Feed:Entertainment

Etheridge: Jolie mastectomy not 'brave choice'

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 10:45:50 GMT

Rock legend and breast cancer survivor Melissa Etheridge is taking issue with Angelina Jolie's decision to have a double mastectomy.

"I wouldn't call it the brave choice," Etheridge said in a recent interview with the Washington Blade, a newspaper that focuses on lesbian, gay, bisexual and transgender issues. "I actually think it's the most fearful choice you can make when confronting anything with cancer."

Reached by HLN on Tuesday, Etheridge sought to clarify her remark, saying she wasn't offering an alternative to Jolie's procedure, which was preventive. "I don't have any opinion of what she 'should have' done. All are free to choose. I only objected to the term 'brave' describing it," she said.

Jolie underwent the preventive surgery earlier this year after discovering she had a mutation of the BRCA1 gene that sharply increases her risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer.

Etheridge says in the newspaper article that there are other options that should be looked at before taking such a drastic measure.

"My belief is that cancer comes from inside you and so much of it has to do with the environment of your body," she explains. "It's the stress that will turn that gene on or not. Plenty of people have the gene mutation and everything but it never comes to cancer, so I would say to anybody faced with that, that choice is way down the line on the spectrum of what you can do, and to really consider the advancements we've made in things like nutrition and stress levels."

Etheridge, who was diagnosed with breast cancer in 2004, says that she would want people to look at a variety of options available: "I really encourage people to go a lot longer and further before coming to that conclusion."

Jolie revealed her decision in a New York Times op-ed piece in May, citing her family as the reason behind her choice. She included that she did "not feel any less of a woman," and that she "made a strong choice that in no way diminishes my femininity."

Bieber in accident involving pedestrian

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:16:28 GMT

It's that combination again: Justin Bieber, an automobile, and a mishap.

The singer-heartthrob was reportedly involved in an accident in Los Angeles on Monday night involving a pedestrian.

According to the Los Angeles Police Department, officers responded to a collision at 8800 Sunset Blvd., in the famed Sunset Strip area of the city. According to TMZ, as Bieber, 19, was leaving a local comedy club with rapper Lil Twist, his Ferrari was surrounded by paparazzi, one of whom got pinned between Bieber's car and another vehicle.

A preliminary investigation showed that no crime was involved, the LAPD's Lt. Craig Valenzuela said. He noted that there may have been initial concern that it was a hit-and-run, but preliminary investigations indicated it was not.

The pedestrian, who was unidentified, sustained some injuries but they were not life-threatening.

This isn't the first time the singer has had driving troubles. Last month police twice responded to reports that Bieber was speeding around his gated Southern California community. Last July, he was involved in a high-speed chase with paparazzi on an LA freeway. And in November he was cited for making an unsafe left turn and having an expired registration.

On New Year's Day, the Ferrari was involved in an incident in which a photographer was run over and killed while crossing a busy street after taking pictures of the vehicle. Bieber was not present at the time.

A representative for Bieber had no immediate comment on the most recent incident.

Paris Jackson testimony seen in Jackson trial

Wed, 19 Jun 2013 09:02:42 GMT

Paris and Prince Jackson made their first appearances Tuesday in the wrongful death trial against their father's last concert promoter.

AEG Live lawyers played short video clips from the depositions of Michael Jackson's oldest children in court to counter testimony from their chef.

Kai Chase, who cooked for the singer and his three children in the last months of his life, described what she said was Jackson's physical deterioration just before his death.

Jackson was strong, healthy and active in April, but was so weak by June that Prince, then 12, had to help his father walk up stairs, Chase testified.

Chase also repeated the testimony she gave in the criminal trial of Dr. Conrad Murray about the day Jackson died.

But her most dramatic words were about how Michael Jackson's death affected his children -- Prince, Paris and Blanket Jackson, whom she now cooks for at their grandmother's home.

"They talk about their father a lot," Chase said. "It's just something that they'll never get over -- the love and how much they miss their father."

Jackson's mother and three children are suing AEG Live, contending the concert promoter was liable in his death because it negligently hired, retained or supervised Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter.

Murray told police he used the surgical anesthetic propofol to treat Jackson's insomnia. The coroner ruled propofol killed him.

AEG Live lawyers argue Jackson chose and supervised Murray, and their executives had no way of knowing the doctor was using the dangerous treatment.

Paris testifies

The day Paris Jackson attempted suicide, AEG Live lawyers told reporters they couldn't promise not to use the 15-year-old's testimony in their defense. Since Paris is one of the plaintiffs, they were able to compel the teen to sit for two days of questioning in March.

Jackson lawyers, however, told the judge Tuesday that Paris is unavailable to appear in person since she is still being treated in a hospital. AEG Live is able to use the video recording of her deposition, which they began doing Tuesday afternoon.

The first clip shown to jurors was an answer to a question by AEG Live lawyer Marvin Putnam about former Jackson nanny Grace Rwaramba, who was fired two months before Jackson's death.

"My dad didn't like her, so he tried to, like, keep her away from us," Paris said. "So he sent her on errands a lot."

Her father was reluctant to fire Rwaramba because "he felt bad because she didn't really have a lot of money," she testified.

"He said she was sneaky and she wasn't an honest person and she lied a lot," Paris said.

Paris related an incident that happened when she was "really young." She prefaced the story by saying it was "real creepy" and "this is going to freak you out."

The nanny would sneak into a doctor's bedroom and "he'd wake up and she'd be in his bed," Paris said. "So, yeah, it's kind of creepy."

Putnam asked her why her father didn't just make her stay away. "He sent her to India to get some stuff," Paris said. "She kept coming back."

The AEG Live defense team apparently played the video to counter Chase's testimony about Rwaramba, who is expected to be a key Jackson witness later in the trial.

"This was the mother they knew," Chase said of Rwaramba. "She was there when they were born."

Paris' 'Daddy days'

"Being Daddy's little girl, she was devastated, devastated and lost," said Chase, who was with Paris every day until her attempted suicide on June 4, 2013. "She's looking, for there was so much love between her and her father. She's lost. She's searching. She's sad."

The "entire household" is worried about how Paris is dealing with the loss of her father four years ago, Chase said.

"Every girl needs their father," she said. "I would be devastated, too, if that happened to me."

Paris "breaks down, she cries," Chase said. "She talks about him."

"She's trying to find herself, trying to find who she is and it's taking a lot of love and understanding to keep her together," she said.

Chase told jurors about a very happy day for Paris -- her 11th birthday party in April 2009. Her father told the children they could eat whatever they wanted, which was a rare treat for them. Cheese pizza, hot wings and banana splits were on the menu, she said.

The dining room was decorated with Michael Jackson posters and album covers, while his music was played "because this is what she wanted for her 11th birthday," Chase testified. "She was just ecstatic."

"Just when you thought that was enough, he took his children to the backyard for a Cirque du Soleil-type performance for her," she said. Men on stilts, a woman inside a big balloon and circus acts "brought tears to my eyes ... It was the most beautiful expression of love I've ever seen."

"Paris hasn't had a birthday party since," Chase said. "She doesn't want one."

Paris "remembers the Daddy days and her birthday," she said.

Prince's testimony

Prince Jackson, 16, also made a brief video appearance in Tuesday's court session. AEG Live lawyers played a short clip from his deposition to counter Chase's testimony that Jackson was so weak at one point in June that his son, then 12, had to help him walk up stairs.

"Was there ever a time that he came home from rehearsals so tired that you had to help him upstairs?" Putnam asked Prince.

"I wouldn't be able to, but no," Prince answered.

Chase testified about Prince's relationship with his father and the devastation his death caused.

"Prince has always been, even at 12, the little man -- daddy's little man," she said. "He wanted his father to be very proud of him, which Michael was."

The teen has "the weight of the world is on his shoulders, the eldest, big brother and father figure to his siblings," Chase testified. "It's a lot for him, growing, liking girls. He wishes his father was here to give him advice. It's devastating to him."

Blanket's 'dance moves like his father'

Blanket, who was 7 when his father died, is now 11 and a fifth-grade graduate of his home school. "l keep thinking he's older because he's so smart," Chase said.

"As the littlest, he has his older siblings to protect him, but I still think the youngest child will be the most affected," she testified. "Being the baby, it's a lot of remembering what daddy did, and it's constant nonstop talking of him and his father's relationship together."

Like Prince and Paris, Blanket is "feeling a little lost as well," Chase said.

He has to dress up each day, even though he is taught by a tutor at the family's Calabasas, California, home. But he can wear what he wants on Fridays -- which usually is a T-shirt from the Cirque du Soleil "Immortal" show based on his father's music, Chase said. "He wears it constantly."

"He does dance moves like his father," she testified.

My 'junior clients'

Michael Jackson hired Chase as his family's chef without meeting her -- based on the recommendation of Prince, Paris and Blanket, she testified.

She first met with her "junior clients" in the kitchen of the rented Los Angeles mansion where they were living while Jackson prepared for his comeback concerts.

The interview involved a discussion of "everything from food to video games," she said. "They wanted to make sure I knew healthy food."

"'We eat healthy," Chase said the children told her. "We don't eat any beef or pork. Daddy likes apricots, we like fruit and Blanket likes mangoes."

"It just felt like this was a place I needed to be," Chase said. "It was a beautiful beginning."

Dining with Daddy

Meals were "their time to bond," Chase said. "This was his time with them privately."

Chase -- a graduate of the Cordon Bleu Culinary Academy in Paris -- would set the table with a different theme for each lunch, featuring recipes from different countries, so the children would learn something while eating.

"One day we would have east Indian food," she said. "We would discuss what part of India we were eating from."

The children looked forward to "comfort food Saturdays" -- which might include fried chicken -- to break up the monotony of healthy eating, she said.

Michael Jackson was "very much into Mexican" and his favorite meal was vegan tacos, she said. The Jackson lawyers showed jurors a photo of the dish Tuesday.

April: 'A good feeling of love'

Music echoing through the Carolwood Drive mansion was a mix of Disney, Rolling Stones, David Bowie and classical, Chase said. Fireplaces stayed burning despite the warm temperatures outside. "It was a good feeling," Chase testified.

Animals roaming through the home included a chocolate lab named Kenya, cats Katie and Thriller, a rabbit and a talking bird who would "whistle when pretty girls go by," Chase said.

Prince had a pet rat he carried around, while Paris would host tea parties in her backyard doll house for the animals. The dog would jump in the pool with the kids when they swam on Saturdays, Chase said.

The children would "run to him like lighting" when their father came home from a rehearsal," she said. "They would hang on him. It would bring tears to my eyes."

Jackson would play games with the children and read to them at the end of the day, she said. "His personality with his children was warm and loving."

Jackson was "a disciplinarian when it was needed," she said. The children had to be in bed at a certain time and school started on schedule.

Snail Farming

Jackson made sure school work was "interactive" for his children, including one science project for Paris that involved a night time hunt for snails, Chase said.

"So far we have a daddy snail, but we don't have a mommy and a baby snail," Paris told Chase one evening. That triggered a snail hunt around the mansion grounds, she said.

"I didn't know how he would feel about his daughter and me out snail hunting at night," she said, "but he was fine."

Jackson joined them in constructing a snail farm in glass vases on the kitchen counter.

'Box of Happiness'

After working for Jackson in March and April, Chase was suddenly dismissed in May because of what Jackson's assistant told her was "a change of management." She was not allowed to say good bye to the children, she said.

The assistant called her back a month later and asked her to return to the job, which she did. But this time, her paychecks would be cut by AEG Live, she was told.

Paris greeted her return with a gift. It was a shoe box filled with stuffed animals and coloring books she called a "Box of Happiness."

Paris learned "giving" from her father, she said.

"She'd go get clothing maybe she wasn't wearing anymore and she would cut them to make them into little skirts and hand sew them," Chase said.

"I'm making these little skirts that I'm going to put in a box and ship overseas to others that aren't as privileged," she said Paris told her.

Empty pantry, declined credit

The happy home she left in April was changed when she returned in June, Chase said. It was three weeks before Jackson died there.

"The kitchen pantry was bare, and the only things in the refrigerator were Coca-Colas, Red Bull and Starbuck's coffee drinks, which I know Mr. Jackson was not drinking," the chef said.

When Chase went to the grocery store to stock up the Jackson credit card was declined, she said.

Jackson himself "looked very different," she said. "He appeared very weak. He looked thinner, undernourished."

The "obvious difference" in Jackson from April to June "concerned me greatly," Chase said.

"He came to me and pulled me to the side and said 'Where have you gone? I had no idea you left. I need you to keep me healthy. I'm working hard. They're killing me,'" she testified.

"He told me 'I need you to keep me healthy. I don't know why you left. I need you to keep me and my children healthy.' I looked at him with great concern," she said. "When he said that ... I thought he was being overworked. He was over rehearsed."

Jackson was excited that she would again be feeding him, she said.

"I knew I had to get this man as healthy as a possible, but I did not know why he was deteriorating," she said.

Another change she witnessed in June was the presence of Dr. Conrad Murray. He paid some visits in April, but he was there almost every day in June, she said. The doctor would bring empty oxygen tanks from Jackson's upstairs bedroom each morning.

"I was concerned," Chase testified. "I had no idea what they were used for. I didn't ask, but it was strange."

The world would later learn that Murray was using oxygen when he administered propofol each night to put Jackson to sleep.

'A loud crash'

The Jackson lawsuit alleges that AEG Live executives, including CEO Randy Phillips and Co-CEO Paul Gongaware, pressured Murray to have Jackson at more rehearsals. They cite a meeting they believe was held at Jackson's home around the second week of June as evidence.

Jackson, wearing a surgical mask and covered by several layers of clothing, appeared "scared and frightened" as he walked down his stairs to join Phillips, Gongaware, Dr. Murray and his manager Frank Dileo for the meeting in his parlor, Chase said.

"I immediately heard a loud crash," she testified. A "very, very expensive vase" sitting next to Jackson's chair was smashed.

Jackson "seemed very firm with them," she said. The judge would not let her tell jurors what she heard him saying to the AEG Live executives. But there were "loud voices" and everyone was talking over each other," she said.

Jackson left the meeting, followed by Dr. Murray, who seemed "very upset," she said.

"I can't take this s--t," Murray said, according to Chase.

When she saw Jackson later, he seemed to have "the weight of the world on his shoulders," she said. He was "concerned, frightened and scared; a lot of those emotions."

The day he died

Chase has publicly recounted several times the events at the house the day Michael Jackson died, including in interviews and testimony in Murray's criminal trial. She described it again Tuesday for jurors in the civil trial.

Dr. Murray "was panicked" as he screamed for Chase to call Prince and the security guard to go upstairs to help him.

"Hurry Dr. Murray needs you," she said she told Prince, who was playing in the den. "There may be something wrong with your father."

She returned to her lunch preparations, failing to alert the security guard in the shack near the kitchen door. Murray never asked her to call 911 for an ambulance.

Chase realized there was a grave problem when the housekeepers began crying "Mr. Jackson may be dead," she said. "You could feel the energy in the house was changing."

Prince screamed "Daddy" and Paris screamed a "blood curdling, out of her mind Daddy!"

"I grabbed them and held their hands and said 'Let's pray. Father God, please let nothing be wrong with this man.'"

Paramedics were soon running up the the stairs. Head of security Alberto Alvarez asked Chase to leave the house. "He'll be fine," Alvarez told her.

Chase did not see the Jackson children until she was allowed to visit with them weeks later. Katherine Jackson hired her as her family chef last July at the request of Prince, Paris and Blanket.

Honey Boo Boo's back with 'watch 'n sniff' premiere

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 19:20:39 GMT

You've seen them. You've heard them. Now you will smell them.

The show "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" is returning with a "watch 'n sniff" event for the first two returning episodes.

Starting July 17, viewers will have the chance to experience the aromas of the show's McIntyre, Ga., setting, according to TLC.

The way that viewers will be able to experience the lovely fragrances of Honey Boo Boo will be through a numbered scent card that correlates to scenes in the show, Atlanta TV station WGCL reported.

Viewers watching "Here Comes Honey Boo Boo" scratch their cards and experience the aromas associated with the Boo Boo gang as they welcome summer.

"We couldn't think of a more fitting way to kick off the new season than with two watch 'n sniff episodes," said Amy Winter, general manager of TLC.

Fans can also partake in a virtual watch 'n sniff experience at TLC.com/HoneyBooBoo, where they can mix and match the smells featured in the show to enter to win $5,000.

First family (minus the president) lunch with Bono

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 18:03:58 GMT

What's a visit to Ireland without a pub lunch alongside Bono?

First lady Michelle Obama and daughters Sasha and Malia partook in the quintessentially Irish experience Tuesday, joining the U2 front-man at Finnegan's restaurant in Dalkey, a posh suburb south of Dublin. Bono and the Obamas arrived and left the restaurant separately.

The first lady and her daughters are on a tour of the Republic of Ireland while President Barack Obama meets with world leaders in County Fermanagh in the North.

The Obama women visited Dublin's Trinity College on Monday, taking in the historic Long Room in the university's library. It houses a massive collection of Irish archives and historic documents, the most famous of which is the Book of Kells, an illuminated manuscript of the Gospel created by Celtic monks in the ninth century.

Speaking later, the first lady told a crowd of Irish dancers that daughter Sasha thought the imposing library room at Trinity was reminiscent of Hogwarts, the fictional wizard school in the Harry Potter novels.

"It's a huge room with shelf after shelf full of books; a beautiful place, and I hope that all of you aspire to go there, if not study there, but just to go and experience what it's like to be surrounded by so much history and so much power," the first lady said.

Trinity College -- founded as a Protestant university in the sixteenth century -- holds an important place in Ireland's history. Regarded as a symbol of the Protestant Ascendancy of the island, Catholics were banned by their church from attending until 1970.

The real reason for the Obamas visit to Trinity was a genealogical exploration of their Irish heritage. The president's Irish roots have been well explored in the years he's been in office, and in May 2011 he visited Moneygall, in central Ireland, to visit the town his great-great-great grandfather emigrated from in the 19th century.

"The girls had a chance to explore those shelves and trace their Irish lineage, which was a very powerful thing to find out that these girls that were born on the South Side of Chicago can trace their roots back here to Ireland, way back to the 1600s," Michelle Obama said Monday. "That was very powerful for me, as their mother, and hopefully it will be something that they cherish for the rest of their lives."

Ahead of their lunch with Bono Tuesday, the first lady and her daughters took a tour of the Wicklow Mountains south of Dublin, including a stop at Glendalough, the countryside monastic sight that was the home of sixth-century hermit St. Kevin.

At Finnegan's Restaurant in Dalkey -- a Dublin suburb situated on the Irish Sea -- the Obamas would have chosen from a menu that includes Irish specialties like smoked bacon and cabbage, cottage pie and breaded Galway scampi.

The Obamas' visit to Dublin came just after one of the city's biggest celebrations - Bloomsday, celebrated June 16, marks the calendar day when James Joyce's "Ulysses" takes place. In Dalkey, the first lady was within a stone's throw of the Sandycove Tower, where the first episode of "Ulysses" is set.

Michelle Obama and her daughters join the president later Tuesday for the second leg of his European trip in Berlin.

Pitt: Jolie 'brave, bold' and 'sexy as ever'

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 16:50:00 GMT

Angelina Jolie may not have been by Brad Pitt's side, but she was certainly on his mind.

Pitt attended the New York premiere of his new film, "World War Z," without Jolie, who was "getting ready for World Refugee Day," Pitt told the assembled reporters. But asked to describe his feelings for his fiancee, he didn't mince words.

"She has always been the brave, bold individual that I fell for -- and sexy as ever," he said.

Jolie recently announced she had undergone a double mastectomy and reconstructive surgery after learning that she carried a mutation of the BRCA1 gene, which sharply increases her risk of developing breast and ovarian cancer. Jolie's mother, Marcheline Bertrand, died from ovarian cancer in 2007.

Jolie was with Pitt at the London premiere earlier this month and said that she felt "great."

"I feel wonderful, and I'm very, very grateful for all the support. It's meant a lot to me," the actress told the BBC.

However, not everybody was 100 percent behind Jolie. In an interview with the Washington Blade, singer Melissa Etheridge said she believed Jolie had made a "fearful choice."

"I have that gene mutation too and (the preventive mastectomy) is not something I would believe in for myself. I wouldn't call it the brave choice," she said. "I actually think it's the most fearful choice you can make when confronting anything with cancer."

Etheridge, a cancer survivor as well, said she prefers to focus on good nutrition and reducing stress levels.

Pitt, however, characterizes Jolie as "heroic."

He told USA Today in May that the past few months have been "emotional and beautifully inspiring."

"I'm quite emotional about it, of course," he said. He and Jolie have six children.

"World War Z" opens Friday.

Jolie stunt double sues over possible hacking

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 15:20:52 GMT

A stunt double for Angelina Jolie is suing Rupert Murdoch's News Corp. in the United States over possible phone hacking, her attorney Mark Lewis told CNN on Tuesday.

Eunice Huthart's suit was the first against News Corp. in the United States.

The suit was filed in California, he said.

Nigella Lawson incident scrutinized

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 14:45:11 GMT

Charles Saatchi told a London newspaper Tuesday that he went to police voluntarily over an incident in which he grabbed his wife, celebrity chef Nigella Lawson, by the throat to avoid it "hanging over all of us for months."

The furor over the incident dominated the British press Tuesday, a day after Saatchi accepted a police warning related to the case.

In a statement to The Evening Standard newspaper, for which he is a columnist, Saatchi said: "Although Nigella made no complaint I volunteered to go to Charing Cross station and take a police caution after a discussion with my lawyer because I thought it was better than the alternative of this hanging over all of us for months."

Images of Saatchi, a multimillionaire art collector and former advertising magnate, with his hand around Lawson's throat were front-page news in national papers for a second day Tuesday, after they were first published Sunday.

Saatchi, age 70, looked stony-faced as he left his home in central London earlier Tuesday and declined to respond to questions from waiting journalists.

London's Metropolitan Police said a 70-year-old man "accepted a caution for assault" at a police station Monday afternoon but did not name Saatchi.

"Officers from the community safety unit at Westminster were aware of the Sunday People article which published on Sunday 16th June and carried out an investigation," a Metropolitan Police spokesman told CNN.

"This afternoon Monday 17th June, a 70-year-old man voluntarily attended a central London police station and accepted a caution for assault," the spokesman said.

CNN contacted Saatchi's company for comment but has not received a response.

According to a UK government website, a caution is issued for minor crimes.

"Cautions are given to adults aged 18 or over for minor crimes -- eg writing graffiti on a bus shelter," the website says. "You have to admit an offence and agree to be cautioned. If you don't agree, you can be arrested and charged.

"A caution is not a criminal conviction, but it could be used as evidence of bad character if you go to court for another crime."

Sunday People, part of the stable of tabloids published by the Mirror Group, published the photos Sunday of Lawson and Saatchi at a restaurant.

The tabloid's website includes the caption: "Nigella Lawson attacked in public by Charles Saatchi."

Earlier, a representative for Lawson confirmed that the chef and her children had moved out of their home.

'Playful tiff'

Saatchi gave his version of events Monday to The Evening Standard.

"About a week ago, we were sitting outside a restaurant having an intense debate about the children, and I held Nigella's neck repeatedly while attempting to emphasize my point," Saatchi told the paper.

"There was no grip, it was a playful tiff. The pictures are horrific but give a far more drastic and violent impression of what took place. Nigella's tears were because we both hate arguing, not because she had been hurt," he added. "We had made up by the time we were home. The paparazzi were congregated outside our house after the story broke yesterday morning, so I told Nigella to take the kids off till the dust settled."

The restaurant involved told CNN that its employees did not witness any such incident.

Lawson's Facebook page is filled with messages from fans expressing their support for her.

Lawson is known as the "queen of food porn." She has written numerous successful cookbooks and hosted TV shows.

With the furor making headlines, UK domestic violence groups made the point that domestic abuse is an enduring and widespread issue.

"Domestic violence is a massive social problem in this country," Sandra Horley, chief executive of UK domestic violence charity Refuge, said in a statement. "Last year over one million women were abused. Every week in England and Wales, two women are killed by current or former partners.

"There are still so many myths and misconceptions surrounding this horrific crime. People often think that it only happens in poor families ... but the truth is that domestic violence affects women of all ages, classes and backgrounds. Abusive men are just as likely to be lawyers, accountants and judges as they are cleaners or unemployed."

Horley said that perpetrators of domestic violence "frequently try to minimize or deny their behaviour," but that violent incidents rarely occur only once and can escalate to more extreme behavior.

"Research shows that strangulation is a key risk factor for domestic homicide," she said. "Last year, almost 50% of the women we supported had been strangled or choked by their abusers."

Expert: Deal for MJ doc 'highly inappropriate'

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 11:15:42 GMT

AEG Live's negotiations with a doctor to treat Michael Jackson were "highly inappropriate," a music industry veteran testified Monday.

The concert promoter's agreement to pay Dr. Conrad Murray $150,000 a month during Jackson's comeback tour set up an "egregious" conflict of interest in which the physician was beholden to the company and himself before Jackson's interests, he testified.

David Berman, who once headed Capitol Records and worked for decades as an entertainment lawyer, was brought into court as an expert witness by Jackson's mother and children in their wrongful death lawsuit against AEG Live.

The tiny Los Angeles courtroom became less crowded Monday after the city fire marshal, acting on a complaint from an unidentified party, ordered that fewer people be allowed inside, according to a court spokesman.

Just one seat is allotted to the public and the number of journalists allowed inside was reduced to just eight at a time under the new limits. The 30 seats set aside for lawyers were not reduced.

The judge rejected CNN's request to televise the trial in March, but she has allowed a small camera and microphone to be focused on the witness so that people in another courtroom can watch the trial.

Michael Jackson's longtime personal chef Kai Chase, who was in his home when he died, is set to testify Tuesday.

Also coming up, the Jackson lawyers will show jurors the "This Is It" documentary produced using rehearsal video.

The wrongful death trial, which is in its eighth week, is expected to last until August, according to lawyers. Jackson lawyer Brian Panish estimated Monday that he would call his last witness around July 8.

One of the four alternative jurors asked the judge to dismiss him from the case Monday because he has sold his Los Angeles home and must move to Atlanta. "If we are only a third of the way through there's no way I can make it," he said.

Judge Yvette Palazuelos said it is"highly likely I'm going to excuse you," but she will confer with lawyers from both sides before deciding.

The Jackson lawsuit accuses AEG Live of liability in Michael Jackson's death because it negligently hired, retained or supervised Dr. Murray, who was convicted of involuntary manslaughter in Jackson's death.

Murray told police he used the surgical anesthetic propofol to treat Jackson's insomnia so he could rest for rehearsals for his "This Is It" concerts. The coroner ruled Jackson's death was from an overdose of the drug.

AEG Live lawyers argue it was Jackson who chose and supervised Murray. They contend AEG executives had no way of knowing the doctor was using propofol on Jackson.

Berman, who is paid $500 an hour by the Jacksons as an expert witness, said he reviewed "an enormous amount" of material, including an "extraordinary number of e-mails," to reach his conclusions that Murray's hiring was "highly inappropriate and "highly unusual."

"I have never heard of it being done, and indeed, it is my understanding up until these case, AEG had never done it," Berman testified, referring to a concert promoter hiring a doctor for an artist.

"It creates an inherent conflict of interest on the part of the physician," Berman said. "The physician has dual obligations to the patient and the entity that is engaging them and who is paying his compensation. That, in of itself, is a conflict. It's a more egregious conflict in the circumstances in this case."

Berman was critical of AEG Live CEO Randy Phillips' response to an e-mail from show director Kenny Ortega warning five days before Jackson's death about the singer's "continued physical weakening ad deepening emotional state."

"Kenny, it is critical that neither you, me, or anyone around this show become amateur psychologists or physicians," Phillips wrote "I had a lengthy conversation with Dr. Murray, who I am gaining immense respect for as I get to deal with him more. He said that Michael is not only physically equipped to perform and that discouraging him to, will hasten his decline instead of stopping it. Dr. Murray also reiterated that he is mentally able to and was speaking to me from the house where he had spent the morning with MJ. This doctor is extremely successful (we check everyone out) and does not need this gig so he totally unbiased and ethical."

Phillips' response is "very telling on a number of levels," Berman said. "He is somewhat dismissive of Mr. Ortega's concerns."

"There are serious problems with that statement because he recognizes the potential of the doctor not being ethical and unbiased if he does need the gig and has financial problems," he said.

It shows AEG Live was aware of the potential for a conflict, Berman testified. "When, in fact, Dr. Murray was in dire financial straits at the time and did need the gig."

A Los Angeles Police detective testified earlier in the trial that Murray was more than $1 million in debt and that his Las Vegas medical clinic faced eviction in the months before he was hired to treat Jackson.

The contractual relationship between AEG Live and Dr. Murray was "not unlike the team doctor for a football team, where the quarterback is injured and the doctor comes to the medical conclusion that the quarterback should be taken out of the game for a period of weeks, but the team doesn't want him out," Berman said. "There is an inherent conflict."

Berman also noted that the contract said AEG Live could terminate Murray if concerts were postponed or canceled.

"The fact that if the tour is even just postponed that AEG Live has the ability to cease any further compensation for Dr. Murray, giving Dr. Murray even greater conflict of interest since he was in financial dire straits, he did need this gig and if it was postponed, which could hypothetically be in the best interest of Michael Jackson, he ran the risk of losing any further compensation," he testified.

Berman was asked about the so-called "smoking gun" e-mail sent by AEG Live Co-CEO Paul Gongaware ahead of a planned meeting with Dr. Murray: "We want to remind him that it is AEG, not MJ, who is paying his salary. We want him to understand what is expected of him."

The e-mail indicates AEG Live executives wanted "to control, to some extent, Dr. Murray" by reminding him they are paying his salary, Berman said.

Is that reasonable, he was asked. "Certainly not," Berman said. "It is indicative of the fact that they want to control the services of Dr. Murray, as opposed to the artist."

Berman testified that AEG Live executives should have recognized there could be a problem with Dr. Murray when he initially asked for $5 million for one year as Jackson's doctor. "That is a pretty bizarre amount," he said.

The eventual agreement to pay the doctor $150,000 a month was still "an exorbitant amount, more than any other person on the tour was paid," he said. "Even more of a red flag since AEG was aware of another doctor who was willing to take the job for $40,000 a month."

"It's indicative of something out of whack," Berman testified.

Berman also said it was "inappropriate" for AEG Live to not loop in any Jackson lawyer or manager into the negotiations with Murray. "I find that extremely unusual," he testified.

Murray signed the contract and faxed it back to AEG Live on June 24, 2009 -- a day before Jackson's death. But AEG Live's executives never signed and the signature space for Jackson's signature was also left blank.

"That is not inconsistent with this being a valid oral agreement," Berman said.

Berman testified the e-mails confirmed an oral agreement was in place. It is a common practice in the music industry for oral agreements to be put in writing long after the services are commenced, he said.

He pointed to the certification of sponsorship AEG submitted to the British government for Murray to practice in England as evidence they considered him hired.

Police: Man warned in Nigella Lawson incident

Tue, 18 Jun 2013 01:51:05 GMT

Amid British tabloid reports over the weekend that celebrity chef Nigella Lawson was grabbed around the neck by her husband, Charles Saatchi, London police said Monday that a man accepted a warning related to the case.

London's Metropolitan Police say a 70-year-old man "accepted a caution for assault" at a police station on Monday afternoon.

Police did not name the man, but several UK media outlets named him as Saatchi.