Doubts surfaced early on Michael Jackson (LA Times reveals new emails regarding Jackson's health)
The scene in Michael Jackson's London hotel suite left Randy Phillips in a panic. Phillips was one of the world's most powerful music promoters and used to rock 'n' roll chaos, but the star's condition still floored him.
"MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent," Phillips said in an email to his boss at Anschutz Entertainment Group, the Los Angeles company staking a fortune on the singer. "I (am) trying to sober him up."
Across the Atlantic, where it was still early morning, AEG President Tim Leiweke read the message and fired back on his BlackBerry: "Are you kidding me?"
(...)
The story of Jackson's ill-fated comeback attempt has been told in news reports, a manslaughter trial and a feature-length documentary. But a cache of confidential AEG emails obtained by The Times offers a darker picture of the relationship between the down-on-his-luck idol and the buttoned-up corporation taking a bet on his erratic talents.
The 250 pages of messages illuminate the extent to which top executives were aware of doubts about Jackson's stability as they prepared for his 50-show concert run at their London arena.
full: http://www.latimes.com/news/local/la-me-aeg-jackson-20120902,0,2359376,full.story
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Tragic all around. Pretty much everyone knew he was a basket case but it sounds as though nobody informed the doc exactly HOW bad the patient was - even as everyone was handling MJ like he was a fragile egg.
Destined for disaster.
