ABC, IT’S EASY: AEG tried to mislead Michael Jackson about how hard his concert tour would be, e-mails imply. (
)
Greedy concert promoters tricked a drug-addled Michael Jackson into signing up for his grueling final concert series by overstating his cut of revenues and softballing how hard he’d have to work, new evidence suggests.
AEG Live co-CEO Paul Gongaware was hammered in a Los Angeles courtroom yesterday over e-mails that paint an unsavory picture of the concert promoter’s tactics.
In September 2008 — nine months before Jacko died — Gongaware wrote to fellow AEG big wigs Randy Phillips and Tim Leiweke about the “net to Mikey [of] $132 million,” suggesting they downplay that figure.
“It’s a big number, but this is not a number MJ will want to hear. Maybe gross is a better number to throw around if we use numbers with Mikey listening,’’ Gongaware wrote, referring to the tour’s expected half-billion-dollar gross.
Gongaware yesterday insisted to jurors, “I never tried to fool Michael.”
After Jackson signed on to the tour, AEG also tried to downplay how hard the ailing, eccentric star would have to work.
In a March 2009 missive from Gongaware to his assistant, the boss asked for changes to a calendar that was going to be used in an upcoming meeting with Jackson.
The original calendar had Jackson’s shows highlighted in colors. But Gongaware wanted every day in the calendar changed to the same shade because “I don’t want the shows to stand out so much when MJ looks at it. Less contrast between work and off,” the CEO wrote.
“Maybe off days in a contrasting soft color. Put ‘OFF’ in each off day after July 8, as well. Figure it out so it looks like he’s not working so much,” Gongaware wrote.
Again, Gongaware tried to smooth it over with jurors.
“I wasn’t trying to fool him,” Gongaware testified. “I was trying to put it [the schedule of concerts] in the best possible light.”
Jackson agreed to do 50 shows in London, but he died from a lethal dose of anesthesia he took as a sleeping medication on June 25, 2009.
Jackson’s family is suing AEG, saying it is culpable because of its close relationship with the singer’s personal physician, Dr. Conrad Murray, who fueled Jacko’s deadly drug binges.
The family heard what Gongaware really thought of Jackson.
In a February 2009 e-mail to Phillips, the CEO wrote, “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.”