips said he was worried about the break between Michael and Teme because: “Dr. Teme was our direct line to communicate with MJ.” He was worried Michael would break his contract with AEG. He said that until Michael got on a private plane and flew to London, he wasn’t sure he would attend the conference.
Phillips said that Paul Gangwer always believed Michael would come, but Phillips wasn’t that sure. At that stage, the company had already lost the chance to stop the process.
Phillips: “If there had been a deadline to stop the process, it would have been in February. At that time, we faced the lowest amount of risk. If Michael had decided at that stage not to hold the tour, AEG wouldn’t have suffered a loss because we had only spent $5 million.”
Gangwer had said in the 18th court session that people had been told a press conference would be held in London. If Michael didn’t go, it would cost them money. If Michael was going to perform in London, then he had to be seen at the conference. He didn’t want to do these things, but if he wanted to perform, showing it to the world mattered.
In March, Phillips—though afraid—decided to proceed according to plan even if Michael didn’t come to the London conference.
Phillips: “I didn’t know what was going on in Michael’s team.”
On March 5, Michael traveled to London in a private plane with his children, Teme, a security agent, and a nurse who also did his hair and makeup.
The conference was held that afternoon. Phillips, who at the time was in Miami for the opening of Britney Spears’ circus tour, flew to London that same day. He was traveling with David Leofler, and both of them were involved in preparing Lionel Richie’s tour. When Phillips arrived at the Lanesborough Hotel, where Michael was staying in London, he waited for 20 minutes in Teme’s suite, which was adjacent to Michael’s suite on the first floor, and watched CNN news while Teme went to call Michael to his suite. To avoid London traffic, Phillips wanted to arrive at the O2 Arena—the conference venue—earlier than scheduled. Phillips said he gradually became more worried. On the way, it could take 90 minutes.
Phillips: “A little more time passed and I became completely anxious. I was walking up and down the hallway. I thought Dr. Teme would help prepare MJ. But Dr. Teme didn’t care at all whether MJ arrived on time. It was as if Teme wasn’t even there. He came and said, ‘Don’t worry, Michael just needs a little more time. We have a small problem—he’s drunk.’ I think he was trying to keep him alert, but it was getting too late.”
Phillips’ anxiety grew every moment. He kept receiving calls from the arena staff, and emails. His mobile phone rang 25 times in 5 minutes.
“I had a headset in my ear, and I had a BlackBerry in my hand. While I was talking and receiving emails from many worried people at O2, I was sending emails too.”
That same day, Phillips had sent several emails saying he was shouting at Michael and hitting him. He wrote that Michael wasn’t mentally well and was extremely terrified. Today, Phillips told the jury that he sent those emails while he was walking up and down the hallway outside Michael’s room, worried.
Phillips said Teme’s words hadn’t calmed him, and he needed to share his thoughts with the company’s team, Louie—who later became CEO of AEG’s parent company. In an email to Louie, Phillips wrote: “MJ is drunk and has locked himself in his room. Teme and I are trying to bring him to his senses and take him to the conference.” Louie replied: “Are you kidding me?”
Phillips said that before he started shouting at Michael, Teme told him that Michael had been drinking and was drunk, and that he was trying to bring Michael to his senses. At that moment, Phillips wasn’t allowed to enter Michael’s room. Phillips said all the information about Michael was being passed to him by Teme. Teme had come out of the room a few times and then returned. Shortly after, Phillips told Michael’s guard officer, Alberto Alvarez, that the situation was critical and he needed to go into Michael’s room.
Phillips: “At that moment, from my point of view, the situation was critical. Time was passing quickly and I was extremely anxious.”
Phillips said that when he entered Michael’s room, he saw him sitting on the couch. He was wearing pants and a bathrobe. Next to the couch, he saw an empty liquor bottle with a clear liquid inside, which made him think it might have been vodka or gin. In his opinion, Michael was intoxicated.
Phillips: “I asked, ‘Michael, are you okay?’ That’s when he said he was really worried that no one would come to the arena for the conference.”
He told Michael he was completely wrong because three thousand of his fans and 350 media outlets were waiting for him in the arena.
Phillips: “I told him, ‘Believe me, Michael, you’re completely wrong. More than three thousand fans who love you are waiting for you. Many of them spent the night right there.’”
After that, Michael stood up and got ready to go to the arena.
Phillips said Teme had suggested hiring a crowd to be in the arena as spectators, but they didn’t do it because it wasn’t necessary. (Maybe Teme’s saying these baseless things had made Michael worried and afraid. The possibility wasn’t discussed in court.)
Phillips: “We just had to leak the news that MJ was coming and let the fans find out themselves. MJ got up and went to the bathroom with Teme and his makeup artist. His children were watching television in another room. Michael was wearing black pants, boots, and a white turtleneck shirt. Someone was holding three different shirts—black, blue, and red. They asked me what he should wear. I suggested black because the background color of the stage where he would speak was red.”
Phillips said Michael wanted a shiny armband attached to his outfit, but there was no way to install it. After ten minutes of trying, someone from the hotel was called for help. At that moment, Phillips lost his temper.
Phillips: “MJ wouldn’t come out of the room unless his shiny armband was attached. At that time, it was more than I could handle. I raised my voice and said, ‘Gentlemen, that’s enough!’”
He said that when he wrote to his boss, Team Louie, that his shouting had shaken the walls, he was exaggerating.
Email: “I shouted at him so loudly that the walls shook. Teme and I dressed him, and they are finishing his hair and makeup, and then we’re going to O2 in a hurry. This is the scariest thing I’ve seen in my life. He’s an upset person who is emotionally paralyzed and full of self-hatred and doubt at the exact time when it’s time to perform. He’s terrified to the point of death. What I want right now is for this conference to end.”
In explaining this part of his email—“the scariest thing I’ve seen in my life”—Phillips said it wasn’t like that.
In another email, Phillips wrote to a business partner who was waiting outside the hotel with an SUV and a bus: “I still haven’t managed to get him moving. You can’t even imagine what things are like. He’s upset and emotionally paralyzed. I just sent him under a cold shower and hit him, and I yelled at him louder than the time I yelled at Arthur Castle.”
Phillips explained that Castle was a person he had once yelled at because of scheduling problems for Lionel Richie’s tour.
Phillips explained: “I hit him on the butt. Like a sports coach who does that to his player.”
But Phillips blamed himself for creating tension: “I admit I made too much noise. I was very anxious. In that room, I created a lot of tension, and their stress and worries spread to everyone.”
Phillips said that when they were driving to the arena, he tried to lighten the mood. He says he was sad because he knew he hadn’t behaved well at the hotel. The atmosphere changed and turned into a fun trip. Phillips says Michael was joking in the car and was very funny. He teased Phillips about losing a lot of weight.
Michael told Phillips, who at that time was heavier than ever: “You look great. You’ve lost a lot of weight.”
Phillips: “He kept saying that. After the tenth time, I told him, Michael, if you were in my place—jumping up and down in the hotel hallway and waiting—you’d lose weight too.”
Phillips says everyone could barely stop laughing at their jokes.
Mark Lester was also with them. News helicopters were following them, and the media knew they were on their way. That meant reporters and fans were waiting for Michael in the arena.
In the end, due to traffic, they arrived late at the arena. Michael didn’t have a text to read at the conference. Phillips jumped onto the vehicle Michael used to move around and reach the stage, and wrote a text based on what Michael had told him that day.
Phillips said Michael was supposed to write his speech text the night before the conference, but he hadn’t done it. When Michael reached the stage and faced his fans, the teleprompter screen in front of him lit up with the text Phillips had written, which was displayed on it.
Phillips said that at the beginning of the conference, Michael was slightly hunched, but when the curtains opened and he reached the stage, the real Michael appeared. Phillips said Michael was very worried about how people would react to him, but on stage he became the same Michael as before. Fans told him they loved him, and at the moment he returned to the stage, he was embraced by his fans with great affection.
Before lunchtime, Marvin Putnam showed the jury Michael’s speech video from this conference. Fans were cheering and screaming with excitement and joy. Michael said on stage: “This is the end. This is really the end. This is the final curtain. Very good, I’ll see you in July.”
Phillips said the conference went well. He and Michael were overwhelmed with joy and happiness because: “Michael’s worst fears and worries didn’t happen.”
Thousands of people were in the arena and millions more around the world watched the ceremony live.
Phillips called this conference the “miracle of March 5” and said their delay was a divine blessing because it kept people waiting and increased their excitement, since they didn’t know whether the conference would finally happen or not.
A day after the conference, Michael went with his children, Teme and Mark Lester, to the Olivier Theatre in London. Phillips had reserved the best seats in the theater for Michael and his children.
In those days, London was consumed by the madness of Michael Jackson. The crowd outside the arena was overwhelming, and the noise was deafening. They barely made their way through the crowd into the arena. Police were there to prevent chaos because thousands of people had poured into the streets.
Phillips says: “When we arrived at the theater, it felt like Judgment Day. When Michael entered the arena, people stood up and applauded him.”
After that, Michael immediately returned to the United States to prepare for the tour that would open in four months.
Phillips said the problem that happened on the day of the conference didn’t worry him. He said it wasn’t the first time his artist had consumed alcohol more than usual. He wasn’t worried about Michael’s physical or mental health.
They had signed a contract for 31 concerts, but Gangwer called Phillips and said they would have to increase the number of concerts to meet the extremely high demand from the public. Phillips contacted Teme and asked him to get Michael to increase the number of concerts. Teme said Michael agreed to perform 50 concerts with two conditions. First, that a ranch of at least 6.5 acres outside the city be purchased for him and his children to live in. The ranch had to have a river, horse-riding land, and a special guest house. The writers who would work with him on the 3D trailer film would write the film’s script in that house.
Phillips: “He didn’t want to be stuck in a London hotel with his children.”
Phillips says Michael’s second request was that after the 50th concert, a representative from the Guinness World Records be present to register his record, because before Michael no one else had held 50 concerts in a city. Phillips says Michael never said he had doubts about performing 50 concerts.
Phillips said they also had a meeting with the executives of the company, Brawado. They wanted to set up a store to sell Michael Jackson merchandise near the arena where the concerts would be held.
Phillips said most meetings took place at Michael’s home in Carolwood, and some took place at the staging arena. He said he had never gone to the second floor of Michael’s house where the bedrooms were. He had gone to the bathroom and kitchen, and Michael once took him to the basement to show him a film room where he was working on a film. He mentioned the film’s name as Ghost. (Since Michael made a film with the same title in 1996 that was shown at the Cannes Film Festival, it’s unclear what Phillips meant, and whether Michael was working on another version of the same film or a different film.)
Phillips said that during that period, he never saw Michael consume alcohol or drugs. He also wasn’t under the influence of drugs, and Phillips saw no suspicious signs.
Putnam: “Did you doubt that MJ could perform in London?”
Phillips: “No.”
Dr. Murray
Right as rehearsals began at the Forum, Michael said he wanted to bring Dr. Murray with him on the London tour. Phillips was worried about this only because bringing a doctor for the company would be expensive. At that time, Teme had already left. Phillips said Frank DeLillo, who became the tour manager after Teme, and Gangwer tried to dissuade Michael from bringing Conrad Murray to London. They also asked Phillips—along with the company’s accountant, team Woolley—to talk to Michael about it. He called Michael. Phillips says this was the most anxiety-inducing phone call he had ever made to Michael. Phillips tried to convince Michael to use a London doctor in London. Michael refused and said his body was a machine, and the engine of that machine was what made all the arrangements—meaning the tour—work, and without it they wouldn’t get anywhere. To be able to run the tour, Michael needed a doctor by his side 24 hours a day to take care of him. This was the last time Phillips talked to Michael about Murray.
Phillips: “This is Michael. When he wants something, he wants it.”
Phillips said the company never paid Murray. He said he thought Michael was paying Murray.
Murray’s salary was set at $150,000 per month. Phillips said the company was supposed to pay this money, but the cost was on Michael, and Michael had to return all of it to the company. He said Murray’s salary was high, but not strange. He also said he never hired Murray, and no one told him that a contract had been signed.
Phillips knew that Murray initially had requested $5 million to work for Michael. Phillips said this request didn’t make him think Murray was greedy for money; instead, it made him think that because Murray was a successful doctor, his medical rates were high.
Phillips talked about his first meeting with Murray at the Carolwood home. At that meeting, Michael, Delio, and Kenny Ortega were also present. Phillips said the meeting wasn’t arranged to prevent Michael from using drugs. Phillips had no concerns about that. He considered the meeting positive.
Phillips: “I was worried about Michael’s weight. I think Ortega wanted Michael to be more present in rehearsals.”
He discussed Michael’s weight with Murray. Michael told them he had always had trouble keeping his weight stable.
Phillips: “When he performed, he would lose one to two kilos. He needed Dr. Murray. He had a high metabolism and burned calories quickly.”
Murray informed Phillips that Michael did bodybuilding training with Lou Ferrigno. Murray hadn’t said that every night he went to Michael’s house and injected propofol into him. Phillips said discussing Michael’s weight with Murray doesn’t count as interfering in doctor-patient matters.
Phillips explained how he found Murray’s business card in Murray’s car, with Murray’s mobile number written on it. He said he always carries his own business card and writes his mobile number on it, and that this wasn’t unusual.
The second meeting between Murray and Phillips happened during a rehearsal at the Forum. They only greeted each other. The third meeting was on June 20, after Michael had returned home on June 19 without attending rehearsal, and an email titled “Problem at the Front Line” was exchanged between company executives and tour personnel. Phillips said those emails rang an alarm for him.
Email from Phillips to Team Louie dated June 19: “We’re facing a major problem.” Louie’s response: “Set a time for you and me to meet with him. I want Kenny to be there too.” Phillips’ response to Haggdal: “Me and the team (Louie) are going to see him (Michael) tomorrow. But I don’t know what the issue is—physiological or chemical?”
Phillips said the meeting requested by Louie never took place because the June 20 meeting replaced it. Louie wasn’t present on June 20.
Phillips talked about a chemical imbalance that had occurred during one of the tours for Britney Spears. But he said he didn’t know what “chemical” meant in the email he wrote to Haggdal about Michael.
Phillips said he wasn’t worried about Michael. But he mentioned one exception. A meeting had been held to review the production of the tour at Michael’s home. Michael arrived late to the meeting.
Phillips: “Michael was sitting on the couch and I noticed he was staring straight ahead. He wasn’t participating in the discussion. I asked Michael’s assistant, Amir Williams, what was going on. He said Michael had gone to Dr. Arnold Klein’s office.”
At that time, Murray didn’t think Michael had a drug problem. Murray also wasn’t present at the meeting.
Source: eMJey.com / AP & LA Times & ABC7