Thanks to you Bashir, nobody will ever see Michael Jackson perform again, because you killed him!
Thanks to you Bashir, nobody will ever see MJ perform again, because you killed him…
1. The Connection Between Martin Bashir and NBC
Well, well, well, it seems that Martin Bashir is finally leaving ABC News after almost six years of “reporting” for their “20/20” and “Nightline” telecasts. Last week, it was revealed that Bashir will be joining NBC/MSNBC as a contributor to Dateline, and as a daily afternoon anchorman, respectively.
Bashir will likely replace David Shuster, who was suspended indefinitely in April 2010 for inappropriate behavior, and whose contract expires later this year.
While it may seem like Bashir voluntarily left ABC News, in all likelihood ABC News refused to renew his contract, but as a sign of professional courtesy they allowed Bashir to obtain another job first, and then let him spin the story to appear as if he left on his own terms. (Similarly, Evan Chandler fired Gloria Allred for wanting to prosecute MJ in 1993. He had Larry Feldman break the news to her, and then she announced to the press that she was leaving on her own terms.) In a statement, MSNBC President Phil Griffin called Bashir’s work “smart, original and thoughtful,” adding that he “couldn’t be happier to bring someone of his caliber to the network.”
Are you freakin’ kidding me? Well, I guess I would agree that Bashir’s work is pretty original. After all, can you name another journalist who has befriended not one, but two pop culture icons, lulled them into a sense of trust and security, only to take advantage of them and portray them in the worst possible light?
You would think that with that kind of resume, Bashir would be completely blacklisted within the news industry, right? Well, it seems that he’s being rewarded for his dirty deeds! But when you think about it, it’s only fitting that NBC would hire Bashir, because they have a horrible track record when it comes to bashing and trashing MJ! Here are a few examples:
After the Bashir crock-umentary aired in February 2003, MJ decided to air his rebuttal video “Take Two: The Footage You Weren’t Meant To See”, and since it was to be aired in time for February sweeps, all of the major networks were locked in a bidding war to get the footage. (Ratings sweeps occurs each February, May, July, and November, and this viewing information provides a basis the networks to set advertising rates. The higher the ratings, the higher the revenues!
NBC offered MJ $5 million dollars to air the show, and in addition, they blackmailed MJ by offering to cancel a one-hour episode of “Dateline NBC” that would “investigate” the 1993 allegations. MJ went with Fox instead, and not only did NBC air the Dateline special, but they expanded it to two hours by adding in stories about MJ’s plastic surgery, and his ties to gay porn producer Marc Schaffel!
To add insult to injury, they hired Victor Gutierrez as a consulting producer for this episode as well! This is the scumbag who teamed up with Evan Chandler to write the science fiction novel “Michael Jackson Was My Lover”. (And yes, it is science fiction because it came straight from Evan’s imagination! LOL!) How could an organization that prides itself as a credible journalistic outlet hire one of MJ’s sworn enemies, who was ordered to pay him $2.7 million dollars being successfully sued for slander, to be even remotely associated with this Dateline episode? More information on this can be found in this blog post http://www.mj-777.com/?p=4290.
Another example of NBC trying to sully MJ’s reputation is the fact that one of their top correspondents, Rita Cosby, was the first to “break” the story that jurors Ray Hultman and Eleanor Cook were writing their “tell-all” book about MJ being guilty. Her new primetime TV show premiered in August 2005, and those two jurors were her first guests. She was roundly criticized by her colleagues in the media for being so gullible to even believe their stories, especially in light of the fact that two months earlier, they both unanimously agreed that MJ was innocent! As a matter of fact, she practically mocked Sneddon when she interviewed him and sarcastically asked him does he still believe that MJ was guilty?
But can anyone blame her? After all, she was an up and coming reporter, and she needed a “big get” to lure in viewers and boost her ratings. And she has a history of trying to spread rumors about MJ in order to boost her career. (Gee, does that sound familiar?) For example, she erroneously reported that MJ converted to Islam after he hired members of the Nation of Islam as bodyguards. She has also used her show to give Jackson family “spokesmen” a platform to spew their worthless opinions about the case.
The Veritas Project, an explosive 95 page expose on the connection between the 1993 and 2005 allegations, includes an amazing flowchart that shows that many of the major players are involved in both cases, and how different media outlets –NBC included- are connected to those players. In addition to hiring Victor Guiterrez as a consultant to that Dateline episode, they also hired Diane Dimond for the Today Show, and Sherriff Jim Thomas as a consultant to the Jackson case. Maureen Orth was married to the late Tim Russert, who hosted “Meet The Press”, and was highly influential at NBC, so it wouldn’t surprise me if Orth used some of her clout to dictate how MJ would be portrayed. That outline is listed here: https://vindicatemj.wordpress.com/veritas-project/
2. The filming of “Living With Michael Jackson”
Now, I want to discuss the chain of events that led up to Martin Bashir conning MJ to do the documentary. I want to do a full “background check” on Bashir (something that MJ didn’t do, unfortunately!), and discuss all of the events that happened before, during, and after the filming of “LYING To…..”, ooops I’m sorry, I meant “Living With Michael Jackson”.
Before the filming of “Living With Michael Jackson”
In 2002, Michael Jackson was going through some hard times. His latest album “Invincible”, was a commercial disappointment by his standards. (It only sold 10 million copies worldwide, including 2 million in the USA.) The album’s lackluster sales were due entirely to Sony’s refusal to adequately promote the album. There were only two videos released (and MJ only appeared in one of them), and due to the September 11th attacks, any chance of a world tour was out of the question for security reasons. (At that time, virtually all artists either cancelled or scaled back their tours.) MJ felt that his album was sabotaged by Sony in order to ruin him financially, and force him to have to sell them his remaining 50% ownership of the highly profitable Sony/ATV music catalogue. (That conspiracy is discussed in detail in this article.)http://mjthekingofpop.wordpress.com/2009/07/01/back-in-2002-why-invincible-became-invisible/)
So he went on a rampage against Sony, publicly denouncing CEO Tommy Mottola as a “racist” and “devilish” for conspiring against and taking advantage of his artists, primarily black artists like James Brown and Sammy Davis Jr.
MJ’s public perception was at an all time low, and he needed a way to improve his image and make himself more appealable to the younger generation, to whom the name “Michael Jackson” was usually only heard as the punch line of a joke. Martin Bashir, who had been wanting to interview MJ for years (just like every other journalist on the face of the earth), decided that he would contact MJ’s close friend, Uri Gellar, and try to convince him (or pay him!!) to talk to MJ about the possibility of letting him do a “fair and positive” documentary. So Gellar recommended Bashir to MJ, and stressed the fact that Bashir was able to improve Princess Diana’s image after their 1995 interview. This was enough to convince MJ that Bashir could be trusted, so he agreed to the interview. In addition to improving MJ’s image, Bashir was also going to introduce MJ to Kofi Annan (the Secretary General of the United Nations at that time) in order to discuss ways to help disadvantaged children around the world, and all of the profits of the documentary would be given to charity. However, there is some controversy as to whether Gellar was truly objective when he recommended Bashir to MJ. According to Wiki , Gellar allegedly turned down another “bid” to do the documentary from Louis Theroux, another British Journalist. (Since when is MJ’s life up for auction? LOL!)
Last July, MJ’s longtime dermatologist and professional backstabber Dr. Arnold Klein was interviewed by Larry King, and he said that Bashir (or ITV, his employer) paid $200k to Gellar to convince MJ to let Bashir do the documentary. In January 2010, Gellar filed a slander lawsuit against CNN after they refused to “apologize” to him for letting Klein imply that he sold out MJ. That lawsuit is still pending.
So what really happened? Were there any other journalists who were even considered? And why didn’t MJ do a complete background check on Bashir before he agreed to do the interview? If he had, he would have known that Bashir had been officially reprimanded for “unfair journalistic practices”.
In 2000, there was a girl who went missing in England, and was later found. But before she was reunited with her family, Bashir managed to get the very first interview with her father (which was shot before the reunion). After it aired, the father filed a complaint that (guess what?) Bashir misled him by “promising to give him info about the whereabouts of his daughter in return for conducting the interview” and (as a prelude of things to come) “that he had been denied a chance to approve the program before it aired!!” The Broadcasting Standards Commission ruled that Bashir “misled the father about the nature of the program so that he would agree to be interviewed”. (Gee, does that sound familiar?) I’m sure MJ would have immediately rejected Bashir if he had known this!
There also seems to be some controversy as to how Bashir was able to get the Diana interview in the first place!! This article mentions how Bashir hired a graphic artist to falsify the bank statements of Diana’s brother’s head of security in order to blackmail her into doing the interview (Bashir acknowledged their existence but insisted that they had never been used, and the disk that they were saved on just “disappeared”), and he also questioned Diana about a rumored affair that she was having with her horse riding instructor James Hewitt. When she casually admitted that she “loved him”, it implied that she was indeed having an affair, and she also implied that Prince Charles could be cheating as well, and they subsequently divorced in December 1995. (I guess Bashir just has a habit of ruining people’s lives!)
Apparently, I’m not the only person who thinks Bashir ruins lives! Princess Fergie, the Duchess of York, claims that Bashir tricked Diana into doing that interview! He followed the same M.O. he did with MJ: he lured her into a comfort zone, and then got her to expose her deepest secrets about her marriage. She also blasted Bashir for his deceptive interview with MJ, and for not showing all of the footage. And most recently, Bashir tricked P. Diddy into doing an interview a last week as well, where he was extremely condescending to him. (I’ll include it at the end of this piece.)
Another interesting point is that Bashir spent 5 YEARS trying to interview MJ, which probably means he started courting MJ around 1996-97. And not only did he refuse to give MJ final approval of the documentary, he also reneged on a promise to not show his children at all! This is a very important revelation!! Remember, Bashir was with MJ during the “baby dangling” incident, and the second most disturbing part of the documentary (behind MJ & Gavin holding hands) is watching MJ nervously bottle feed Blanket after he dangled him. He was shaking and fidgeting, and MJ haters (like Gloria Allred and Carole Lieberman, who tried to use “phantom victim” Daniel Kapon to sue MJ for millions) have used that scene to paint MJ as an unfit father who can’t even properly feed his infant son, and should lose custody of his kids. Also, check out the complaints against Bashir made by George Best & Max Clifford in the article. With such a terrible reputation, it’s no wonder the article stated that when Bashir receives industry “awards”, there is barely a ripple of applause from his peers! Lastly, according the MJ attorney David LeGrand (whose testimony is included later on in this piece), MJ signed two, ONE PARAGRAPH contracts that were neither specific nor detailed, as such contracts usually are. If Bashir had any integrity, he would have at least drawn up a more professional contract. Those contracts should have been at least 10 pages long, and should have been thoroughly reviewed by MJ’s legal team!
Of course, the MJEOL fansite had a lot to say about Bashir after he was hired by ABC to host Nightline:
During the filming of “Living With Michael Jackson”
What is this kid doing?
Now, for Bashir’s actions DURING the filming of the documentary, Aphrodite Jones stated in a radio interview that it was Martin Bashir’s idea to have Gavin lay his head on Michael’s shoulder and hold Michael’s hand during the filming, while Michael talked about sharing his bedroom with children. Unbeknownst to Michael at the time, Bashir asked Gavin (prior to the interview) to do that to further give the impression of something untoward going on. Aphrodite Jones reveals this while giving an interview (link inserted in the word “interview”) promoting her MJ special on ID (Investigation Discovery). Her interview is around 35 minutes long, and at the 19 minute mark, Aphrodite talks about how Bashir told Gavin to lean his head on MJ’s shoulder, and at the 23:30 mark, she talks about how Bashir told Gavin to hold MJ’s hand, in order to insinuate that something improper was going on. She discusses this in more detail in this interview as well, starting at the 1 hour 07 minute mark: http://www.ustream.tv/recorded/7851714
Bashir also suggested that MJ invite a group of kids to Neverland in order to give viewers the impression that Neverland was a very fun and safe place for them to go and hang out at, but when the documentary aired, Bashir deceptively narrates that “Neverland is a dangerous place for vulnerable children” while showing the children who were invited.
And if that wasn’t bad enough, there was the scene in Germany where MJ tried to take his children to a local zoo to learn about nature, and give them a chance to get out of their hotel room. Prior to going to the zoo, MJ’s team notified the zoo that he would be visiting, and they requested that the zoo be closed to the public so that MJ and his kids could have privacy, and they agreed. When MJ finally made it to the zoo, they did NOT close it to the public, as had been requested, and he was absolutely mobbed by fans while his kids nervously held his hand. It was a misunderstanding between MJ and the zoo as to when the zoo would actually close. The press was tipped off about MJ’s appearance, and it wouldn’t surprise me if Bashir himself was responsible for the leak. When MJ aired his rebuttal video, you can see clearly that MJ did indeed request that the zoo be closed down, and Bashir was fully aware of this but conveniently chose to ignore it, and instead give his insidious commentary about MJ not being aware of the “danger” his children were in.
(Zoo visit @ 6:45)
(MJ’s zoo rebuttal begins @ 4:00)
After the filming of “Living With Michael Jackson”
When the documentary aired in February 2003, there was an immediate backlash against MJ. Judging by the press reaction, you would think that the only thing that MJ did was talk about sharing his bed with children. Shortly after it aired, Prevent Child Abuse America, the largest nationwide organization devoted to child abuse prevention, asked Santa Barbara authorities to investigate MJ, and Sneddon happily complied! In my opinion, this was a perfectly fair request. This is a legitimate organization that is passionate about their cause, and they erred on the side of caution with MJ. They didn’t try to capitalize off MJ by using him as a fundraising tool, or to gain attention for themselves, unlike some other child abuse prevention organizations like Road To Recovery and Stop It Now, which have received backlash from MJ fans for exploiting his name.
So after the investigation was completed by the Department of Family and Children’s Services on February 27th, 2003, they issued their report and noted that charges of molestation were “unfounded”. Notice how Janet Arvizo says that the media had “taken everything out of context”!
During the height of the controversy, Bashir was interviewed by ABC News’ Chris Wallace, and defended his hit piece. At the 5:15 mark, Wallace asked Bashir if MJ did anything to try to stop the broadcast, and Bashir GLEEFULLY answers that MJ’s legal team “didn’t have a leg to stand on”. This is because the contract was so poorly written that it didn’t specifically prevent the airing of the documentary without MJ’s approval, so MJ’s only course of action was to sue Bashir for breach of contract. If he had any integrity he would have let MJ vet the program with or without it being explicitly stated in the contract. It’s too bad that Wallace didn’t ask Bashir why he didn’t allow MJ to vet the program before it aired! I would have loved to hear his answer!
In this article, published shortly after the documentary aired, Bashir expressed NO REMORSE WHATSOEVER! He had the audacity to say that he hopes the negative publicity “makes MJ more careful” with the way he interacts with children. He also lied and said that MJ and Gavin “volunteered” their bed sharing, when in reality Bashir AMBUSHED THEM into that topic! MJ and Gavin thought they were being interviewed to discuss Gavin’s victory over cancer! He also said that his documentary was “fair to his musical achievement” and believe it or not that’s true. Bashir didn’t DARE take away from MJ’s talent, but of course it wasn’t fair to MJ as a human being! He admits to shooting 10 hours of footage over the 8 months he was with MJ (but refused to answer this question under oath), and maybe one day he may have a change of heart, and take the remaining footage and shoot an honest & fair documentary, but I’m not holding my breath for it! http://news.bbc.co.uk/2/hi/entertainment/2756285.stm
And if you think that Bashir stopped bashing MJ after “Living With Michael Jackson”, then think again! In February 2005, just in time for the ratings sweeps, he produced “Michael Jackson’s Secret World”. The program focused on all of his “special friends” like Macaulay Culkin, Jimmy Safechuck, and Corey Feldman. Of course, Bashir called on his partners in crime Raymond Chandler, Diane Dimond, Wendy Murphy, and Maureen Orth for their worthless opinions. But to be fair and balanced, he also included LaToya Jackson and J. Randy Taraborrelli to defend MJ. Below is an excerpt from the article below, that sums up the intentions that Bashir and ABC News had for the documentary:
British television interviewer Martin Bashir, whose documentary “Living With Michael Jackson” led to the current molestation charges against the entertainer, is putting the finishing touches to another film which is reported to be equally damaging to Jackson.
The following videos from the excellent YouTube series “What Did Happen To Michael Jackson” by LunaJo67 contain some clips from the special. At the 7:00 minute mark in Part 39, Bashir talks about MJ’s relationship with Corey Feldman. He brings up the time when Feldman was at MJ’s apartment, and MJ showed him the book with nude photos of men & WOMEN with STD’s. But what Bashir doesn’t tell you is that it was Feldman who initiated the conversation by first noticing the book on MJ’s coffee table, and then ASKING MJ to tell him about the book. By leaving out that important piece of info, Bashir implies that MJ took the initiative to show him for his own devious reasons.
Part 39
(On a side note, I found an article that proves that Corey Feldman is a two-faced hypocrite. He complained that MJ acted inappropriately by showing him that book at such a young age, but in this interview he brags about hanging out at the Playboy Mansion as a teen! I wonder if he’d beat up Hugh Hefner if his own son was allowed in there, the same way he threatened to beat up MJ if he showed his son a health book.
In part 40, Bashir lied and said MJ’s settlement was $25 million, which is waaayyy overblown! And at the 6:00 mark, he brings up Gavin’s accusations. You’ll see quack psychologist Carole Lieberman talking about how seeing Gavin resting his head on MJ’s shoulder sent “chills up her spine” (which is exactly what Bashir wanted when he told Gavin to place his head there prior to the start of the interview, according to Aphrodite Jones). Fortunately LunaJo67 IMMEDITATELY shows the portion of the rebuttal tape where Gavin and Janet openly MOCK that scene!
Part 40
Now, during the trial some of MJ’s lawyers testified about the legal steps they tried to take to stop the documentary from airing, and how Bashir & Co. refused to abide by MJ’s request to not air it, but they nicely “conceded” that they wouldn’t sell it on DVD, and they would obscure the faces of MJ’s kids (which leads me to believe that if MJ had not taken any legal action, Bashir was prepared to FULLY RENEGE on his promise to not show their faces, and he would have exposed their identities to the world for the first time!) Bashir is a BASTARD!!! http://site2.mjeol.com/mj-news/attorney-filmmaker-misrepresented-intentions-to-jackson.html
During the trial, Bashir was one of the Sneddon’s very first witnesses called, and he truly acted like the coward that he is. He barely spoke above a whisper (in fact, MJ himself had to tell him to speak up!), he hid behind a California Journalist Shield Law that allows journalists to not reveal their sources or methods of investigating news stories under oath, and he was nearly held in contempt of court for not answering all of the questions that Mesereau threw at him!
Here is a partial transcript of all of Bashir’s testimony, and after skimming through it, I can clearly see how much of a worthless, lowlife, degenerate, piece of scum that Bashir really is! He hid behind the shield law in order to avoid answering even the most basic of questions!! Here is Mesereau’s cross examination!
(Hey guys, this is a good website because it has the transcripts of virtually everyone who testified. There are also links to a Jordan Chandler & Conrad Murray website as well.): http://deargavinarvizo.com/2009/11/martin-bashirs-testimony/
Q. At some point in time, you made an effort to
13 contact Mr. Jackson about doing this show, correct.
14 A. That is correct.
15 Q. And approximately when was that.
16 A. I think it was around April 2002.
17 Q. And you contacted someone named Uri Geller,
18 correct.
MR. MESEREAU: Your Honor, I would move for
24 sanctions against the witness. Or I would move to
25 strike all of his testimony, including the
26 prosecution’s playing of this tape, if he refuses to
27 be cross-examined.
28 THE COURT: The way I would like to proceed
1 with this is that he — he does have some protection
2 under the shield law that his counsel has been
3 pointing out. That protection is against contempt
4 of court.
5 What I think I’ll do is let you ask him the
6 questions, let his attorney make the objections, let
7 him decide whether he’s going to answer. And then
8 I’ll make a record — we have a record of those
9 questions, and then I’ll review them later to
10 determine whether or not I feel a contempt charge
11 should be issued. It’s really a ticklish area of
12 the law.
13 MR. MESEREAU: Thank you, Your Honor.
14 Q. Mr. Bashir, you outlined some qualifications
15 you have in the world of journalism, correct.
16 A. I didn’t outline any qualifications, sir. I
17 just referred to the chronology of my career.
18 Q. Did you mean, when you did that, to explain
19 that you’re a qualified professional journalist.
20 A. I meant simply to explain my career
21 chronologically, sir.
22 Q. Do you consider yourself as a professional
23 journalist.
24 A. I do, sir.
25 Q. Do you consider yourself a professional
26 journalist because you’ve had certain experience in
27 journalism.
28 A. I do, sir. (234)
1 Q. Do you consider yourself to be a
2 professional journalist because you’re educated in
3 the world of journalism.
4 A. My academic studies were not in journalism.
5 They were in the arts and humanities. So I don’t
6 have a formal qualification, if that’s what you’re
7 asking, sir, but I have the experience that comes
8 with working in the profession.
9 Q. Now, as a journalist in England, you are
10 regulated by a certain administrative agency,
11 correct.
12 A. Could you repeat the question.
13 Q. Sure. Is there an organization or an
14 administrative agency that goes by a title somewhat
15 like British Broadcasting Standards Board.
16 A. There is an organization called the
17 Broadcasting Complaints Commission. Would you be
18 referring to that.
19 Q. I think I am. Do you work with that
20 organization in any capacity.
21 A. That organization doesn’t employ
22 journalists.
23 Q. Have you been sanctioned by that
24 organization.
25 A. Could you repeat the question.
26 Q. Have you been sanctioned by that
27 organization.
28 A. By the Broadcasting Complaints Commission.
1 Q. Yes.
2 A. The answer to that question is, three
3 complaints were made against me. Two of the key
4 complaints were entirely rejected, and they were to
5 do with balance and fairness. One of the three was
6 upheld. This is — sir, just so I can explain so
7 people understand, because they —
8 Q. Certainly.
9 A. — because they may not understand.
10 The Broadcasting Standards Commission is not
11 a legal body, and it has no particular merit in a
12 legal setting.
13 Q. Nevertheless, a complaint against you as a
14 journalist was upheld, true.
15 A. As I said, sir, three complaints were made.
16 The two key complaints were entirely rejected. One
17 complaint was upheld of the three.
18 Q. Let’s talk about the one that was upheld,
19 sir. There was a complaint against you that was
20 upheld by that agency, correct.
21 A. There was, sir, yes.
22 Q. And what did they complain about, Mr.
23 Bashir.
24 A. The complaint related to — to what — to
25 what — to how I described what I was doing with the
26 story that I was working on.
27 Q. And what were you doing, Mr. Bashir.
28 A. I was doing journalism.
Q. Please describe for the jury the subject
18 matter of the complaint you just identified, Mr.
19 Bashir.
20 A. The story was about a teenaged prodigy, a
21 mathematics genius, who had run away from
22 university, had legally emancipated herself from her
23 family. And the story was to describe what had
24 happened from both sides.
25 Q. You were accused of misrepresentations,
26 true.
27 A. No, that’s incorrect.
28 Q. You were not accused of misrepresenting
1 anything in that complaint.
2 A. I was accused of unfairness, which was
3 entirely rejected. I was accused of breaching an
4 agreement, which was entirely rejected. I was
5 accused of not representing the entirety of what I
6 was doing with that broadcast to one of the
7 individuals.
8 Q. Kind of what you’ve been accused of here,
9 right.
10 MR. BOUTROUS: Objection.
11 MR. SNEDDON: Argumentative, Your Honor.
12 THE COURT: Sustained.
Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, you wrote to
18 Mr. Jackson’s assistant and said you would very much
19 like to feature Michael with a large group of
20 children, around 50, welcoming them and sharing with
21 them his extraordinary home so that, for one day,
22 their lives can be enriched, correct.
23 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objection, Your Honor.
24 THE COURT: Do you wish to —
25 MR. SNEDDON: Your Honor — excuse me.
26 Could I add an objection to that also.
27 Beyond the scope of direct examination.
28 THE COURT: Sustained as to beyond the scope
1 of the direct examination.
2 Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, you
3 interviewed Mr. Jackson and repeatedly asked him
4 questions about his desire for an international
5 children’s holiday, correct.
6 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objection, Your Honor,
7 in that would seem to be beyond the scope of the
8 direct examination as well.
9 THE COURT: Sustained as to beyond the scope.
10 MR. MESEREAU: Your Honor, will the Court
11 permit me to ask questions about what’s actually on
12 the tape.
13 THE COURT: No, because the tape’s being
14 introduced not for the truth of the matter asserted,
15 but for a different purpose. There are some areas,
16 however, that I didn’t instruct the jury on about
17 the assertions that they wish to have considered for
18 the truth of the matter. And those would not be out
19 of bounds, because — well, let me ask the District
20 Attorney.
Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, you had
22 Michael Jackson sign an agreement without a lawyer
23 present, true.
24 MR. BOUTROUS: Again, Your Honor, beyond the
25 scope of the direct and covered by the shield law.
26 THE COURT: I’d overrule that objection.
27 Will you answer that question.
28 THE WITNESS: Mr. Jackson signed two
1 agreements in which he asked for no conditions
2 whatsoever and agreed that I was free to make the
3 film with him. And the first of those agreements
4 was signed in November 2002, and the second
5 agreement was signed in January 2003, just about two
6 weeks prior to broadcast of the British version of
7 the film that you’ve just seen.
8 MR. MESEREAU: Your Honor, I would move to
9 strike the answer and request that the Court order
10 the witness to answer the question.
11 THE COURT: All right. It’s stricken. And
12 I’ll ask the court reporter to read back the
13 question so that you understand the question.
14 (Record read.)
15 MR. BOUTROUS: I renew my objection, Your
16 Honor. That goes to news gathering and relates to
17 information prepared in connection with news
18 gathering.
19 THE COURT: The objection is overruled.
20 Do you wish to answer that.
21 THE WITNESS: I think I agree with my
22 attorney that I have protections under the shield
23 law, Your Honor.
24 THE COURT: All right.
25 MR. MESEREAU: Same objection would be
26 noted, Your Honor.
27 MR. SANGER: I’m sorry, Your Honor, it’s
28 hard for Mr. Jackson and for us to hear the witness.
1 THE WITNESS: I apologize. It’s my fault.
2 Sorry. I’m sorry.
3 THE DEFENDANT: Speak up.
4 THE COURT: And, yes, you don’t need to. I’m
5 going to review all of the questions.
6 MR. MESEREAU: Thank you, Your Honor.
7 Q. Mr. Bashir —
8 THE COURT: If you want to, you can.
9 MR. MESEREAU: Okay.
10 Q. Mr. Bashir, you have been accused in England
11 of forging signatures, correct.
12 A. Incorrect.
13 Q. No one has ever made that accusation, sir.
14 MR. BOUTROUS: I’m going to object, Your
15 Honor. Hearsay; lack of foundation; beyond the
16 scope of direct examination.
17 THE COURT: Sustained on beyond the scope of
18 direct.
19 Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, to qualify as
20 a professional journalist, do you have to fulfill
21 any particular educational program.
22 A. In the United States or in the United
23 Kingdom, sir.
24 Q. Anywhere.
25 A. I’m frankly unsure about how that applies in
26 the United States. And in the United Kingdom, there
27 would be different ways of progressing your career.
28 Some people would do it through the route of
1 experience. And others would do it through some
2 kind of academic qualification. I think others will
3 have a mix of the two.
Q. How did you do it.
5 A. A mix of the two.
6 Q. Could you please explain that.
7 A. I was given training during my employment at
8 the BBC. And I also took opportunities to work in
9 print and radio journalism, so I combined the
10 experience part with the training.
Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, if you look at
7 the two documents you referred to that you say Mr.
8 Jackson signed, his signature appears to be
9 different from document to document, correct.
10 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objection, Your Honor.
11 And — same objection on the shield law, Your Honor;
12 and beyond the scope of direct.
13 THE COURT: Sustained; beyond the scope.
14 Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, did you
15 request that Michael Jackson bring Macauley Culkin
16 so you could film him at Neverland.
17 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objection under the
18 shield law and the First Amendment, Your Honor. And
19 beyond the scope of direct.
20 THE COURT: Sustained on beyond the scope.
21 Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: In the process of putting
22 this film together, Mr. Bashir, did you write to
23 Michael Jackson’s assistant and say you wanted to
24 film the beautiful landscape encouraging all of us
25 to become as little children again.
26 MR. SNEDDON: I’m going to object as beyond
27 the scope.
Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, did you, in
25 the process of getting — making contact with Mr.
26 Jackson so you could make this film, misrepresent
27 that you were putting together a trip to Africa for
28 Mr. Jackson to visit sick children.
1 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objection, Your Honor.
2 Beyond the scope of direct; shield law; First
3 Amendment.
4 THE COURT: I’ll sustain the objection;
5 beyond the scope of direct.
6 Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, did you allow
7 Mr. Jackson any editorial control over this film.
8 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objections, Your Honor.
9 THE COURT: The objection beyond the scope is
10 sustained.
Q. I’ll repeat the question, Mr. Bashir.
25 To obtain statements from Mr. Jackson, you
26 told him he was underappreciated, correct.
27 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objections, Your Honor.
28 Plus, leading question.
1 THE COURT: The Court will sustain the
2 objection for ambiguity.
3 Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, to obtain an
4 interview with Mr. Jackson, you told him you were a
5 friend of Princess Diana, correct.
6 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objections, Your Honor.
7 THE COURT: The objection being, when you say
8 “same objection” —
9 MR. BOUTROUS: First, impermissible leading
10 question; beyond the scope of the direct elicited by
11 the District Attorney. In addition, it seeks
12 unpublished information connected to news gathering
13 prepared and gained during news gathering.
14 Conversations with the source is news gathering. So
15 I would invoke the California shield law and the
16 First Amendment.
17 THE COURT: Here’s the problem, Mr. Mesereau:
18 You’re back to the general question on the whole
19 tape, the whole thing. And my prior statement that
20 the question was ambiguous is that he doesn’t know
21 what statements you’re talking about. So —
22 MR. MESEREAU: I will —
23 THE COURT: — if you would —
24 MR. MESEREAU: I could refer to some
25 statements, Your Honor.
26 THE COURT: All right.
27 MR. MESEREAU: Sure.
28 Q. Mr. Bashir, in the show you prepared, which
1 we’ve just seen, Mr. Jackson made statements to the
2 effect that nothing sexual was going on in his bed,
3 correct.
4 A. Correct.
5 Q. To obtain the interview you had with Mr.
6 Jackson when he made that statement, you told him
7 that he was underappreciated, true.
8 MR. BOUTROUS: Objection, Your Honor, on the
9 shield law grounds and First Amendment grounds,
10 unpublished information, and the tape that the jury
11 has seen speaks for itself.
12 THE COURT: All right. The objection is
13 overruled.
14 Do you wish to answer that question.
15 THE WITNESS: I’m standing on the broadest
16 privilege and the shield law, Your Honor.
17 MR. MESEREAU: Objection noted, Your Honor.
18 THE COURT: Yes.
19 MR. MESEREAU: Thank you.
20 Q. Mr. Bashir, in the show about Michael
21 Jackson, Mr. Jackson says that nothing sexual went
22 on in his bedroom. To obtain that statement, you
23 told Mr. Jackson that your romantic development was
24 partially shaped by his records, true.
25 MR. BOUTROUS: Objection, Your Honor. Same
26 grounds. First Amendment; shield law.
27 THE COURT: Do you wish to answer that
28 question. (260)
1 THE WITNESS: No, Your Honor.
2 THE COURT: All right. The objection is
3 noted.
4 Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, on the show we
5 just saw in this courtroom, Mr. Jackson says that
6 nothing sexual goes on in his bedroom.
7 To obtain that statement from Mr. Jackson,
8 you told him that when you looked at his
9 relationship with children, it almost made you weep,
10 correct.
11 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objections, Your Honor.
12 California shield law and the First Amendment. And
13 I object to that question as being ambiguous as
14 well, the first phrase, “to obtain that statement.”
15 Object to that.
16 THE COURT: The objection is overruled.
17 Do you wish to answer that.
18 THE WITNESS: I don’t, Your Honor.
19 MR. MESEREAU: Objection noted, Your Honor.
20 THE COURT: Yes.
21 Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, on your show,
22 Mr. Jackson says that nothing sexual ever went on in
23 his bedroom.
24 To obtain that statement from him, you told
25 him that you believe in his vision of an
26 international children’s holiday, correct.
27 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objections, Your Honor.
28 The shield law and the First Amendment.
1 THE COURT: Overruled.
2 Do you wish to answer that question.
3 THE WITNESS: I don’t, Your Honor.
4 MR. MESEREAU: Objection noted, Your Honor.
5 THE COURT: Noted.
6 Q. BY MR. MESEREAU: Mr. Bashir, in this
7 interview you did of Michael Jackson, he says that
8 nothing sexual went on in his bedroom.
9 To obtain that statement, you told him,
10 “Neverland is an extraordinary, a breathtaking, a
11 stupendous, an exhilarating and amazing place. I
12 can’t put together words to describe Neverland.”
13 True.
14 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objections, Your Honor.
15 First Amendment and the California shield law.
16 THE COURT: Do you wish to answer that
17 question.
18 THE WITNESS: I don’t, Your Honor.
19 THE COURT: Noted; objection noted.
20 MR. MESEREAU: Thank you, Your Honor.
21 Q. Mr. Bashir, to prepare the show you’ve just
22 shown the jury where Michael Jackson says nothing
23 sexual went on in his bedroom, you told him that you
24 had an abiding sense that he is selfless and a most
25 generous person, correct.
26 MR. BOUTROUS: Same objections, Your Honor.
27 THE COURT: Do you wish to answer that
28 question. (262)
And here are some excerpts from Mesereau’s opening statements concerning Bashir’s treachery:
Let me tell you how the Bashir documentary happened. It didn’t happen exactly as the prosecutor told you. A journalist, British journalist, named Bashir, Martin Bashir, wanted to do a documentary on Michael Jackson. He wanted it to be scandalous, and he wanted to get rich. And that’s what he did. But he knew that getting close to Michael Jackson may not be easy. After all, so many people around the world want to get near him. They want opportunities they believe he carries with him. This has been an ongoing issue with Michael Jackson his whole life. Because he’s a musical genius, because he’s so well known, because he’s perceived as being so successful, people are always buzzing around him trying to get a hook into his business, trying to just grab something that will give them fame and fortune. It’s an ongoing reality. It’s an ongoing problem. And as Michael Jackson has said many times, “I am very lonely because of it.” He has written that in his autobiography and he has said it; “Everybody wants a piece of me.” Martin Bashir was no exception, just like the Arvizos were no exception. So Martin Bashir decided the best way to get to Michael Jackson is a form of flattery. “I will misrepresent to him my true intentions, and I will find that little point of vulnerability that will get him to me so I can work with him and get this project that’s going to make me wealthy.” Bashir had interviewed Princess Diana of England sometime previously. He knew Michael Jackson was a great fan and friend of Princess Diana. To any of you who know anything about Princess Diana, you can understand why.
She had the opportunity to simply live in wealth, pomposity, a rigidity in the social structure in England, and she didn’t want it, she wasn’t happy with it, and she branched out on her own and offended people. And she went to Africa and she worked with children with AIDS, and she made a crusade out of trying to stop land mines around the world which explode and hurt children, mines for civil war. And she decided she was going to live her life the way she chose. She and Mr. Jackson had a friendship and camaraderie, because he saw that he had pursued a similar life. Bashir concluded that, “I’ll get to him through his love and affection for Princess Diana.” Bashir knew that a psychic in England named Uri Geller, who’s been on T.V. doing things, he thought Uri Geller could get to Michael Jackson. And it turns out he could. He called up Uri Geller and he was gushing with flattery. He said he admired what Michael had done for children around the world. He specifically referred to Michael’s visits to sick children in hospitals around the world. He said, “I so admire this. We need to promote it better. We need to do a documentary that will show the world what kind of a person Michael is, and we will focus on children.”
And he had some specific ideas. He told Uri Geller that Michael Jackson has always wanted an International Children’s Day, much like Mother’s Day or Father’s Day. And he told Uri Geller that he wanted to bring Michael Jackson to meet Kofi Annan, the Secretary General of the United Nations, and he was hoping by doing so, that Michael would visit Africa and help children with AIDS. He told Uri Geller, “I can accomplish that,” and Geller was very interested. Geller arranged a meeting between Michael Jackson and Martin Bashir in London. And Bashir gave the same routine that I just described: “You are misunderstood. What you’ve done is so phenomenal. The world needs to know. I’m the one best positioned to do this project so the world really will understand who you are and what you’ve accomplished.” And he showed him a letter, somewhat crumbled up letter, from Princess Diana commending him for the way he had conducted her interview. Everything was sugar and spice and everything nice. Unfortunately, it was false. It was deception par excellence. The meeting was arranged. Michael met with Mr. Bashir. He agreed to do the documentary because he believed what I just told you. Michael had some conditions. He didn’t want his children’s faces to appear on the documentary. Michael loves his children. They’re beautiful little kids. They live with him at Neverland, and they were living there throughout these alleged events, these so-called crimes that didn’t happen. But nevertheless, Bashir wanted to follow him around, and he did follow him to various cities, Berlin, et cetera. Michael was terrified that his children’s faces would be on that documentary. He is perpetually terrified that something will happen to his children. They’ll be kidnapped; there will be extortion; there will be a ransom request; they’ll be injured, or worse. Bashir agreed. “Their faces will never appear. They will not be recognizable on that documentary.” And that was false. Michael asked him if he could see the footage before it was broadcast, because Michael has been in this business his whole life. He has seen what the media can do to anybody. They can take footage and remove it. They can take footage and connect it. They can take words and replace them. They can do whatever they want and make you look terrible if they want, and it had been done to him often throughout his career. He didn’t want that to happen in this documentary. Martin Bashir assured him he would have full editorial control, and that was a falsehood.
Michael wanted any money he received to go to charity. Bashir assured him it would. Uri Geller also wanted money to go to charity, but he also wanted a personal service fee. He wanted a percentage of the net proceeds, and he worked that out with Bashir, not with Michael. Let me give you a flavor for what Bashir said to Michael Jackson to induce him to do this project: On July 23rd, 2002, he sent a letter to Michael’s assistant. He had a plan of action for filming at Neverland. He said on July 29th, they wanted to feature Michael with a large group of children, around 50, welcoming them and sharing with them his extraordinary home so that, for one day, their lives can be enriched seeing Michael with the children on the rides and then taking them into his movie theater to watch a film. The next day, Tuesday, July 30th, “I was hoping that Mac Culkin will be available to visit.” He is an extremely close friend of Michael’s and has provided support throughout the years. That’s Macauley Culkin, the actor. Wednesday, July 31st, this would be a day spent working with Michael, the musical genius, listening to the song he has written for the international children’s holiday, and also viewing some tapes from his extraordinary career, reflecting upon 30 years of success. Thursday, August 1st, a walk around Neverland, the zoo and all the other attractions that have been built both for Michael and the benefit of others. The beautiful landscape encouraging all of us to become “as little children again,” quote, unquote. Friday, August 2nd, late-night drive through L.A, how Michael still connects with the inner city, and how he has drawn inspiration for his dance scenes from the ghetto kids. “I shall give you a call tomorrow to check through this, but hope that it will be possible. Obviously, the trip to Africa, plus the U.N. visit are in the early stages of planning, but I shall certainly give you full details as soon as matters are confirmed.”
You will learn, ladies and gentlemen, what Bashir said to Michael face to face, as he did this project, a project designed to humiliate, degrade and deceive, he said to him at one point with respect to Michael and children, “I saw yesterday, just to explain, a very special interaction between you, and it was a privilege to see it. I’ve got three children, and to be honest, it was a bit of an education to watch,” referring to Michael and children.
He said to Michael, “You know, nobody ever asks you these questions about how you approach children, how you love children, what you do for children, and how you raise your own.” He said, “Nobody ever asks Michael any of these questions. They all ask these ignorant things,” and he called those people “scum.” He told Michael, “Neverland is an extraordinary, a breath-taking, a stupendous, an exhilarating, an amazing place. I can’t put together words to describe Neverland,” flattering Michael, trying to lead him to his destruction. He said, “One of the things that puzzles me, that I find difficult to understand, is why an artist like yourself, who has brought such beautiful music to the world, who has written the melody of most of our lives, my life – my romantic development was partially shaped by your records – why I find it so difficult to understand is why is it that, having brought this to the world, people are quick to criticize.” He said being with Michael and children was like a beautiful journey. He said to Michael Jackson, “One of the things I noticed about you over the last year is your relationship with your children. Your relationship with your — and I have to say to you that I didn’t know you before, but your relationship with your children is spectacular. It almost makes me weep when I see you with them, because your interaction is so natural, loving, so caring, and everyone who comes in contact with you knows that.” As the prosecutor has told you, he will show you that documentary. Keep in mind, if you will, what I just told you when you see it. Ladies and gentlemen, Mr. Bashir traveled with Michael through Europe and the United States, spent time at Neverland. Took about eight months to put it together. And on that documentary, Michael Jackson makes very clear, “I don’t do anything sexual with children. I don’t commit crimes.”
Bashir arrived at Neverland and he did film Michael Jackson and he filmed Gavin, and he took statements from both. Nobody expected any of this to be secret or quiet. Everyone knew it was for worldwide distribution. What Michael said on that documentary he expected to be publicized throughout the world. It wasn’t meant to be a private thing. It was meant to be a public thing, and that needs to be understood as you watch it and hear his words. And I repeat, he repeatedly says, “Nothing sexual happens with me and children, ever.” He does display some idealism on the film. He talks about children coming to school with guns and why they need love, why they need caring, that there’s got to be a way to change this. He talks about children who need attention and affection, and something must be wrong with all the violence in the world. Yes, that’s Michael Jackson’s idealism, some might say, to some extent, naiveté. Certainly naiveté when it comes to making yourself vulnerable to false claims. At this point, I would like to go through some of what was said in Bashir. Much of what was said did not appear on Bashir. Fortunately, Mr. Jackson had his own videographer filming while Bashir filmed, and as you can imagine, and this is not unusual with eight months of work, it had to be condensed down into a show. Much of what Michael said about his view of the world, his view of the need for peace and love, his desire to see more creativity in the world and his great belief in children as a cause was left out, and in its place what you will see is commentary by Bashir designed to create a scandal, and he did. In September of 2002, ladies and gentlemen, the Arvizo family made numerous visits to Neverland, one of them with Actor Chris Tucker. As Gavin says on the Bashir documentary, on one occasion he slept on Michael’s bed and Michael slept on the floor. Nowhere in that documentary does he say, “I had sex with Michael Jackson.” In fact, months afterward, he was saying in various recorded statements, “He saved my family. He saved me from cancer. He’s never done anything wrong.” Now Janet’s spin was, “That was because we were falsely imprisoned.” I’m going to go through those statements also. Incidentally, the prosecutor talked about a videotaped interview with the family, and he used the word “scripted.” He used the word “scripted” to suggest that everything you’re going to see – because if they don’t play it, we will – was somehow memorized, forced, false and fabricated. Not only is that not true, I invite you to watch it. Watch their facial expressions. Watch their demeanor. Watch the spontaneous answers. Watch how long those answers go on for, and watch the point where Janet doesn’t think she’s on tape. And when you see that stuff, you ask yourself, “Is this all memorized, or is something wrong here.”
I want to emphasize that Mr. Jackson was paid nothing from Bashir. The original negotiations were that money would go to charities in England. They were talking about 250,000 pounds, British pounds they are. That, from Mr. Jackson’s point of view, the incentive for doing that documentary was that he trusted Mr. Bashir was going to present him in an appropriate and honorable and honest light. And that’s not what happened.
As you can see from Mesereau’s line of questioning, Bashir was a professional con artist on the same level as used car salesmen (probably even lower!). Bashir’s absolute REFUSAL to acknowledge his tactics is a tacit admission of their truth, because if they weren’t true, then he would have denied them. (The same way he denied being accused of misrepresenting his British interview, and said he had been accused of unfairness.) Actually, I did catch him in a lie; he said that he wasn’t accused of forging signatures in Britain, but earlier I discussed that he was accused of forging the bank statements to trick Princess Diana to do the interview, so Bashir just proved that he was perfectly capable of perjury.
Another interesting piece of information that I learned from analyzing the testimony is something that shouldn’t surprise anyone: Bashir is NOT an accredited journalist! He does NOT have a college degree in journalism! His degree is in the “arts and humanities”, or whatever that is! So that confirms that sleazy tabloid journalists don’t have to have any formal education in journalism whatsoever! There are no standards! (Remember, Diane Dimond doesn’t have a journalism degree either. As a matter of fact, she doesn’t have ANY degree!)
Out of all of the tactics that Bashir used to lull MJ into a sense of trust and security, I think that for him to tell MJ that his ‘romantic development” was shaped by MJ’s music is by far the lowest of the low! After looking at his tactics, I’d have to give him an A+ for his excellent lying abilities, and if I was a dirt bag reporter looking to boost my career, I would have asked those same questions too! (Below are two articles that summarize Bashir’s testimony):
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10113351
http://www.nzherald.co.nz/world/news/article.cfm?c_id=2&objectid=10113418
Now, just imagine if you were one of MJ’s closest confidantes, and it was YOU who introduced MJ to Bashir, and told MJ that Bashir could be trusted. How would you feel about yourself, knowing that you set the chain of events in motion for the ruining of a music legend? Well, if you’ve ever wondered how Uri Gellar felt after being conned by Bashir, and then watching Bashir con MJ, then here’s your answer! Here’s an excerpt from an interview he gave in November 2003, shortly after MJ was arrested:
“I told him, ‘You’ll end up in jail,’ ” Geller said. “Not because he’s guilty … but because this behavior of inviting children into the bedroom, the behavior is unacceptable to the outside world, to the community, to society, and society gets very, very suspicious.”
Unfortunately, Geller said, his counsel wasn’t enough because he wasn’t being backed up by people in Jackson’s camp, who should have taken a harder line with the singer and not just automatically agreed to whatever Jackson wanted.
“It’s just, ‘Yes, Michael,’ and he might not like to hear this, but in my opinion, Michael needs help, and I don’t mean for what he’s been accused of doing. … He needs more people who aren’t afraid to speak the truth. I have my own chutzpah, I am an Israeli and I don’t bullsh–. I couldn’t care less what people think about me. I speak the truth.”
If Jackson had such a brutally honest sounding board, Geller said, perhaps someone would’ve stepped in and convinced Jackson not to do the Bashir interview after Geller had recommended it. Geller said he felt duped by Bashir, who told him he wanted to do a “very positive documentary, a really wonderful documentary … to bring justice into the man’s life.”
“In short, I fell for it,” Geller said. “But I was convinced … that Michael would call his lawyers or agents or managers or whoever is advising him, his PR company, and at least let them see the agreement the TV station made him sign, or at least have some sort of power or veto in this agreement. And apparently Michael didn’t do such a thing.”
Obviously, Geller isn’t at fault, as he was duped Bashir as well, and would never have intentionally set up MJ (unless Dr. Klein is correct and Bashir “outbid” another journalist by $200k to get to MJ). Geller is an easy scapegoat, but he made a good point: someone in MJ’s camp should have thoroughly scrutinized this transaction before agreeing to it. A complete background check should have been performed, and the contract should have had an iron-clad, no-holds barred, unambiguous clause that the documentary could NOT be aired without MJ’s complete approval. And because it was Bashir who initiated contact with MJ, that should have set up a red flag within MJ’s camp to investigate his motives. They should have looked into other journalists, just to make the approval process more fair and objective. Personally, I would have recommended Tavis Smiley, an excellent journalist who has always been fair to MJ. (In fact, Black media in the USA such as Jet, Essence, and Ebony magazines have NEVER used the “Wacko Jacko” moniker, and Black Entertainment Television banned Eminem’s “Just Lose It’ video in 2004 because it mocked MJ’s child abuse charges.
Here is Gellar’s complete interview:
http://www.mtv.com/news/articles/1480835/20031126/jackson_michael.jhtml?headlines=true
You may think that in the years following MJ’s righteous acquittal that Bashir was up to his best behavior and was able to avoid further controversy. But I beg to disagree! In August 2008, Bashir made an inappropriate and unprofessional joke about “Asian babes” while at a conference celebrating diversity among journalists. It’s so disgusting that I won’t type it here; instead I’ll let you read it for yourself when you open the link. Bashir was reprimanded by his bosses, and he issued a short but sweet apology to all of those he offended. (I know, I know, it sounds weird, but he really did apologize! Seriously!)
Maybe the brain tumor that he was diagnosed with two months earlier in June 2008 had an effect on his ability to use good judgment. Ironically, the tumor was found by doctors who were treating Bashir for injuries suffered while banging his head on the set of his studio.
In closing, let me point out that to the very end, Bashir never publicly apologized to MJ, or acknowledge the damage that his work did to him. It took the death of MJ to get something that even remotely resembled a defense of MJ, and it was so half-hearted that he would have been better off not even saying anything. He said that MJ “was never convicted in a court of law”, which is tantamount to saying that he may have been guilty but was too rich and famous to get convicted. He also says that he “never saw any wrongdoing”. It’s too bad he didn’t say it under oath! And the icing on the cake is for him to say that he was “excited” about seeing MJ perform again:
His admission that he “never saw any wrongdoing myself” should dispel the myth that Bashir intended to make an honest portrayal of MJ but changed his mind once he saw inappropriate behavior.
Well, thanks to you Bashir, nobody will ever see MJ perform again, because you killed him!!!
As an extra bonus, here is a summary of Bashir’s interview with Sean “Diddy” Combs, which aired a few weeks ago. He hasn’t changed a bit! Look at how insulting he is to him!
@ 1:00 Diddy greets Bashir for the interview. They hi-five and hug let they’re bests friends. This is part of Bashir’s plan to “earn” Diddy’s trust and make him feel comfortable. Sound familiar?
@ 2:00 After Diddy explains the different parts of his business empire, Bashir accuses him of being a “megalomaniac”, and condescendingly asks him if he would promote “Diddy Dog Food”. Would he say the same thing to Donald Trump? I don’t think so!
@ 4:00 Bashir asks Diddy about the murders of Biggie Smalls and 2pac, and after Diddy says he no longer speaks about the murders, Bashir continues to badger him into answering. (Similar to the way he badgered MJ about the plastic surgery).
@ 5:45 Bashir calls Diddy a “gangsta rapper”, which is a complete insult to Diddy’s image as a mogul & entrepreneur.
@ 6:50 Bashir asks Diddy if he feels he setting a bad example by having “multiple children by multiple mothers”, thus insinuating that he’s an irresponsible father. He then asks if it was sensible to buy his son a Maybach, and Diddy answers by saying he “doesn’t owe anyone an explanation”! If only MJ had stood up to Bashir in a similar manner!
@ 9:15 Bashir & Diddy discuss how to “mindf*^k” someone, which perfectly describes what Bashir did to gain both Diddy’s and MJ’s trust!
Although Diddy is a huge MJ fan, and respects MJ’s legacy, it’s CLEARLY OBVIOUS that he hasn’t done any research on MJ’s molestation allegations, because if he had, he would have known to avoid Bashir at all costs!
UPDATE!
Sean “Diddy” Combs recently gave an interview, and he regrets to speaking with Martin Bashir! Diddy CONFIRMS what I said about Bashir being condescending to him by asking him about his parenting skills, and buying his son a Maybach! He says that Apple CEO Steve Jobs wouldn’t have been the same question! (Although in my commentary I used Donald Trump as an example.)
Here is a partial transcript. The entire interview isn’t available yet.
What happened during the Martin Bashir interview on Nightline?
There were times in the interview when I had to give him an ultimatum. The questions weren’t being handled the right way. In hindsight, when I saw him I shouldn’t had done the interview because I know the style of interview that he does . . . The whole thing about giving a Maybach to my son, that’s really like a racist question. You don’t ask White people what they buy their kids. And they buy ‘em Porsches and convertible Bentleys and it ain’t no question. It’s really a racist question and put things back in perspective with money and the way that people still look at you. And I’m not saying that consciously he’s a racist. But he probably don’t even realize that he would not ask Steve Jobs that. He would be like Steve Jobs has that money and that’s the gift his kid is supposed to get.
Update! April 1st, 2011
Bashir was a guest on the Jimmy Fallon show on February 24, 2011, and I transcribed his interview and included links to watch the interview here. He had the audacity to gloat about his “30 journalism awards” and other worthless accomplishments, and when Fallon brought up his MJ interview, Fallon actually “complimented” MJ by saying that Bashir “humanized” MJ for him!
Bashir then made a backhand comment that painted MJ as an irresponsible spend-a-holic by referring to the “$6.9 million dollars that he spent in 23 minutes” at that store in Vegas. Fallon then asks Bashir if there were things that he left out of the documentary, and if he was happy with how it came out, and Bashir said “absolutely not”, like the lying bastard that he is! (FYI: There was about 10 hours of footage shot over the 8 months of recording, and we all know how heavily edited it was, including his negative commentary.) He then goes on to talk about the “absolute privilege” it was to interview him!
But even worse, he says that he’s not a “sycophantic interviewer” because of his British background, but that is EXACTLY the type of technique that he used to trick MJ! A sycophant is a “self-seeking, servile flatterer”, or to put it in plain English, a BUTT-KISSER!! We’ve all seen the rebuttal documentary where Bashir is shown praising all things MJ, only to do a 180 degree turnaround once his cameras started rolling again!
The most insulting thing that Bashir said is that there were “some people” (a euphemism for MJ fans) who regarded MJ as a “messiah or god” who “objected” to his style of interviewing. That is what he, Dimond, Orth, etc. typically do: they get sympathy for themselves by portraying themselves as victims, and all MJ fans as “rabid”. Typical!
Fallon: Welcome to the NBC family. It’s very exciting.
Bashir: Good to be here.
Fallon: Little pressure starting your own show. I had to deal with this 2 years ago, it’s not easy, but for you, you’ve done major, major stories!
Bashir: (Exhales) Yeah….
Fallon: I mean, Princess Diana was gigantic, and then Michael Jackson!
Bashir: Yeah, there have been big stories, although my fourteen year old daughter Eliza has never paid any attention to my career whatsoever, and I’ve been the recipient of about 30 awards, and blah, blah, blah, and all these landmark interviews, and then 2 days ago she came home and she said “Dad, this is amazing!” And I said “What happened?” And she said “You’re in the Justin Bieber movie! Yes!” Apparently there’s a cameo of me in the Justin Bieber movie! And they didn’t even bring me up to ask me, I’m just in there apparently!
Fallon: You are a backup dancer for Justin Bieber! You’re in 3D!
Bashir: Thank you!
Fallon: It’s a big honor! I’ve got to ask you about that Michael Jackson interview, because that’s the first time I really knew your name, Martin Bashir. It was headlines, that you got to talk to him, and you got to go into where he lived, and it was just fascinating to see, I mean I think you really kinda humanized him for me a little bit, because for me it was just like “Man, Michael’s out there! Sleeping with the elephant man’s bones, and the oxygen tanks, and I don’t know if he’s a person anymore. ” And you tagged along with him, and remember when he went to Vegas, and he was just buying weird things like “I want that face, and I want that golden moose holding a tennis racket”. And I was like “Huh? I have no idea, I mean, we do not have the same life at all! I can’t relate to Michael Jackson!”
Bashir: He spent $6.9 million dollars in 23 minutes. $6.9 million.
Fallon: Whoa! I can’t remotely, remotely relate to spending $60 dollars in 10 minutes!
Bashir: I can vouch for that! I asked him for a drink before that!
Fallon: Is there things that you left out of this thing, or were you like “I’m happy I did”……
Bashir: Absolutely not. In fact, I mean, let’s be honest, it was an amazing privilege because you get to meet a man who created some of the greatest music that has ever been written. But he wasn’t just a composer; he was a dancer, he was a singer, and he was a composer. How many people combine all 3 characteristics in one? And he was an absolute genius, but it was difficult because, I guess to some extent, I’m from Britain where we don’t do sycophantic interviews, we don’t really suck up to people very much, we don’t do that kind of thing.
Fallon: Yeah, we love that in America! You smell fantastic! You look gorgeous!
Bashir: Oh, thank you so much! I think my career is going to last about 3 weeks!
Fallon: To have an interviewer come over from England and act mean to people, like Simon Cowell…..
Bashir: Well, it’s not so much about acting mean, it’s more of I’m driven by an idea to get to the truth, so what is the truth? So, if I was interviewing you about things, I’d want to know a number of things about you. I’m not going to go there now, we’ll talk about it later, but the point is I would want to find out things about you. The problem was when I did that, that there were some people who obviously regarded Michael as a “messiah” or as “God-like”, and they objected to that.
Fallon: I thought it was actually cool. You really humanized him to me.
Bashir: You’re being sycophantic Jimmy!
Fallon: Oh no!
Bashir: There you are!
Fallon: No, I watched it and said “I can’t believe that he’s up in a tree right now!”
Bashir: One of the things I’m finding difficult about doing my own show is that I don’t really like the focus on me , because I’m interested in the person I’m talking to, and when you do that, people respond to you, and they start talking, but you have to listen. Interviewing is as much, as you know, about listening as it I about talking.
Fallon: Uhh……what did you say? (Laughter!)
Bashir: That was tough!
THE COMMENTS POSTED FROM DAVID EDWARD’S PAGE:
Vindicatemj:
July 28, 2010 6:18 pm
David, you say that “Corey Feldman is a two-faced hypocrite. He complained that MJ acted inappropriately by showing him that book at such a young age, but in this interview he brags about hanging out at the Playboy Mansion as a teen!”
Please LET ME PUT IN A WORD FOR COREY FELDMAN.
I’ve found a couple of great articles about Corey Feldman being interrogated by the police and the vehement way he denied any molestation by Michael and defended his innocence.
Shockinly he admitted that he had indeed been molested (by a different person) and even gave the name of his accuser BUT THE POLICE DIDN’T EVEN PAY ATTENTION TO THAT – they were interested in nothing else but accusing Michael Jackson only:
Corey Feldman Defended Jackson in 1993 Police Interview
February 9, 2005
A Celebrity Justice exclusive.
“CJ” has obtained an audio interview between actor Corey Feldman and Santa Barbara sheriffs. Recorded in December 1993, the interview includes Corey stating — not once but numerous times — that his friend Michael Jackson, whom he hung out with, didn’t do anything improper with him.
“Nothing ever happened with Michael and me,” Corey is heard saying. “Believe me, If there was something that I’d been hiding for all these years, then I would want nothing more than to bring it out right now, to make sure that Michael got the help that he needed.”
Feldman gained fame as a child star in the 1980s with “The Goonies” and “Stand By Me.” At the time of the interview he was 22 and was just wrapping up “National Lampoon’s Last Resort.” Sgt. Deborah Linden and Detective Russ Birchim, who were looking to bolster their molestation case against Jackson involving another boy, conducted the grilling.
On the tape, the investigators are heard hammering in on Corey’s deep friendship with the superstar. “What concerns me about it is, if something did happen that you’re not telling us, is that you wouldn’t because of that,” one says, to which Feldman responds, “I can’t put myself in the position of thinking ‘Would I or wouldn’t I,’ because nothing happened!”
Corey tells investigators that, as a young teen, he did two sleepovers with Jackson. Once, after a trip to Disneyland when Corey was about 14, he says they checked into a hotel near the amusement park.
“There was one bed in the room and he asked for a cot to be brought up,” Feldman relates. “He got the cot up there and we talked for a little while until we got tired. But he insisted that I slept on the bed and he took the cot because he didn’t feel it was polite for him to take the bed.”
Feldman repeatedly insists to the skeptical cops that nothing happened, not then and not the time he slept over at Jackson’s Encino home: “We stayed up all night and talked and did stuff and we prayed together before we went to sleep and he was wearing his pajamas. And I was wearing my pajamas!”
Corey also relates how, “We took a Jacuzzi, we talked, nothing happened.”
When investigators ask, “What were you guys wearing? Bathing suits?” Feldman replies, “Yeah, he had an extra pair of trunks that he threw me and he was wearing his bathing suit.”
But Sgt. Linden doesn’t seem to buy Corey’s story, noting, “You looked a little funny when I asked you about the Jacuzzi.”
Corey again insists, “He never did anything out of line. I mean, the closest he ever came to touching me was maybe slapping me on the leg once to talk about that I had lost weight.”
Shockingly, Corey does claim he had been molested — but NOT by Jackson: “I myself was molested so I know what it’s like to go through those feelings, and believe me, the person who molested me, if this was him that did that to me, this would be a different story because I would be out there, up front, doing something immediately to have this man given what was due to him.”
Even more shockingly, Feldman actually named his alleged abuser but the detectives seemed to express no interest investigating the man, seeming to only have eyes for Jackson.
Source: http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.com/news/0502/09a.html
Another article:
Do Feldman Tapes Indicate Jackson Witch-Hunt?
February 10, 2005
A “Celebrity Justice” exclusive.
Former child-star Corey Feldman was grilled by Santa Barbara sheriff Sgt. Deborah Linden about the actor’s close friendship with Michael Jackson. The interview occurred in 1993, as cops conducted an investigation into charges of child molestation brought against Jackson.
On the tape, obtained exclusively by “CJ,” Corey repeatedly insists that their friendship was totally innocent, while the cops repeatedly express suspicion, for over an hour.
“Is your belief in him and your love for him getting in the way of you telling us things?” Sgt. Linden is heard to say.
Feldman replies: “Everything I’ve told you is true and there’s… I mean, nothing happened.”
Linden also states, “I’m so concerned that if something happened you’re not going to tell us because it would be so hard to tell us…”
“…No,” Feldman insists.
Corey also tells Linden, “You don’t know how many times I have racked my brain and gone, ‘is there something I’m forgetting? Is there something that, you know, I’m thinking didn’t happen but it really did?’ If I could find something I would love to be able to tell you, but nothing happened.”
We spoke with noted Beverly Hills defense attorney Jay Jaffe, who observed that, though Feldman certainly sounds believable on the tape, the investigators, “Want to hear what they want to hear, not what the witness wants to say.”
Jaffe noted that, while the investigators on the tape did not break the law, Jackson’s defense team could use the cops’ repeated, aggressive questioning of the actor to bolster their claim that DA Tom Sneddon has long been on a witch-hunt against the singer.
“I think the defense would try to show that the investigators on this case are, in fact, not objective in their fact-finding process,” Jaffe said. “What they have is an agenda and they’re looking for something against Michael Jackson, even in the face of a claim that nothing really existed.”
Sgt Linden, who does most of the questioning on the tape, is reportedly the same investigator who wrote the 1993 affidavit to get court approval to photograph Michael Jackson’s private parts — an experience Jackson publicly decried, calling it, “a dehumanizing and humiliating examination by the Santa Barbara county sheriff’s department.”
So the big question is will Jackson’s team try to use Corey’s 1993 interview in the current case? Now in his mid-30′s Feldman is now a family man with a wife and young child.
His reps confirm he has been subpoenaed by authorities to testify in Jackson’s current molestation case. And there are reports that Corey may now say there were things in his relationship with Jackson that were inappropriate and wrong.
Reports say Corey will not accuse Jackson of molestation. One anonymous source says Corey will claim Jackson showed him adult materials, including a Playboy magazine. Corey’s reps say he’s under the gag order and can’t comment.
However, if the judge allows Feldman to take the stand, he may also allow in the 1993 interview.
As Jaffe told us, “the defense could introduce the tape to impeach Corey Feldman. He said nothing ever happened and he said that repeatedly.”
Source: http://celebrityjustice.warnerbros.com/news/0502/10b.html
Both articles are quoted from our favourite website:
http://site2.mjeol.com/mj-news/do-feldman-tapes-indicate-jackson-witch-hunt-cj.html
The website goes on to say about Corey Feldman:
Can someone infer that the Santa Barbara Sheriff’s department didn’t want to have anything to do with finding real child molesters? Jackson was a target as far back as 1993. Period. To law enforcement, based on the CJ report, it seemed like Feldman could go to hell so long as he wasn’t accusing Michael Jackson of any wrongdoing.
Feldman also appeared on Larry King Live November 21 2003:
He said he had “never seen him act in any inappropriate way to a child” and that Jackson has never acted inappropriately with him.
From the transcript:
KING: Spent time with him?
FELDMAN: Spent, plenty of time.
KING: Go to Never, Neverland?
FELDMAN: Been to Neverland many times.
…
KING: Did you sleep with him?
FELDMAN: No. We shared rooms a couple of times. Never shared a bed. But, you know, like one time we went to Disneyland and we went to the Disneyland Hotel and, you know, he was a — so much of a gentleman, which this really surprised me, but so much of a gentleman but he actually offered his bed and allowed me to sleep in his bed and he took a cot. And he slept in the cot. That’s a true story.
Feldman even said Jackson stood by him in a supportive way when Feldman became hooked on drugs. From the transcript:
“…it was kind of like Michael’s probably not going to stick around, probably not going to be my friend anymore and it was a big shock he was very supportive and came out and called me and asked if there was anything he could do, if there was anything that I needed and gave me profound advice, which was to take the pain of the torment and the turmoil I was enduring and to kind of refocus that into my acting and to use it. And it was profound advice and I’ve used it”.
David
July 28, 2010 6:31 pm
@ Helena
Let me clarify my statement on Corey Feldman. Yes, he has vehemently defended MJ, both during the 1993 scandal, and after he died. In fact, he dressed up as MJ at his funeral, and performed “Billie Jean” with his band!
But after they fell out in 2001, Feldman trashed MJ on a few occasions, the most egregious being his interview for Bashir in 2005. Bashir was looking to make MJ look bad before the trial began, and Feldman allowed him to “spin” a true story and sensationalize it to make viewers think that something inappropriate happened. He gave the comment about wanting to “beat MJ’s ass” if he showed his son an STD book. (Or something to that effect.) I’ve heard a lot of haters spin those comments to paint MJ as a sexual predator, and Feldman did not clarify it to the media in 2005.
I just thought that it was hypocritical for him to say that about MJ (AT THAT TIME), but NOT mention to Bashir the fact that he also spent time at Hugh Hefner’s Playboy Mansion! Tell me what’s worse: MJ showing Feldman an STD book that Feldman asked about, or Hefner allowing a teenage Feldman to run wild with adult strippers and porn stars at his mansion? I think the answer is obvious!
But I’m not mad at Feldman, and I think he wanted to reconcile with MJ before he died, but never got the chance to. Here’s his rendition of Billie Jean!
Vindicatemj
July 28, 2010 7:18 pm
David: “But I’m not mad at Feldman, and I think he wanted to reconcile with MJ before he died, but never got the chance to. Here’s his rendition of Billie Jean!”
The rendition is not bad but I prefer the ORIGINAL. It is actually painful to see all these renditions because it only reminds you that we will never see HIM again.
As to Corey saying certain things to Bashir I am not surprised. This Judah seems to have a way with people luring them into saying this and that. And when he finally edits the interview I bet very few people will be able to recognize what they really said to him in the process of it.
I am not justifying Corey but his denials to the police are really impressive and are something tangible to throw into the faces of Michael’s haters. I was particularly impressed by him describing Michael as a gentleman who preferred taking the cot instead of sleeping in the only bed available there. And also the way Corey sincerely admitted that he had racked his brains trying to recall something ‘bad’ but couldn’t.
In the end this is the only thing that matters – he repeated again and again that Michael was innocent, that they just talked before sleep and even prayed together…
Suzy
July 28, 2010 8:20 pm
Those interrogations are horrible. Like with Francia, the cops are trying to manipulate Feldman too into saying he was molested. You can see how desperate they were to get somebody “confess”, because otherwise they didn’t have a case.
The other Corey, Corey Haim also said when he was in a reality show a few years ago that he was molested as a child. Typically people and the media started to speculate if it was MJ. (As if MJ would be the only possibility.) Story: http://crushable.com/entertainment/corey-haim-revealed-rape-on-reality-show/
http://www.nypost.com/p/pagesix/item_AZsUU8dtHLm5d2VLybpESN
http://likeawhisper.wordpress.com/2010/03/10/gone-in-a-minute-corey-haim-and-child-sexual-abuse/
There is an interesting post among the comments, which is so true:
“No one cared about Haim’s abuse until the press speculated that Michael Jackson was the culprit. When it turned out that he wasn’t (Haim indicated that his assailant was in his 40s when he was 14 – MJ was 27 at the time and hadn’t met Haim yet), the press immediately dropped the story. It’s as if the press, the pedophiles, and the drug pushers are working in tandem with each other to keep this cycle going.
And for the record, I don’t think Michael Jackson was a pedophile, but I do suspect that there are various members of the press and other HW types that are and are more than happy to use him as a diversion.
Vindicatemj:
July 28, 2010 9:11 pm
Suzy: “Corey Haim also said a few years ago that he was molested as a child. Typically people and the media started to speculate if it was MJ. (As if MJ would be the only possibility.)”
“AS IF MJ WOULD BE THE ONLY POSSIBILITY” – Suzy, you’ve said it marvellously. Now that you’ve mentioned it I realize how true the above statement is – Michael Jackson IS the only possibility for them. The more you look the better you see that the media, real pedophiles (who seem to be all around us) and drug pushers are all working for this idea to be firmly implanted into everyone’s mind.
One Corey was molested by a 40-year old man, the other Corey was molested by another man, both guys’ lives were ruined by childhood molestation, resulting depression and drugs – and NO ONE is even interested in who the predators are and why they are still free to go on with their ‘activities’. Corey Feldman even gave the name of his abuser to the police but they simply ignored it… Incredible.
Do you also feel it is a kind of nightmare and you desperately want to wake up?
Elsie Crean
July 29, 2010 2:00 am
It makes me so angry that these investigators had to brow beat these people into trying to say just what they want to hear. Way to go Cory.Sneddon wanted MJ to hang “no matter what he had to do to get it done”. MJ was innocent and he couldn’t stand it. And if no one believes the FBI who followed MJ for years and found nothing, NOTHING, who can we believe. To this day, I wouldn’t doubt it any if Sneddon is “making some phone calls”!
Lynette
July 29, 2010 4:04 am
David I felt exactly the same ways when Bashir was with MJ in the Regis Gallery in Las Vegas. His words to MJ: ” It’s like you surround yourself with things like an emporor Like Louis the 14th.” MJ replies with ” yeah that’s my taste”. Even Michael could here how condesending he was when he asked the manager ” what’s he spent in here, 2 million?’ And the manager answers ” I’m not at liberty to say” You can here Bashir snort, so Michael just takes him out of there.I wonder why he didn’t look up the millions of dollars that Michael spent on charity throughout his career and mention that. As far as I’m concerned Michael had more than earned the right to spend whatever he wanted on whatever he liked and nobody should have made him look silly for it which is what he tried to doand so has Diddy. Diddy is right, I think it is racist, because he would be kissing butt on someone like Trump or Jobs who have been in bankrupcy more times then we can remember. But let a black man have money or earn it in th eentertainment industry and what do you get ? Questions that sound like How Dare You Be Rich.
David
July 29, 2010 7:42 am
Here’s another update to the Bashir article:
When I mentioned that MJ tried to sue Bashir after the documentary aired, I forgot to mention that Janet Arvizo also considered suing him as well! It wasn’t enough for Bashir and ITV to air the documentary without MJ’s approval, but they never sought out the approval of Janet, and Gavin’s name and faced were used in the film, which would be illegal in the USA because he was a minor. I believe that ABC blurred out his face when they aired it in the USA, but ITV did NOT blur his face or his name when it aired in England.
Here is Janet’s response to the Gavin being included, taken from “Take Two: The Footage You Were Never Meant To See”, starting @ 4:30.
Janet Arvizo: “I’m appalled at the way in which my son has been exploited by Martin Bashir. The relationship that Michael has with my three children is a beautiful, loving, father/sons/ & daughter one. To my children and me, Michael is a part of our family.”
Maury Povich: In addition, she is considering action against Mr. Bashir for including Gavin in his special, without parental consent.
Jacqueline M.
July 29, 2010 6:53 pm
David
You are right when you say that Bashier is a bastard. This is what he is. He is a demon, a lier, a stupid and a completely evil man who doesn’t care about destroying a life. I think that the second allegation and that trial simply killed Michael. I remember him arriving in pajamas, and the press making fun of him and I cry. Even his smile disappeared. He smiled, but we could see the pain in his face. Bashier is the person who started killing Michael. I wish he carried the remorse for the rest of his life, but this will never happen, ’cause Bashier doesn’t have conscience, heart, soul or anyhting positive inside. He is a devil and the only thing he cares about is money, so does all the media. I don’t know what more can I say about him, only that deserves HELL! Let him enjoy his dirty money while he is here and I hope he can carry that money with him when he goes to hell.
I’m sorry if I’m saying something very wrong or ugly, but this is what I feel.
Susan
August 1, 2010 11:37 pm
Hi David:
I really appreciate all your investigative work – it’s well researched and easy to follow. Tonight I was just browsing through the comments and was trying to find some information on Maureen Orth – to find out what makes her tick. As yet, I can’t find anything, so I typed in “Media Bias Against Michael Jackson” and found this link for Michael’s case. You may already be aware of this, but I thought I’d provide the link just in case you haven’t. Much of the information is probably known to you, but some may be of use.
http://www.spiritus-temporis.com/people-v-jackson/rebuttal-video.html
David
August 2, 2010 2:23 am
@ Susan
Thanks! That was a great article, and I’ll save it for my records.
As for Maureen Orth, she’s on my hit list! I’m going to write a piece taking excerpts from her Vanity Fair articles and refuting them, so that readers can see how much of a liar she is! For example, for her last column written in June 2005 (before the verdict), she said that MJ’s lawyer Brian Oxman was fired because he tried to pay Jordie Chandler to not testify, which wouldn’t make sense because he’s so rich that even if he WANTED to testify, money couldn’t influence him not to!
But we all know that her story is complete garbage because the FBI files indicate that Jordie threatened legal action to avoid testifying, so he obviously never had any intention of showing up in court, just like his cowardly uncle Ray.
Another lie she committed was in her first article from Jan. 1994, when she DID NOT MENTION that Jordie admitted to Evan about being molested until after he was drugged and his tooth was removed. By not including that, it gives readers the impression that Jordie admitted to being molested under his own initiative, which couldn’t be further from the truth!
So that’s two lies down, and many more to go!!
In the meantime, I’m going to give Helena another explosive article in the next few days. It’s going to show the media hypocrisy in their reporting of MJ’s settlement (and using it as a sign of guilt), and their reporting of the settlements of the NBA’s Kobe Bryant and Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly.
Stay tuned everybody!
Susan
August 2, 2010 2:19 pm
Hi David:
Here’s a little something regarding Tim Russert and how he had Arianna Huffington banned from NBC because of a book she had written which had negative info about Russert. So, do you think it’s quite likely that Orth used her influence through hubby to do some major damage to Michael? My guess – on yeah.
http://www.buzzfeed.com/scott/huffington-vs-russert
http://gawker.com/5017739/the-story-that-made-arianna-huffington-hate-tim-russert
David
August 3, 2010 7:16 pm
@ Susan:
Yes, I definitely believe that Orth used her clout at NBC to get them to air those biased Dateline episodes on MJ. I wrote a comment somewhere else on this site about the fact that the Feb. 2003 Dateline episode, which was only aired after MJ refused to grant NBC an interview, was heavily copied from the National Enquirer, just like many of Orth’s articles!
And while we’re on the subject of NBC: here’s an another example of their bias against MJ! For his 1 year anniversary special, NBC had a segment where a reporter “toured” Neverland, and he showed MJ’s bedroom. He confirmed that it was indeed 2 stories & 3 bathrooms, which was good.
But what bothered me was that he went out of his way to show MJ’s “secret closet”, and emphasize how the prosecution tried to focus on it during his trial. By showing it, MJ haters will have ammunition to use against MJ by saying that he “snuck you boys in the secret closet to molest them”. The secret closet was totally irrelevant to the story, but he acted like he just had to show everyone and insinuate that MJ had the worst intentions for that closet.
http://www.msnbc.msn.com/id/21134540/vp/37920845#37920845
Susan
August 3, 2010 7:47 pm
Thank you David,
Exactly – leave it to the media to insinuate a closet is anything but when it comes to Michael. Don’t recall even the accusers saying anything happened in a closet.
Just as an aside, I watched Michael Moore’s “Bowling For Columbine” the other night. There was a scene in the documentary where a 6 year old boy brought a gun to school and shot a 6 year old girl. Reporters swarmed the place and one of those present was Jeff Rosen, the “tour guide” in the Neverland story in the link you provided. His main concern? His hair and the need for heavy duty hairspray! Reporters and Journalists – gotta love ‘em.
Trackbacks
- Fact Checking "Michael Jackson’s Secret World" by Martin Bashir | Michael Jackson Vindication 2.0
- February 28th – March 1st, 2005 Trial Analysis: Summary of Sneddon and Mesereau’s Opening Statements | Michael Jackson Vindication 2.0
- March 1st, 2005 Trial Analysis: Martin Bashir and Anne Kite (Direct Examination) « Vindicating Michael
- February 28th – March 1st, 2005 Trial Analysis: Summary of Sneddon and Mesereau’s Opening Statements « Vindicating Michael
- Aphrodite Jones’ VEHEMENT Defense of Michael Jackson in 2010 « Vindicating Michael
- Fact Checking Michael Jackson’s Christian Faith, Part 4 of 6: So-Called “Christians” Who Have LIED Against Michael! « Vindicating Michael
- Fact Checking Michael Jackson’s Christian Faith, Part 2 of 5: Michael Did NOT “Channel” Demon Spirits to Help Him Write Songs! « Vindicating Michael
- Summary and Analysis of Martin Bashir’s Testimony from the 2005 Trial, Part 2 of 2 « Vindicating Michael
- Transcript of the 2005 Harvard Law Seminar on Race and Justice, part 1. THOMAS MESEREAU « Vindicating Michael
- Transcript of “Michael Jackson’s Secret World” by Martin Bashir « Vindicating Michael
- Transcript of the 2005 Harvard Law Seminar on Race and Justice, part 1 « Vindicating Michael
- Χάρη σ’εσένα, κανείς δε θα ξαναδεί τον Μάικλ Τζάκσον στη σκηνή, επειδή τον σκότωσες!!! | The truth about Michael Jackson
- Living With Michael Jackson: Transcript and Analysis | AllForLoveBlog
- educational-scholarships.realna.net
Vindicating Michael 
Thank you Victor Guitirrez, Nambla, Evan, Jordan and June Chandler,Thomas Sneddon the great diane diamond, the arvizio family and your charming sons ironing their pants, the snake Marin Bashir,and now even Joy Robson and her son little marvel of a dancer (now completely caputt?).And the great corporation AEG. WHAT I MEAN IS GO TO HELL AND ROT:
You all lack the 3 sc non-historical values: Love, thruth and justice. And you will destroy this world if you go on. No -ism will work if these qualities are lacking.
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Now after reading this, I wonder if events would have turned into a better twist if it was Louis Theroux who was able to interview Michael instead of Bashir. Michael could have his comeback earlier and perhaps, he wouldn’t have suffered in his last years. 😦
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Was Michael who has suffered, from first time to last time, by this harassment, by only this one that continued for 16 years started 1993 by BASHIR.
There was all kinds possible of harassments to destroy a man named Michael JACKSON who was / IS ABLE TO RECEIVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.
Yoshimi
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Just Kill this Bashir. This asshole took away MJ from us.
He was going to perform for this is it and I really wanted to go for that concert. I wanted to see legend perform live but this bashir son of b***h. Instead of MJ it should have been bashir, he should have died of shame.
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@ Truthprevail
Here is a link to the Court of Appeals ruling on Michael’s appeal against Paramount Pictures corp, Hardcopy, Diane Dimond,Stephen Doran, Victor Gutierrez, KABC AM Radio, The Ken and Barkley Show and others. He sued for defamation and slander. Fans will often say that Victor Gutierrez’ book was banned in the US because of this. That answer is only partly true. It could never have been released in the mainstream bookstores due to it’s pornographic nature. Secondly Gutierrez himself was sued for slander not a video tape. You can’t sue a videotape but you can sue someone that says there is one and it is incriminating when no such tape existed.The solid answer to rebutt questions about the tape is simple. Gutierrez said it was one of Michael’s own security videos. Michael did not have video security of his bedroom. James Van Norman had cameras installed outside of his bedroom so Michael could see who approached it. He had the sensors to alert him when someone was approaching no video surveilence equipment was installed in that bedroom.That occured after 1994 when he went ot work at Neverland in response to a fan that actually managed to get inside the house and hide in a crawl space. A young German girl.
Here is a link to the Appeal Decision and the Case Summary of the case. One of the documents listed is a Declaration by Tom Sneddon that helped Diane and the other media people and outlets off the hook. I don’t have the Declaration but it would be available if I lived in Los Angeles anf could go to the Los Angeles County Superior Court Archives.
Case Summary
Case Number: BC119778
MICHAEL J. JACKSON VS DIANE DIMOND, ET AL
Filing Date: 01/12/1995
Case Type: Other Compl-not Tort or Complex (General Jurisdiction)
Status: Verdict 04/09/1998
——————————————————————————–
Future Hearings
None
——————————————————————————–
Documents Filed | Proceeding Information
Parties
BARKLEY ROGER – Defendant/Respondent
CHRISTENSEN MILLER FINK JACOBS ET AL – Attorney for Deft/Respnt
DIMOND DIANE – Defendant/Respondent
DORAN STEPHEN – Defendant/Respondent
GOLDMAN ROBERT E. ESQ – Attorney for Deft/Respnt
GUTIERREZ VICTOR – Defendant/Respondent
JACKSON MICHAEL J. – Plaintiff/Petitioner
KABC-AM RADIO INC. – Defendant/Respondent
KATTEN MUCHIN & ZAVIS LAW OFFICES OF – Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
MINYARD KEN – Defendant/Respondent
PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORP – Defendant/Respondent
ZOELLER JEAN E. LAW OFFICES OF – Attorney for Deft/Respnt
——————————————————————————–
Case Information | Party Information | Proceeding Information
Documents Filed (Filing dates listed in descending order)
Click on any of the below link(s) to see documents filed on or before the date indicated:
10/16/1997 06/03/1997 10/30/1996 05/21/1996
04/22/2009 Miscellaneous-Other (Criminal History Assessment )
Filed by Clerk
06/18/1999 Satisfaction of Judgment
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
01/19/1999 Order (ORDER MODIFYING PROTECTIVE ORDER RE DISCOVERY FROM VICTOR GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
01/19/1999 Ex-parte Request for Order (EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR MODIFI- CATION OF PROTECTIVE ORDER RE DISCOVERY FROM VICTOR GUTIERREZ; DECLARATION OF STEVE COCHRAN GRANTED)
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
01/11/1999 Remittitur (AFFIRMED IN FULL. )
Filed by Clerk
11/19/1998 Appl for Writ of Execution & Ord
Filed by Clerk
11/19/1998 Writ issued (TO LOS ANGELES )
Filed by Attorney for Creditor
08/03/1998 Remittitur (**VOLUNTARY DISMISSAL** )
Filed by Reviewing Court
06/10/1998 Judgment (JUDGMENT ON SPECIAL VERDICT )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
04/08/1998 Notice of Motion (EMERGENCY MOTION FOR CURATIVE INSTRUCTION )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
04/01/1998 Application-Miscellaneous (FOR A FINDING OF WILLFUL FAILURE TO APPEAR AT TRIAL BY DEFENDANT VICOTR GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/31/1998 Proof of Service (PROOF OF PERSONAL SERVICE OF APPLICATION )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/31/1998 Proof of Service (PROOF OF PERSONAL SERVICE OF (PROPOSED) ORDER GRANTING APPLICATION )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/30/1998 Application-Miscellaneous (FOR ORDER COMPELLING DEFENDANT VICTOR GUTIERREZ TO COMPLY WITH NOTICE TO PRODUCE EVIDENCE AT TRIAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/27/1998 Notice (OF MOTION FOR USE OF QUESTIONAIRE TO FACILITATE JURY SELECTION )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/20/1998 Motion in Limine (TO PRECLUDE EVIDENCE OR MENTION TO THE JURY DEFENDANT GUTIERREZ’S PETITION FOR BANKRUPTCY )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/19/1998 Notice (NOTICE OF LODGING (2 VIDEOTAPES AND 1 AUDIOTAPE) )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/02/1998 Reply/Response (TO PLFFS REPORT AND AGENDA RE FINAL STATUS CONFERENCE; )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
02/25/1998 Notice (OF PLAINTIFF’S REPORT AND AGENDA FOR FINAL STATUS CONFERENCE; EXHIBITS )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
12/03/1997 Order (ORDER RE PLAINTIFF’S EX PARTE APPLICATION TO ADVANCE THE TRIAL DATE )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
12/03/1997 Ex-parte Request for Order (EX PARTE APPLICATION TO ADVANCE THE TRAIL DATE; NOTICE OF RELIEF FROM BANKRUPTCY; DECLARATION OF STEVE COCHRAN )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/29/1997 Notice (OF BANKRUPTCY STAY (11 U.S.C. SECTION 362(a)). )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/28/1997 Notice of Ruling
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/27/1997 Report of Referee (TENTH REPORT OF DISCOVERRY REFEREE REGARDING (A) MOTION TO COMPEL RESPONSES TO DISCOVERY AND (B) SANCTIONS IN CONNECTION WITHT HE EIGHTH AND NINTH DISCOVERY REFEREE (AND ORDER))
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
Click on any of the below link(s) to see documents filed on or before the date indicated:
TOP 10/16/1997 06/03/1997 10/30/1996 05/21/1996
10/16/1997 Ex-parte Request for Order (TO AMEND THE JOINT PRETRIAL STATSEMENT WITH AN ADDITIONAL WITNESS (SUPPLEMENT) )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/15/1997 Reply/Response (TO SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM BY GUTIERREZ RE MOTION TO QUASH SUBPEONA ON MICHAEL JACKSON )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/15/1997 Declaration (OF GEORGE MASTRAS, JR. RE NOTICE OF MICHAEL JACKSON’S EX PARTE APPLICATION TO AMEND )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/15/1997 Report of Referee (Tenth report of discovery referee regarding(A) motion to compel responses to discovery and (B) sanctions in connection with the eighth and ninth discovery reports )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/14/1997 Notice (OF MEMORANDUM RE RIGHT TO JURY TRIAAL )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/14/1997 Notice (OF SUPPLEMENTAL MEMORANDUM BY GUTIERREZ’ RE OPPOSITION TO MOTION TO QUASH SUBPENA ON MICHAEL JACKSON )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/14/1997 Ex-parte Request for Order (TO AMEND THE JOINT PRE TRIAL STATEMENT WITH AN ADDITIONAL WITNESSES )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/14/1997 Brief (RE VICTOR GUTIERREZ’S WAIVER OF JURY TRIAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/10/1997 Order (ORDER ON MEDIA REQUEST TO PERMIT COVERAGE )
Filed by Interested Party
10/10/1997 Request (COURT TV’S MEDIA REQUEST TO PHOTOGRAPH, RECORD, OR BROADCAST )
Filed by Interested Party
10/09/1997 Opposition Document (GUTIERREZ TO MOTION TO QUASH NOTICE TO JACKSON TO APPEAR )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/09/1997 Joinder (BU GUTIERREZ TO MOTION BY MEDIA TO TELEVISE TRIAL )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/08/1997 Proof of Service (OF MMICHAEL J. JACKSON’S NOTICE OF MOTION TO QUASH SERVICE OF NOTICE TO APPEAR )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/08/1997 Proof of Service (OF ORDER SHORTENING TIME ON MOTION TO QUASH SERVICE OF NOTICE TO MICHAEL J. JACKSON TO APPEAR AT TRIAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/08/1997 Motion to Quash (SERVICE OF DEFENDANT VICTOR GUTIERREZ’S NOTICE TO MICAHEL J, JACKSON TO APPEAR AT TRIAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/08/1997 Order (ORDER SHORTENING TIME ON MOTION TO QUASH SERVICE OF NOTICE TO MICHAEL J. JACKSON TO APPEAR AT TRIAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/08/1997 Points and Authorities (MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN OPPOSITION TO MEDIA REQUEST FOR TELEVISION COVERAGE OF TRIAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/08/1997 Notice (O SET OF ALL REPORTS OF DISCOVERY REFEREE AND ORDERS OF THIS COURT )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/08/1997 Ex-parte Request for Order (SHORTENING TIME ON MOTION TO QUASH SERVICE OF NOTICE TO MICHAEL J. JA CKSON TO APPEAR AT TRIAL; DECLARA- TION F G. MASTRAS, JR. )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/07/1997 Opposition Document (TO MOTION IN LIMINE RE SHIELD LAW )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/07/1997 Opposition Document (TO MOTION IN LIMINE RE 1993 ALLEGATIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
09/30/1997 Motion in Limine (TO PRECLUDE EVIDENCE OF THE SUPPOSED TRUTH OF THE STORY AT ISSUE )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
09/30/1997 Motion in Limine (TO PRECLUDE EVIDENCE PERTAINING TO PUBLICIZED 1993 ALLEGATIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
09/24/1997 Report of Referee (EIGHTH REPORT OF DISCOVERY REFEREE )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
09/24/1997 Notice of Ruling
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
09/24/1997 Report of Referee (NINTH REPORT OF DISCOVERY REFEREE )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
09/22/1997 Notice (OF SUPPLEMENTAL STATEMENT RE REFEREE’S 9TH REPORT CONCERNING CHANDLER DEPOSITIONX )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
09/08/1997 Motion for an Order
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
08/07/1997 Ntc to Prepare Reporters Transcrpt
Filed by Plaintiff
08/07/1997 Ntc Elect Proceed 5.1
Filed by Plaintiff
07/28/1997 Notice of Appeal
Filed by Plaintiff
07/15/1997 Stipulation and Order (STIPULATION AND ORDER RE COSTS AWARDED TO DFTS PARAMONT, DIAMOND, DORAN, KAPC-AM RADIO, INC, ROGER BARKLEY & KEN MINYARD ($52,500.00) )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
07/11/1997 Stipulation and Order (STIPULATION AND ORDER RE EXTENSION OF TIME FOR PLAINTIFF TO FILE MOTION TO STRIKE OR TAX COSTS PURSUANT TO CRC 870 )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
07/08/1997 Points and Authorities (MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
07/08/1997 Notice (OF ERRATA OF DEFENDANTS RE OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR RECONSIDERATION )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
07/07/1997 Stipulation and Order ( STIPULATION RE EXTENSION OF TIME FOR PLAINTIFF TO FILE MOTION TO STRIKE OR TAX COSTS PER CRC 870 AND ORDER )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
07/02/1997 Opposition Document
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
06/20/1997 Stipulation (STIPULATION RE EXTENSION OF TIME FOR PLAINTIFF TO FILE MOTION TO STRIKE OR TAX COSTS PURSUANT TO CA RULE OF COURT 870 [Extended to July 7, 1997] )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
06/13/1997 Motion for Reconsideration
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
Click on any of the below link(s) to see documents filed on or before the date indicated:
TOP 10/16/1997 06/03/1997 10/30/1996 05/21/1996
06/03/1997 Notice of Entry of Judgment (AND ORDERS GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
06/03/1997 Memo of Costs
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
05/30/1997 Summary Judgment (JUDGMENT BY COURT UNDER CCP 437c +COSTS IN THE SUM OF $52,500.00* *PER STIP & ORDER 7/16/97)
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
05/30/1997 Order (ORDER GRANTING SUMMARY JUDGMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
05/19/1997 Opposition Document (TO PROPOSED ORDER GRANTING MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
05/15/1997 Proof of Service (by hand delivery in connections with judgment by court, etc… )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
05/01/1997 Report of Referee (SEVENTH REPORT OF DISCOVERY REFEREE RE PUNITIVE DAMAGE DISCOVERY AND ORDER )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
04/24/1997 Declaration (SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF JONATHAN H. ANSCHELL IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
04/24/1997 Reply/Response (TO PLAINTIFF’S RREVISED OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
04/17/1997 Points and Authorities (REVISED MEMORANDUM OF P’S AND A’S IN OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
04/17/1997 Declaration (SUPPLEMENTAL DECLARATION OF JEFREY I. ABRAMS IN SUPPORT OF PLAINTIFF’S OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT/ADJUDICATION )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
04/03/1997 Points and Authorities (REVISED MEMO OF P’S AND A’S IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
03/28/1997 Proof of Service (OF THE PARAMOUNT DFT’S REPLY )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
03/20/1997 Reply/Response (THE PARAMOUNT DFTS’ REPLY )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
03/20/1997 Reply/Response (THE KABC DEFENDANTS’ REPLY )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
03/20/1997 Declaration (SUP. DECL. OF J.H. ANSCHELL IN SUPPORT OF THE DFTS MOTIONS FOR SJ OR SA FILED UNDER SEAL )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
03/20/1997 Notice (SUPPLEMENTAL APPENDIX OF FEDERAL AND NON-CALIFORNIA AUTHORITY )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
03/17/1997 Declaration (OF HOWARD L. WEITZMAN IN SUPPORT OF MICHAEL J. JACKSON’S OPPOSITION TO MOTION FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT/ SUMMARY )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Brief (MICHAEL J. JACKSON’S MEMO. OF POIN & AUTHORITIES )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Declaration (OF LAUREN WEIS AND HOWARD L. WEITZMAN )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Declaration (OF JEFFREY I. ABRAMS )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Declaration (OF JEFFREY I. ABRAMS FILED UNDER SEAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Declaration (OF JEFFREY I. ABRAMS FILED UNDER SEAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Declaration (OF JEFFREY I. ABRAMS FILED UNDER SEAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Notice (OF LODGING OF THE VIDEOTAPE OF THE 1/8/95 INTERVIEW OF VICTOR GUTIERREZ BY DIANE DIMOND FILED UNDER SEAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Notice (OF LODGING OF THE EARLY & LATE EDITIONS OF THE 1/7/95 LONDON SUN )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Notice (OF LODGING OF THE VIDEOTAPE OF THE 1/8/95, INTERVIEW OF KEVIN SMITH BY STEPHEN DORAN FILED UNDER SEAL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Proof of Service (P/S OF OPPOSITION TO MOTIONS FOR SMA/MSA BY ALL DFTS EXCEPT DORAN )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Reply/Response (RESPONSIVE SEPARATE STATEMENT OF DISPUTED AND UNDISPUTED FACTS IN SUPPORT OF OPPOSITION TO MSJ/MSA BY DFTS KABC-AM, BARKLEY & MINYARD )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/13/1997 Reply/Response (OF MICHAEL J. JACKSON’S SEPARATE STATEMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
02/27/1997 Declaration (OF JONATHAN H. ANSCHELL )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
02/27/1997 Points and Authorities (IN SUPPORT OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
02/27/1997 Declaration (OF JACK GONTERMAN )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
02/27/1997 Declaration (OF THOMAS SNEDDON )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt02/27/1997 Notice (OF LODGING )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
02/27/1997 Declaration (OF JONATHAN H. ANSCHELL IN SUPPORT OF MOTION OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORPORATION, DIANE DIMOND AND STEPHEN DORAN FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OR IN THE ALTERNATIVE,SUMMARY ADJUDICATION OF CAUSES OF ACTION)
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
02/27/1997 Declaration (OF JONATHAN H. ANSCHELL ATTACHING EXCERPTS OF DEPOSITION TESTIMONY IN SUPPORT OF MOTION OF PARAMOUNT PICTURES CORP.,DIANE DIMOND AND STEPHEN DORAN FOR SUMMARY JUDGMENT OR SUMMARY ADJUDICATION OF CAUSES)
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
02/27/1997 Proof of Service
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
01/21/1997 Ntc to Prepare Reporters Transcrpt
Filed by Appellant
01/21/1997 Notice to Prepare Clerk Transcript
Filed by Appellant
01/09/1997 Notice of Appeal
Filed by Respondent
12/18/1996 Points and Authorities (POST-HEARING MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES (FILED UNDER SEAL) )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
12/18/1996 Notice (OF FILING BOOK BY DEFENDANT GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
12/18/1996 Objection (TO COURT’S OFF-THE-RECORD CONTACT WITH DISCOVERY REFEREE )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
12/12/1996 Reply/Response (REPLY MEMO OF P’S & A’S IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR MONETARY SANCTIONS AGAINST V. GUTIERREZ AND COUNSEL )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
12/09/1996 Opposition Document (TO MOTION FOR MONETARY SANCTIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
11/13/1996 Notice-Change-Firm Name / Address
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
11/06/1996 Notice (OF ENTRY OF ORDER GRANTING ISSUE AND EVIDENTIARY SANCTIONS AGAINST DEFENDANT VICTOR GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
Click on any of the below link(s) to see documents filed on or before the date indicated:
TOP 10/16/1997 06/03/1997 10/30/1996 05/21/1996
10/30/1996 Order (ORDER GRANTING ISSUE AND EVIDENTIARY SANCTIONS AGAINST DFT VICTOR GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/30/1996 Reply/Response (TO PLAINTIFF’S OBJECTION TO PROPOSED ORDER; REQUEST FOR ORAL ARGUMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/25/1996 Reply/Response (TO PARAMOUNT’S AND KABC’S OBJECTIONS TO PROPOSED ORDER )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/23/1996 Objection Document (THE PARAMOUNT AND KABC DEFENDANTS OBJECTIONS TO PLFS NOTICE OF RULING AND PROPOSED ORDER RE ISSUE AND EVIDENTIARY SANCTIONS AGAINST VICTOR GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/10/1996 Reply/Response (MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR TERMINATING SANCTIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
10/10/1996 Declaration (OF ROBERT E. GOLDMAN IN SUPPORT OF OPPOSITION BY GUTIERREZ TO MOTION FOR TERMINATING SANCTIONS AND MONETARY SANCTIONS FILED UNDER SEAL)
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/08/1996 Opposition Document (TO MOTION FOR SANCTIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/08/1996 Opposition Document (OPPOSITION BY GUTIERREZ TO MOTION FOR TERMINATING SANCTIONS AND MONETARY SANCTIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
10/04/1996 Ex-parte Request for Order (CONTINUINGHEARING AND REFERENCE TO DISCOVERY REFEREE )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
09/30/1996 Notice of Motion (FOR TERMINATING SANCTIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
09/30/1996 Notice (OF LODGING OF DISCOVERY MOTIONS AND VICTOR GUTIERREZ’S SECOND SUPPLEMENTAL RESPONSES TO DISCOVERY )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
09/13/1996 Notice of Change of Address (AND TELEPHONE NUMBER )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
07/25/1996 Opposition Document (TO MOTION FOR SUSTAINING OBJECTIONS TO DISCOVERY REFEREE’S RECOMMENDATIONS RE DEPOSITION OF VICTOR GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
07/18/1996 Notice (OFPARTIAL WITHDRAWAL OF MOTION RE OBJECTIONS TO DISCOVERY REFEREE’S RECOMMENDATIONS RE DEPOSITION OF VICTOR M. GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
07/12/1996 Notice (OF CHANGE OF FIRM NAME )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
07/09/1996 Notice of Conference Date
Filed by Clerk
06/28/1996 Proof of Service (OF EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR MODIFICATION OF PROTECTIVE ORDER )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
06/28/1996 Order (ORDER MODIFYING PROTECTIVE ORDER REGARDING DISCOVERY FROM VICTOR GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
06/28/1996 Ex-parte Request for Order (FOR MODIFICATION OF PROTECTIVE ORDER REGARDING DISCOVERY FROM VICTOR GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
06/24/1996 Stipulation (AND ORDER FOR PROTECTIVE ORDER RE DISCOVERY PRODUCED BY VICTOR GUTIERREZ )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
06/05/1996 Report of Referee (SIXTH REPORT OF THE DISCOVERY REFEREE (AS MODIFIED) )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
06/04/1996 Declaration (DECLARATION OF ROBERT E. GOLDMAN IN SUPPORT OF VICTOR GUTIERREZ’S MOTION RE SUSTAINING OBJECTIONS TO DISCOVERY REFEREE’S RECOMMENDATION RE DEPOSITION OF VICTOR M. GUTIERREZ)
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
06/03/1996 Reply/Response (MEMORANDUM POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN SUPPORT OF MOTION FOR SANCTIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
05/31/1996 Reply/Response (BY VICTOR GUTIERREZ RE OBJECTIONS TO DISCOVERY REFEREE’S RULINGS RE FOURTH, FIFTH AND SIXTH DISCOVERY REPORTS )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
05/30/1996 Opposition Document (BY VICTOR GUTIERREZ TO MOTION BY PLAINTIFF JACKSON FOR SANCTIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
05/30/1996 Proof of Service (P/S FOR MEMO OF P’S & A’S IN OPPOS TO DFT GUTIERREZ’ OBJECTIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
05/30/1996 Opposition Document (DFT GUTIERREZ’ OPPOSITIONS TO MOTION BY PLF FOR SANCTIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
05/30/1996 Proof of Service (FOR MICHAEL JACKSON’S MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN OPPOSITION TO OBJECTIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
05/29/1996 Points and Authorities (MEMORANDUM OF POINTS AND AUTHORITIES IN OPPOSITION TO OBJECTIONS TO DISCOVERY REFEREE RECOMENDATIONS )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
05/29/1996 Declaration (OF ZIA F. MODABBER )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
Click on any of the below link(s) to see documents filed on or before the date indicated:
TOP 10/16/1997 06/03/1997 10/30/1996 05/21/1996
05/21/1996 Notice (OF LODGING OF EX PARTE APPLICATION FOR AN ORDER COMPELLING DEFENDANT TO APPEAR FOR DEPOSITION )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
05/14/1996 Notice of Hearing (DFT GUTIERREZ’ NOTICE OF MOTION & MOTION RE SUSTAINING OBJECTIONS TO DISCOVERY REFEREE’S RECOMMENDATION IN THE 4TH, 5TH, & 6TH DISCOVERY REPORTS (FILED UNDER SEAL) $14.00 PAID)
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
04/23/1996 Request for Arbitration (FIFTH REPORT OF DISCOVERY REFEREE AND ORDER )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
04/23/1996 Request for Arbitration (FOURTH REPORT OF DISCOVERY REFEREE AND ORDER )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
02/26/1996 Report of Referee (RECOMMENDATION OF THE DISCOVERY REFEREE RE: CONFIDENTIALITY OF CERTAIN DISCOVERY RESPONSES (AND ORDER) )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
02/26/1996 Report of Referee (THIRD REPORT OF DISCOVERY REFEREE (AND ORDER) )
Filed by Referee
02/20/1996 Stipulation and Order (STIPULATION RE CONFIDENTIAL INFORMATION AND PROTECTIVE ORDER )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
01/20/1996 Stipulation
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
05/22/1995 Notice of Change of Address
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
05/18/1995 Answer to Complaint
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
05/04/1995 Answer to Complaint (Answer To First Amended Complaint )
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
04/20/1995 Proof of Service (SUMMONS ON FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT; NOTICE OF CASE ASSIGNMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
04/20/1995 Proof of Service (SUMMONS ON FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT FIRST AMENDED COMPLAINT, NOTICE OF CASE ASSIGNMENT )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
04/14/1995 Answer to Complaint
Filed by Attorney for Deft/Respnt
04/11/1995 Proof of Service
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/24/1995 Rtn of Service of Summons & Compl (proof of service of summons on Fir first amended complinat and first amended complaint )
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/10/1995 Summons Issued
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
03/10/1995 Amended Complaint
Filed by Attorney for Pltf/Petnr
01/12/1995 Complaint
Click on any of the below link(s) to see documents filed on or before the date indicated:
TOP 10/16/1997 06/03/1997 10/30/1996 05/21/1996
——————————————————————————–
Case Information | Party Information | Documents Filed
Proceedings Held (Proceeding dates listed in descending order)
Click on any of the below link(s) to see proceedings held on or before the date indicated:
5/1/1997 6/29/1995
04/09/1998 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Jury Trial – End of Trial
04/08/1998 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Jury Trial – Jury Deliberating
04/07/1998 at 09:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Jury Trial – Full Day of Trial Held
04/06/1998 at 09:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Jury Trial – Full Day of Trial Held
04/02/1998 at 10:00 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Jury Trial – Half Day of Trial Held
04/01/1998 at 09:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Jury Trial – Full Day of Jury Selection
03/31/1998 at 09:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Jury Trial – Trial continued
03/30/1998 at 09:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Trial – Start of Trial
03/06/1998 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Ruling on Submitted Matter – Granted in Part
03/04/1998 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Final Status Conference – Completed
12/03/1997 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Exparte proceeding – Granted
10/27/1997 at 01:30 pm in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Jury Trial – Proceedings Stayed
10/16/1997 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Exparte proceeding – Granted
10/15/1997 at 09:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Jury Trial – Trial Trailed
10/10/1997 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Final Status Conference – Completed
09/24/1997 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Motion Hearing – Motion Denied
07/10/1997 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Motion for Reconsideration – Motion Denied
06/02/1997 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Further Status Conference – Completed
05/30/1997 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Court Order – Completed
05/02/1997 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Ruling on Submitted Matter – Granted
Click on any of the below link(s) to see proceedings held on or before the date indicated:
TOP 5/1/1997 6/29/1995
05/01/1997 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Motion for Summary Judgment – Submitted
03/20/1997 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Court Order – Completed
02/07/1997 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Further Status Conference – Completed
12/20/1996 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Ruling on Submitted Matter – Motion Denied
12/16/1996 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Motion for Sanctions – Submitted
12/11/1996 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Motion for Sanctions – Off Calendar
10/30/1996 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Court Order – Completed
10/15/1996 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Motion Hearing – Granted in Part
09/06/1996 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Further Status Conference – Completed
08/01/1996 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Motion Hearing – Motion Denied
06/28/1996 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Further Status Conference – Completed
06/05/1996 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Motion Hearing – Granted in Part
04/23/1996 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Court Order – Completed
03/07/1996 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Further Status Conference – Matter continued
02/26/1996 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Court Order – Completed
01/17/1996 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Further Status Conference – Completed
12/19/1995 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Court Order – Completed
11/16/1995 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Status Conference – Completed
08/17/1995 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Court Order – Completed
07/11/1995 in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Court Order – Completed
Click on any of the below link(s) to see proceedings held on or before the date indicated:
TOP 5/1/1997 6/29/1995
06/29/1995 at 08:30 am in Department 44, REGINALD A. DUNN, Presiding
Motion Hearing – Off Calendar
Click on any of the below link(s) to see proceedings held on or before the date indicated:
TOP 5/1/1997 6/29/1995
Click to access diane-dimond-victor-gutierrez-case.pdf
Sometime just before the beginning of Conrad Murray’s trial I belive Diane Dimond stated on Twitter I think that this case was an “urban Myth”. So much for legal documentation and urban myths.
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BTW when MJ sued Diane Diamond what was it for? and when was it i read somewhere Sneddon got involved
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Was Michael who has suffered, from first time to last time, by this harassment, by only this one that continued for 13 years started 1993 by BASHIR.
There was all kinds possible of harassments to destroy a man named Michael JACKSON who was / IS ABLE TO RECEIVE THE NOBEL PEACE PRIZE.
For this, I want to and I must to say you BASHIR:
To Mr. Bashir!
Guests can go to hell?
Please go to.
Is the location that works best for you.
Sneddon even when taken together?
He is the best for you.
Then Dan ABRAMS, Diane DIMOND and Nancy GRACE also,
ARVIZOs certain.
Chandler waiting.
Yoshimi
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This isn’t directly related to MJ, but I saw an amazing parallel in this story to MJ, and the way he was treated.
This story is about Lavar Arrington, a former NFL superstar linebacker who also played for Penn. State University. (He was very vocal when the Jerry Sandusky sex abuse allegtions rocked the university last fall.)
He’s also been very vocal about player safety, as player concerns over the long term affects of concussions have dominated the NFL over the last few months. In this op-ed, he wrote at his disappointment at how his previous interviews over concussions were cut and pasted recently, and made him look like he’s an irresponsible parent who forces his sons into football without any regard for their safety.
Look at the precautions that he takes before each interview to make sure his words aren’t taken out of context, and how his precautions have now allowed him to contradict the image that is being portrayed of him! It should sound very familiar to you guys!
Pretty smart, huh? And just think: if he has to record his own interviews because of the dishonesty of the SPORTS media, just imagine how awful the TABLOID media can be!
But of course we already know how bad the tabloid media is! You’ll have to open the link to watch the video of his interview.
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@Sanemjfan
Those “Molestation Jokes” in my opinion were no jokes they were just straight up hateful and uncalled for and i did not find them funny That jerk also claimed michael made up vitiligo and that didn’t exist that’s what he said.
There is a BIG difference in comedy and pure hatred and what katt said was just hateful. What Chris Tucker and Eddie Murphy said that was just comedy But insulting someone specially about something they clearly have no knowledge about is insulting.
A real comedian is someone who can make his/her audience laugh without picking on an individual or insult them.
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@Truth Prevail
Yes, I too have noticed that she is following Katt Williams, and I’m disappointed because Katt has NEVER publicly apologized or retracted his statements! If he had done so, and she followed him, I would understand, but he never did, and I assume that Paris has no clue what Katt said about her father!
Don’t get me wrong, a lot of comedians said jokes about MJ, but Katt took it to another level with those molestation jokes! It was way over the top, especially compared to the jokes said by Chris Tucker and Eddie Murphy, who MJ enjoyed and eventually befriended and did music videos with.
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This might be off topic but i was just checking paris jacksons twitter page and i noticed she is following Katt Williams That guy is such a jerk does she not know what nasty things he said about her father their is comedy and then theirs Insulting specially the nasty stuff he was accusing Mike of.
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Publicy humiliating others for your own personal gain will only come back to you tenfold.
Don’t worry folks, Bashir’s career will soon be over. His show’s ratings are crap and he’s hated by millions around the world. Where will he go after MSNBC? He can’t go back to England because he was thrown out for slanderous reporting and he will never again get a major interview with a major celebrity because everyone knows what a snake he is. He’s been turned down by david Beckham, Charlie Sheen, Madonna, charles manson, etc…Nobody is interested in his agenda-driven journalism. He is not a reporter who’s after seeking the truth and presenting the facts in an objective manner. He’s just a narsissictic cunt who’s only after humiliating people with his condescending attitude and out of line questioning. Sorry, Bashit, but your days of exploiting vunerable celebrities is almost over.
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Shelly, for your question on post July 15 2011, No, that whole post by Rosario was deleted .It was under her videoclip, you know when a window shows up.I don´t even know how it came to be there. It was secretly filmed from the side and I don´t know who might have filmed it.And it
was shocking though quite brief.It was by pure chance I saw it,rather strange.
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Oh I saw the silliest retweet yesterday. Tweet said: The Today Show interviewed Martin Bashir about journalistic integrity. He said he has been “a victim of tabloid journalism”. #KARMA #IRONY
What a nut the man hasn’t got a clue…smh
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@ RJ
Thanks for the compliments, and welcome to the blog! Feel free to leave a comment or question on any post you like, and we’ll answer it ASAP!
By the way, I’l be posting another post Bashir pretty soon, so stay tuned!
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Martin’s reward for being a snake in the grass.
February 27, 2004
Bashir Interview Wins Award
‘Living With Michael Jackson,’ the controversial Martin Bashir interview, has won program of the year in the Royal Television Society’s TV journalism awards in Great Britain.
The ninety minute documentary broadcast last year became infamous after Bashir apparently gained Michael Jackson’s trust only to betray his confidence by producing a slanted, unfair tabloid piece, expertly cut and pasted and peppered with Bashir’s voice-overs. In ‘Living With Michael Jackson,’ Bashir expressed mock concern regarding Michael’s children, engaged in creative editing and reveled in sleazy innuendo.
The Society must have been giddy past all sense over the ratings the “documentary” produced, saying that the production showed “great journalistic enterprise.”
Source: AOL News / NY Post / MJFC / Special thanks to Amy for bringing this to our attention.
Martin’s utter gall and the hypocrisy of those around him. Willful ignorance and lies.
Martin Bashir: Rupert Murdoch A Combination Of Jack Abramoff And Whitey Bulger
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/07/14/martin-bashir-rupert-murd_n_898462.html
I hope Murdoch drops a dime on this pretentious schmuck’s villainous journalistic activities.
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@kaarin22
Do you have a link for that video?
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I am still utterly shocked and disgusted by how Bashir played Michael for a fool. He presented MJ to the world as an unfit father and practically paved the way for the second allegations to happen. I am not surprised that NBC gave Bashir his own show after the documentary; it was like a thank you gift for ruining Michael’s life. Not noly that, but a few days after Michael died, the news outlet had the nerve to air the mock-umentary again and again. I have every right to believe that Bashir is nothing but a shyster: a man with no moral integrity whatsoever. Journalism has been reduced to nothing but biased reports soley for entertainment purposes and the people who run it are a bunch of snakes who feed off of nothing but lies, lies, and more lies. It’s just sickening to think about!!!
Btw I’m new here and have followed this blog for sometime now.
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In that horror clip, see below description ,taken during a break, and I am sure Martin Bashir did not know he was being taped.Martin Bashir approaches Michael in disguise
like an assasin towards an unsuspecting victim and launches a deadly verbal attack to destroy Michael´s psyche.It lasted a few minutes only ,but will forever be inscribed in my memory.
Journalistic ambition only can not be cause for such venom, the motive is more sinister ;Envy of Michaels weath,fame and artistry and succsess. Too bad it cannt be seen anymore.It tells all about Bashir.
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“I honestly can’t help but wonder why Michael didn’t go after this man for damages. His film litteraly ruined his life and almost sent him to prison for 20 years. Michael definielty should have went after him and Granada tv for defamation of character and possibly slander”.
Hana, I think that Michael was so frail after the trial and suffered so much financial damage from it that another suit would have killed him. Besides, in spite of his acquittal he probably didn’t believe in justice any longer. No wonder that Thomas Mesereau (!) advised him never to return to Neverland and leave it as soon as possible – he said to Michael that “they” wouldn’t leave him alone.
And by the way I have proof of it.
It turns out that Tom Sneddon didn’t sit idle after the 2005 trial and went on with his vendetta against Michael in the years following the trial too! In Nikki’s blog there is a link to an article saying he persecuted Michael for drug-trafficking this time. I was amazed to see that Tom Sneddon didn’t leave Michael alone even after he had been beaten in court – this desire to get him at all costs borders on insanity!
Michael Jackson Framed In A Drug Scandal
2005-11-30 17:19:04
Santa Barbara’s district attorney Tom Sneddon is heck bent on bringing Michael Jackson down on any cost. I did not think it was possible for any individual to be in news so often and for all the wrong reasons, but then Michael Jackson is not just any individual.
[..] Tom Sneddon failed to convict Michael Jackson on child molestation charges in the June and perhaps that has irked him and incited him further to make sure that Jackson is behind the bars.
Now Sneddon is probing a case that might land Jackson behind the bars for 20 years. The new allegation is drug trafficking. Jackson, it seems has a 40 pills-a-day habit and he is now being accused of illegally importing anti-depressants and painkillers from the US to his hideaway in Bahrain.
The entertainer after clearing the sex abuse charges in June fled the US. But Santa Barbara’s dogged district attorney is now checking claims Jackson obtains medications using fake prescriptions. He is also checking whether Jackson has been taking US drugs to his new home in Bahrain.
US police are investigating claims by former aides of the star who say the 47-year-old is hooked on pills. Former Neverland security guard, Chris Carter claims that he collected prescriptions at pharmacies for Jackson under different fictitious names, including his own.
The new investigation led by Tom Sneddon centres around a huge stash of drugs found at Jackson’s Neverland ranch, when the police were probing the child molestation claims made against Jackson in 2003.
Sneddon declined to comment on the reports last night, but Jackson’s supporters accused him of conducting a witch-hunt against the singer.
A source close to the Jackson family revealed to Britain’s The Sun newspaper that Jackson would fight this allegation in the court. And added that none of them (Jackson’s family and well-wishers) were aware how Jackson can cope with another investigation.
The source also remarked that Sneddon was obsessed with bringing Jackson down. And stated that this was not justice, this was a witch hunt.
http://www.curlio.com/new_showarticle.php?id=7794&page=last
The original source of the article is no longer available, and I am not surprised that it isn’t – leaving traces of such a vendetta is embarrassing even to the media.
Michael Jackson replied to the new allegations as any normal person would:
“In response to the claims, Jackson’s lawyer BRENT AYSCOUGH says, “Mr Jackson uses an amount of prescription drugs, but does not take anything illegal or obtain anything in an illegal manner.”
http://www.contactmusic.com/new/xmlfeed.nsf/story/jackson-slams-illegal-drugs-report
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Just by chance,I really don´t understand myself what led me to a brief CLIP of absolute HORROR -an interaction between Martin Bashir and MJ taken suring a break and not meant for public display.For some reason I don´t even understand, as I don´t know Spanish, I listened through a videoe by Rosario(no longer there)May 18th (?) and after that video was over there appeared a window for a vid. of MJ and Bashir which I clicked on.I have never seen anything like it.Words fail me.To try and be brief:MB feigns concern over “MJ`s sadness and
loneliness”. MJ attempts to respond-MB goes for a throatcutting verbal assault-MJ almost breaks down in tears,this in no way stops MB.Like a 100% bully he goes on.. finally attempting to diffuse the mood by base humor.It was more complex than that,maybe one day I`ll
find the words to tell it.
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Thanks for posting that article Steve. I honestly can’t help but wonder why Michael didn’t go after this man for damages. His film litteraly ruined his life and almost sent him to prison for 20 years. He constantly insinuated through voiceovers that Michael was a child molester and was guilty of abusing children which ultimately led to a police investigation and false child molestation allegations. Michael definielty should have went after him and Granada tv for defamation of character and possibly slander.
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Thank you Teva. I finally managed to open the link. The article proves again that the dude is a bloody bastard (sorry), Am not going to say anything more since i don’t have anything positive to say about him.
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Steve, thanks for that article! I’ve never seen that before, and I’ll be sure to incorporate it into a new post that I’m going to do on Bashir.
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@David
The credit goes to Steve the poster below me he provided the link.
@Ares
It is an interview someone did with Bashir about his career. The interview hints at Bashir being the catalyst for the 2005 trial, which he denies, and the promises he made to MJ in order to gain his trust. Bashir is very nonchalant and takes no responsibility for his actions in fact he say that Michael knew what he was getting into from the being . I will just let you read this little excerpt for yourself.
“But does Bashir deny the accusation that certain assurances were given to Jackson in order to secure the interview? “He wasn’t promised anything. In the first interview I did with him I asked him whether his father beat him and he started to cry. How could he possibly say that he thought it was going to be a soft interview after that? ” ”
Here is what the Gaurdian writer had to say
“While trying to land some of his biggest interviews, Bashir has been accused of using subterfuge and sycophancy; it was claimed that he persuaded the notoriously private Michael Jackson to allow him access to his personal life by convincing him that the interview would be far gentler than it eventually turned out to be.
Furthermore, it was alleged by the star’s defence team at the subsequent trial that Bashir had obtained the interview, in part, by writing in a letter that seeing Jackson with his children made him “want to weep”, while also promising to introduce him to UN secretary general Kofi Annan.
It is not the first time that his technique has been the subject of comment. Former colleagues in Britain say that he throws his “heart and soul” into his subjects, getting under their skin, befriending them.One journalist wrote of his “lavish levels of sycophancy and insincerity”. Bashir’s supporters say it is simply part of his exceptional drive. Steve Anderson, who was controller of news and current affairs at the ITV network when Bashir landed the Jackson scoop, described him as more than a journalist. “I wonder in the end if his real skill is of someone who might otherwise have been a psychologist. He really seems to be someone who is able to get into people’s heads, and get their trust,” he said, in a 2003 Guardian profile.”
SICKENING!
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@ Teva
Thanks for that link! I’m going to include it in a future post on Bashir! Stay tuned!
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The link doesn’t work for me . What it says Teva.
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http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/dec/04/mondaymediasection6
Sickening – I want to vomit.
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Has anyone seen this interview with Bashir?
http://www.guardian.co.uk/media/2006/dec/04/mondaymediasection6
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It makes me sick to my stomach that this cock roach is still on the air. His immoral tabloid ass really needs to crawl back under the bridge where he came from. He’s not respected in the world of journalism which is evidenced by people like Madonna, David Beckham, charlie sheen, charles manson, and chris brown who all turned him down for interviews. They all know about him and know what he’s like. Just give him another 2 years and I can guarantee you his career will be over. His show is already doing poorly in the ratings.
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Something I’ve noticed about the Bashir documentary is that towards the end of the film, the part where Bashir is interrogating Michael about his friendship with Gavin, he says “I think the problem for most people is what happened in 1993”. He definitely believed MJ was guilty. If you believe someone is innocent, then why would you make this statement? He then sarcastically corrects himself and says “Or what didn’t happen”…It’s a shame that Michael wasn’t aware that this prick was just another anti-Jackson reporter like Diane Dimond, Maureen Orth, and Victor Gutierrez. He had an agenda from the beginning to exploit the man and build a career out of his expense. I think Michael said it best: “I am bewildered at the length at which people will go to portray me so negatively”
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As we can see from this article, even non-fans are starting to see Bashir for the fraud that he is! This guy totally ripped Bashir, and its good to see this written on a non-MJ website, because it brings exposure to people who would never visit an MJ site. Here is a quote: http://www.newsrealblog.com/2011/04/21/msnbcs-martin-bashir-learns-andrew-breitbart-is-no-michael-jackson/
For those of you who are not familiar with Bashir, he made his name in 2003 with a “news” special called Living with Michael Jackson. After spending eight months as part of Jackson’s entourage, Bashir conducted a series of interviews with the pop singer. The final edit of the interview was widely seen as an example of yellow journalism, deliberately skewed to make the entertainer look like a bad parent and child molester.
It was obvious that Bashir exploited the friendship he developed with the singer to further his own career. Following the broadcast, The New York Times called Bashir’s journalism style “callous self-interest masked as sympathy.”
Jackson and his personal cameraman who also taped the sessions released their own version of the interview, which showed Bashir complimenting Jackson for the “spiritual” quality of the Neverland Ranch, contradicting the journalist’s previous statements that it was a “dangerous place” for children. Bashir is also seen describing Jackson as a wonderful father and says that Jackson’s relationship with his children “almost makes him weep.“
Remember, that was from a conservative political website, not an MJ fan site!
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Hypocracy thy name is Bashir. Here he is critisizing a man, a fellow journalist, for selectively editing a video to tell a slanted side of a story?????? Excuse me Martin I am now as confused as a person can get. Wasn’t it you that used that very practice in Living With Michael Jackson? So much so that he had to endure a 5 month long trial?5 months where he was consistantly burdened every hour of every day with the possibilty of going to prison for a crime you helped him be falsely accused of?????. every hour of every day he was in fear of losing his life , his freedom and his children.No that must have been a different Martin Bashir this one does not believe in that practice and now even condemns it. Yeah right. There should be a law against people like you.
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Bashir strikes again:
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I received an email today going back to the MSNBC website and OMG are there ever loads of anti-Bashir comments posted there including my own but from what I can see, MSNC are impervious to criticism and viewer feedback and won’t get Bashir fired even if he’s costing them ratings so if you want to contact the sponsors listed, please feel free to go right ahead:
· MSNBC Corporate Sponsors:
Campbell Soap
1 Campbell Place
Camden, NJ 08103
Tel.# 856-342-4800
Comcast
One Comcast Center
Philadelpia, PA 19103
1-800-COMCAST
Progressive Insurance Co.
6300 Wilson Mills Road
Mayfield Village, Ohio, 44143
Invester Relations
Toyota Motors, USA. Inc
19001 South Western Ave.
Dept. WC11
Torrance, CA. 90501
800-331-4311
Lexis
P.O. Box 291-Mail Drop L201
Torrance, CA 90509-2991
Empire Today-Carpet
2901 E. Elvira Rd.
Tucson, AZ 85706-7128
http://www.empiretoday.com
Steve Silvers CEO
Fidelity Investments Financial
601 Riverside Avenue
Jacksonville, FL 32204
888 934-3354
Dannon/Activia Co., Inc
120 White Plains Road
Tarrytown, New York 10591-5522
Tel. #914-366-9700
Fax#914-366-2805
JP Morgan Chase
1-212-270-0589
E-mail address: annmarie.hauser@ipmchase.com
Corperate Office
270 Park Avenue
New York, NY 10017
Turbotax
2955 Campus Drive
Suite 300
San Mateo, CA 94403
Tel.# 650-645-4700
Fax# 650-341-3799
Ancestry.com Inc. Headquarters
360 West 4800 North
Provo, UT. 84604
Tel.# 801-705-7000
Fax # 705-7001
Customer Service
1-800-262-3786
E-Mail address: support@ancestry.com
about 2 months ago · Report
For Team Michael Always!, Sue
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Ratings: Martin Bashir’s New Daytime Show Off To Slow Start At MSNBC
by Mark Joyella | 4:01 pm, March 30th, 2011
When Martin Bashir announced he was bolting from ABC’s Nightline for his own daytime show on MSNBC, he called it “a rare and special opportunity,” telling The Washington Post’s Lisa De Moraes “I cannot wait to get started.” It’s been a slow start. Bashir made those comments last summer, and his MSNBC show, Martin Bashir, didn’t debut until February 28.
So how’s it going? On the basis of viewership, not very well. Nielsen ratings released Tuesday show Bashir struggling against the competition, with CNN’s 3 p.m. CNN Newsroom crushing Bashir among viewers 25-54 (262,000 to 89,000), and Bashir’s name did not appear in a lengthy news release MSNBC put out detailing the network’s ratings performance.
New shows can take time to develop a following, of course, and it’s still early. In an interview with NBC’s in-house NBCUniversal Direct, Bashir described the intensity of preparing the program each day, especially his end-of-show commentary, “Clear the Air:” “At the end of the show, I’ve been writing an op-ed piece every day, this is the fourth week, so it’s been murderous to try and do that.”
Bashir may get a boost by taking his show to London for the Royal Wedding, and he hopes to try and find “ways to deliver stories that resonate with Americans–from London.”
http://www.mediaite.com/tv/ratings-martin-bashirs-new-daytime-show-off-to-slow-start-at-msnbc/
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Here is a scathing analysis of Bashir from November 2001! You just have to wonder how differently things would have turned out for MJ if he had done a simple Google search on Bashir before agreeing to the interview, and if he had stumbled unto this article! There’s NO WAY he would have worked with Bashir if he had done so!
http://www.guardian.co.uk/theobserver/2001/nov/04/features.review7
It made him. Bashir is a textbook example of a media figure who is praised for having done something without any appraisal of how he did it. You’d have thought TV executives might say: ‘He was shite in A, B and C; what on earth makes you think he won’t be shite in D?’ Not a bit of it. Instead, bewitched by celebrity, they stun their colleagues by suggesting: ‘Call me left field but how about that bloke who did Di?’ Thus it is that one of the least curious of people is employed, seemingly in perpetuity, to ask people questions. That a man who named his cat Lloyds after his first bank finds himself in a position where he can tell Michael Barrymore ‘to grow up’.
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Guys, you won’t believe it but Martin Bashir is preaching Gospel and humility to us now! See what Louise has sent us
: http://www.tv.com/watch-martin-bashirs-staggeringly-stupid-op-ed-comparing-mel-gibson-to-japan-with-commentary/story/25366.html
Watch Martin Bashir’s Staggeringly Stupid Op-Ed Comparing Mel Gibson to Japan [With Commentary]by Seth Abramovitch 03/14/11 05:33 PM
I never liked Martin Bashir. He’s smarmy, built a career on ruining Michael Jackson’s life, and once told a room of journalists that Asian women give him a boner. I guess his accent tricks the right people into thinking he has something intelligent to say, because he is a continued unwelcome presence in my home: First, as co-anchor of Nightline (ugh, Ted Koppel how I miss thee), and now manning the desk of his very own show on MSNBC, called simply, Martin Bashir.
“Clear the Air” is that part of Martin Bashir where the host gets something off his chest, via a pre-written editorial. It’s the kind of segment which Rachel Maddow (and, in happier times, Keith Olbermann) could deploy to devastating effect. Bashir, not so much. I’ve transcribed the entirety of today’s “Clear the Air,” which I’ve taken the liberty to annotate in parenthesis, for your reading terror.
MARTIN BASHIR: “It’s time to Clear the Air, and on Friday morning, one man might have been tempted to think that he was incredibly fortunate that the story of his own unstable and volatile behavior would also be buried underneath the horrific earthquake in Japan—news which has dominated this and every broadcast. [I’m sorry: Is Martin Bashir about to introduce a Charlie Sheen segment using a mind-bogglingly insensitive Japanese earthquake metaphor that plays on the word “buried?” That simply cannot be, right?]
But just two weeks after the Academy Awards, Mel Gibson [Psych! It’s not about Charlie Sheen at all. He totally had you going] who’s collected not one but two of those precious Oscar statuettes [you can’t impress Martin with your shiny awards], picked up three new awards: 16 hours of community service, 12 months of counseling, and three years probation [another great metaphor!].
Friday’s award ceremony [they should rename this show Metaphors-R-Us!] took place in Court 803 at the Los Angeles Airport Courthouse, and though there were plenty of cameras outside, there was no red carpet, no champagne, and only the company of other petty criminals. [Ugh, shut up, Martin Bashir!] For a fabulously wealthy and extraordinarily talented man, this was no way to crown a career. [Who, besides Whoopi Goldberg gives a rat’s ass about how Mel Gibson’s career will be crowned at this point?]
A disputed incident in January of last year was the cause of Mr. Gibson’s appearance. His girlfriend and the mother of his youngest child claimed he’d punched her teeth out during a row at their home. But the strongest evidence didn’t come from dental records, but tape-recorded conversations which took place between them a few months later. In between some racist slurs and full-blown sexism [as opposed to a “full-blown half-wit,” which is what you are], Mr. Gibson says, “I’ll put you in an f-ing rose garden. You need an f-ing bat in the side of the head,” amongst other foul and fearful comments [you would know]. Unfortunately for him, Mr. Gibson’s performance was typically convincing, whether he meant it or not. And so on Friday, he plead no context to a charge of spousal battery.
There are some who are now saying that his career is finished, his character radioactive. Strangely enough, it’s almost exactly what’s being said of that region in the northeast of Japan, where explosions have occurred at a nuclear power plant [I swear to god he said this. The (unembeddable) video is linked below if you don’t believe me].
Yet somehow, there’s every confidence that just three days after the earthquake, the Japanese people will rebuild their land and restore their nation. Indeed, there’s no doubt about it. But there’s much less confidence in Mel Gibson’s ability to salvage his own career [millions displaced + tens of thousands dead + the threat of another Chernobyl = getting Lethal Weapon 5 back on track. Yup, nothing wrong with that math].
Which leads us [leave me out of this] to ask a somewhat difficult question: Is it easier to rebuild a devastated country than it is to restore a devastated character. I’m not sure of the answer, but perhaps the key to recovery starts with the word “humility”—something that the Japanese know all about. [Now is the part where Martin teaches us all about Japanese culture. Did you know they consider a compliment to belch after a meal? Tee-hee!] They live humbly with Mother Nature [make it stop] knowing that just as there have been many earthquakes in the past, so they’ll be many more in the future [since you know nothing about anything, I’ll ask that you please stop talking now].
And Japan is known for being the best-prepared nation on earth for an earthquake. [I guess you’re going to keep talking.] And that’s probably because there’s a level of humility…Mr. Gibson is well-known to be a man of deep, personal faith. And maybe now is the time, either during his community service or counseling, for him to start humbly rebuilding his world. [You mean, like the Japanese are “humbly” about to rebuild theirs?]
His film, The Passion of the Christ, focused on the New Testament gospel accounts. But here’s a quotation from the Old Testament, from the prophet Micah, which may seem perfectly appropriate for Mr. Gibson: “‘And what does the Lord require of you,’ asked the prophet. ‘To act justly, to love mercy, and to walk humbly with your God?’” And if the Japanese can do it, then why not Mel Gibson, too?” [That’s some big talk from the guy who tricked Michael Jackson into thinking he was making a documentary that would humanize the singer for the world, and instead craftily edited together a portrait of a lunatic recluse and dangerous child predator, using only circumstantial evidence and damning innuendo. Pretty big, indeed.]
As far as I’m concerned, this editorial is grounds for not only Bashir’s immediate termination and lifetime suspension from U.S. airwaves, but for his complete expulsion from our planet— preferably via some kind of single-occupant spacecraft, launched into the dark abyss, where we’ll never again be exposed to his musings on the true nature of celebrity redemption as it compares to the unerringly humble, possibly radioactive peoples of a devastated Japan.
Watch the full “Clear the Air” segment here:
http://www.bing.com/videos/watch/video/bashir-mel-gibson-to-exercise-some-humility/6uri8u6
There are many great comments on this article. Here is only one of them:
Thank you, Seth Abramovitch, for your wisdom in recognizing and writing about the smarmy Martin Bashir. Bashir’s effrontery in even discussing Japan’s pain in this way is lacking in sensitivity and borders on cruelty. But, that should be no surprise. He has made a name for himself in falsifying information to get a story such as faking bank statements to get the interview with Princess Diana. His one-sided smarmy documentary about Michael Jackson, clearly a hatchet job edited to show Jackson in the worst light as proven in Jackson’s own footage in the Maury Povich hosted “Michael Jackson, the Footage You Were Never Meant To See” is another example. Abramovitch mentions the sexist remarks about Asian female journalists but does not mention Bashir’s racist behavior in a recent interview with Sean Combs. Thank goodness Charlie Sheen had the good sense to say no to an interview with the completely untrustworthy and manipulative Bashir. The list of unethical behavior goes on including incidents with Joe Arapaio, the Church of Scientology, and George Best. Bashir has even kept evidence from a crime scene and has been censured in his native UK. Now he is over here wreaking havoc. Disney/ABC woke up and jettisoned this guy. I hope MSNBC will too. I don’t plan on watching MSNBC any time soon as long as Bashir is still there. At least it seems Bashir’s peers in the industry are aware of his true colors.
beinginformed Posted 03/15/2011 18:35:13
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And here just when I was starting to think Charlie needed hopitalization he goes and does something completely sane.LOL
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Well, with all of the negative things that actor Charlie Sheen has said and done in the last few weeks, let’s look at WISE decision that he recently made!
When deciding who NOT to grant an interview to, take a wild guess who he refused? LOL!
It’s good to see that Sheen and other celebrities and musicians have learned from MJ’s and P.Diddy’s mistake!
http://www.radaronline.com/exclusives/2011/03/exclusive-charlie-sheen-turned-down-martin-bashir-interview
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Did you know that March 8th is International Women’s Day, a day where the accomplishments and sacrifices of women are celebrated around the world? http://www.internationalwomensday.com/
I had never heard of this holiday until I noticed a lot of my female friends on Facebook talking about it in their statuses. But the name was very familiar to me, and the reason is because it reminded me of the International Children’s Day that MJ wanted to establish, and Bashir used this desire in order to trick MJ into thinking that his documentary would help him establish it.
Mesereau alluded to this several times in his opening statement and cross examination of Bashir, who of course didn’t answer the question because he hid behind the Journalist Shield Law:
24 MR. MESEREAU: To obtain that statement from him, you told
25 him that you believe in his vision of an
26 international children’s holiday, correct.
27 MR. BOUTROUS (Bashir’s lawyer): Same objections, Your Honor.
28 The shield law and the First Amendment.
1 THE COURT: Overruled.
2 Do you wish to answer that question.
3 THE WITNESS (Bashir): I don’t, Your Honor.
4 MR. MESEREAU: Objection noted, Your Honor.
5 THE COURT: Noted.
What a coward, huh?
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On February 24th, Bashir was a guest on the Jimmy Fallon show, and had the audacity to gloat about his “30 journalism awards” and other worthless accomplishments, and when Fallon brought up his MJ interview, Fallon actually “complimented” MJ by saying that Bashir “humanized” MJ for him! Bashir then made a backhand comment that painted MJ as an irresponsible spend-a-holic by referring to the “$6.9 million dollars that he spent in 23 minutes” at that store in Vegas. Fallon then asks Bashir if there were things that he left out of the documentary, and if he was happy with how it came out, and Bashir said “absolutely not”, like the lying bastard that he is! (FYI: There was about 10 hours of footage shot over the 8 months of recording, and we all know how heavily edited it was, including his negative commentary.) He then goes on to talk about the “absolute privilege” it was to interview him!
But even worse, he says that he’s not a “sycophantic interviewer” because of his British background, but that is EXACTLY the type of technique that he used to trick MJ! A sycophant is a “self-seeking, servile flatterer”, or to put it in plain English, a BUTT-KISSER!! We’ve all seen the rebuttal documentary where Bashir is shown praising all things MJ, only to do a 180 degree turnaround once his cameras started rolling again!
The most insulting thing that Bashir said is that there were “some people” (a euphemism for MJ fans) who regarded MJ as a “messiah or god” who “objected” to his style of interviewing. That is what he, Dimond, Orth, etc. typically do: they get sympathy for themselves by portraying themselves as victims, and all MJ fans as “rabid”. (For example, Dimond said that after MJ died, her website crashed from “death threats” when in reality they were just angry emails from MJ fans who were critical of her reporting.)
If you feel inclined to, please leave a comment on his blog! Be respectful, use proper grammar, and stick to the facts!
http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/martin_bashir_part_1_22411/1302703
http://www.latenightwithjimmyfallon.com/video/martin_bashir_part_2_22411/1302704
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Has anyone else heard anything about Bashir covering the Murray trial? sigh…smh
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@ Hana
It wouldn’t surprise me if Bashir forged that letter from Princess Diana, although there is no way for me to prove that he did forge it. However, as I mentioned in the article, he forged those bank statements showing payments into her brother’s account, which scared her into thinking that the tabloids were bribing her family for dirt, and that convinced her into doing the Bashir interview. I’ve found 4 additional articles recently that corroborate this:
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/city-firm-backs-claim-of-forgery-in-panorama-1304398.html
Mr Bashir worked on the Venables programme with the same designer who claimed to have made up documents to the presenter’s orders in the run- up to the Princess of Wales interview. The BBC has admitted two bank statements were falsified. So far, it has refused to explain why they were created, except to stress they were not used to secure the interview with the Princess.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/accountants-back-bbc-forgery-claim-1304368.html
A claim that the BBC Panorama programme used a fabricated financial document in an investigation into the business dealings of Terry Venables, the England football coach, received backing from a firm of City accountants last night.
Partners at Arthur Andersen said there was “substance” behind the claim that the document was faked. Senior sources at the firm, who are receivers to Landhurst Leasing, a company at the centre of the investigation, said they had been unable to locate the loan document used in the programme.
http://socyberty.com/people/martin-bashir-cunning-behind-the-smile/
Bashir played his ace, which also happened to be a forgery. He had bank statements made up which showed payments into the account of Charles Spencer’s head of security – from a press source. This was all the evidence the family needed and Diana was persuaded that an interview with Bashir on national television was her best way forward. There is no doubt that Bashir is a highly skilled operator. He’s charming, compassionate and has a gift for friendship. At this point in her life Diana needed friends, people she felt she could really trust and Bashir slotted into the role.
She revealed that there were three people in her marriage, the third was Charles’s long time mistress Camilla Parker Bowles. She also confessed that she had a lover, a major in the prestigious Guards regiment, Major James Hewitt.
This was a public scandal that wasn’t going away. It worked immediately for Bashir and eventually for Charles who was allowed to marry his mistress.
http://www.independent.co.uk/news/world/americas/reporter-who-has-upstaged-michael-jackson-but-what-exactly-is-martin-bashirs-game-527022.html
But six months after the broadcast, the BBC said that it had been investigating suspicions, raised by Panorama journalists, that Bashir procured the royal interview under false pretences, by feeding on the fears of Diana’s brother, Earl Spencer. Central to the accusations were two false NatWest bank statements, made up for Mr Bashir by a BBC graphic designer, one of which showed a £4,000 payment from News International, publishers of the News of the World, to a former employee of Earl Spencer.
The earl feared that his family’s privacy was being breached and there were suggestions that the statements led him to encourage the Princess of Wales to put the record straight, through Mr Bashir. The reporter was cleared of wrongdoing, but the BBC admitted the documents were created “for graphic purposes in the early part of [an investigation into the Royal Family and security services].”
It is not the only time Mr Bashir has been accused of misrepresentation. He and his team were also censured by the Broadcasting Complaints Commission for misleading the father of a runaway teenager to secure an interview.
Read more: http://socyberty.com/people/martin-bashir-cunning-behind-the-smile/#ixzz1EWzNoUtP
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Lol why would princess diana write bashir praise letters after his interview practically destroyed her marriage? i am willing to bet a million that bashir wrote the letter himself to trick mj into doing the interview just like how he used forged documents to trick princess diana into doing that interview with him..The guy is a total lowlife and calling him a journalist is an insult to real journalists.
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Well, looks like Bashir will be starting with MS-BS, oooppps, I meant MSNBC on Feb. 28th!
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/02/18/martin-bashir-msnbc-show-_n_825412.html
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@ Figlia
Thank you for the compliments! There’s more work from me and the rest of us coming soon!
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David,congratulation for this amazing post. It really is a very thorough research. So you know, a greek Michael Jackson blog has translated it and it is also posted in the official Michael Jackson greek forum.Well done. Your work is spreading.
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So let’s get this straight.. …………..Martin Bashir leaves Nightline for MSNBC in August 2010…… ..
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/07/22/martin-bashir-leaving-abc_n_655633.html
……and then Nightline subsequently earns the top ratings in its time slot for the first time ever?
http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/05/nightline-wins-fourth-qua_n_804619.html
Is that a coincidence? I think not!
Bashir is nothing but a sleazy, two-faced, deceitful, lying, tabloid trash peddling, yellow journalist !
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Analysis of Living with MJ transcripts
http://allforloveblog.com/?p=4694
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@Dialdancer
I know why he didn’t sue. I was making a rhetorical and angry observation. I just can’t bare the amount of injustice that he faced.
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Visitor 1 Dec 2010 said:
“Michael should have sued Bashir, the Arvizos, Sneddon everyone .I don’t know why he didn’t do it. I think some times he was extremely passive and people took it as a sign of quilt.”
How well do you think a civil suit against Sneddon and the Avrizo’s family would have gone in Santa Barbara with Sneddon still welding power and promising to bring up any type of criminal charge against MJ and start all over again? It was in his power to do so and something he did test to see if he could make happen.
Just because Michael was found not guilty does not mean he received a fair trial. Had it been fair then there would have been a pre-trial so all the evidence that refuted the timeline and allegations, DNA & FBI lab results would have been presented and not hidden during the Grand Jury.
Michael was not passive about his legal rights. That belief that he would not or did not fight was Media imaging. (Things not reported or worded in a specifically unflattering way) He like the rest of us was not a lawyer or a legal genius. He like us had to depend on others to properly advise, prepare and defend.
Michael was involved in 3 civil suits during 2003-2006 two of which he initiated; one had to do with Bashir’s film. How many ways is one person suppose to stretch themselves during a short period of time, how much physical and emotional energy is one suppose to have? How much money? It costs millions to sometimes end up losing the case. Michael had approx 5 legal firms working on various cases.
A good legal client is one who is actively involved in their own defense. Finding and recalling information for 4 legal cases is a lot and is not the sign of a passive (weak) person.
As you begin to read the previous topics, the comments made by others and the information they’ve left behind you will find some of the reasons why Michael did or did not take action against some of the people you named.
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I encourage all of you to visit mj-777.com. There is an amazing write-up on the home page about events in 2003.
Afterwards spend some time readding all the well researched pieces on there and you will all realise that it was a huge conspiracy to hurt Michael, by a number of people. The co-conspirators are still working hard to sully his name and destroy his legacy. Thanks to his fans and persons like Mr. Thompson, the truth will eb revealed.
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Bashir hadn’t seen anything because there wasn’t anything to see. If he had seen something then why didn’t he tell it to the police, why didn’t he open his mouth in the court and say what he saw? Why of camera he said that Neverland was a wonderfoul place and Michael was a amazing father? Why did he praise the work that Michael did helping sick children and then in the documentary said otherwise. And most improtant that people tend to forget. IF MICHAEL HAD SOMETHING TO HIDE OR TO BE AFRAID, WOULD HE OPEN HIS HOUSE AND LET SOMEBODY FOLLOW AND RECORD HIS EVERY MOVE FOR 8 MONTHS ?? But ofcourse no body makes logical questions when it comes to Michael.
Michael should have sued Bashir, the Arvizos, Sneddon everyone .I don’t know why he didn’t do it. I think some times he was extremely passive and people took it as a sign of quilt.
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@ Suzy
That comment wasn’t really directed at you because I know what you were trying to say. That was a good point to make because it completely refutes the notion that Bashir was justified in twisting the documentary because he saw inappropriate activity at Neverland.
It was directed more at Bashir himself to show what a jerk he was to try to all of a sudden “defend” MJ after he died with those weak and pathetic statements that he made. He said more in those two minutes then he did during Mesereau’s entire cross examination!
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@ David
I don’t say Bashir really defended him here, I just say I don’t think he thought he was guilty of anything. The reason why he made his documentary suggest he was guilty, was not because he thought so. It was – pure and simple – because that’s what stirred controversy and it’s controversy that sells.
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Bashir’s words were so weak and ineffective that he should have just kept his mouth shut! To say the phrases “he was never convicted” and “I never saw any wrongdoing” are invitations for criticism. Haters will say “well, just because you didn’t see anything doesn’t mean it didn’t happen!” and “Just because he wasn’t convicted doesn’t mean he was innocent! OJ Simpson was never convicted of murder!!”
What he should have said was “I never saw any wrongdoing BECAUSE THERE WAS NO WRONGDOING TO BE SEEN!” (Same thing with Lisa Marie Presley’s answer to Oprah’s question about the allegations). He should have also said “He was RIGHTFULLY ACQUITTED in a court of law”, which is much more forceful and effective.
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Bashir admitted after Michael’s death that he never saw anything improper and that he didn’t think he was quilty of molesting children: http://www.youtube.com/watch?feature=player_embedded&v=k8THqOPZywY
Too bad this is not what he suggested in his documentary.
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@lynande51
Chacon, Abdool, Bashir etc all had the moral obligation to report Michael Jackson to child protective services, but Bashir is a bigger culprit. If you believe MJ molested Gavin Arvizo then Bashir has some responsibility because he suspected impropiety and did nothing. To make matters worst if he had reported Michael to DFCS Gavin would NOT have been molested. Of course this is if you believe the prosecution and follow the timeline. Furthermore, he was armed with a videotape, he had incriminating evidence. That videotape was the first piece of evidence played for the jurors. I find this incredible! Bashir could have prevented Gavin from becoming a victim because Gavin said he was molested after the LWMJ aired. Did his conscience bother him?
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I couldn’t agree with you more. I have been spending my day off reading some of the Trial Documents and Transcripts. It is beyond my comprehension why so many adults claimed to have known about the abuse and NEVER, NOT ONE OF THEM REPORTED IT UNTIL AFTER THE CHANDLER ALLEGATIONS!! I know that the anti Michael Jackson groups would like us to believe that they were afraid to be fired or they were threatened, but somebody has to be honest. According to the Quindoy’s Michael only paid a little above minimum wage at the ranch would that have been worth it to watch this and not stop it? Look at the size of some of these people? Do you expect me to think that Ralph Chacon or Kasim Abdool couldn’t break Michael Jackson in half? What about everybody getting together and going to the police or even Tom Sneddon wouldn’t there have been safety in numbers? I think it was Ralph Chacon that was a substitute school teacher a mandatory reporter and yet he did nothing? When you look back at them and see a common thread of lawsuits and paid interviews is it that hard to believe that they are liars as well? What I did this afternoon was take a percentage of workers that worker there and the number of workers that said they saw something, and did it for monetary gain, I got 0.5 percent of employees from Neverland that spoke up isn’t that crazy? You can’t tell me that if Michael was so haphazard and careless that others wouldn’t have seen it. Give me a break.
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IMO Martin Bashir is not just underhanded, but unscrupulous. After reading Ron Zonen’s Frozen In Time explanation of Bashir’s involvement he gave the impression that Bashir went to do this positive documentary on Michael Jackson, but after witnessing questionable pratices by Michael he could not continue in the same vein, but he had to highlight the truth. My problem with that is – if Basir was really so concern about Neverland being a dangerous place for young children why didn’t he report Michael to DCFS himself. Did he do that? To me that would have been the righteous and moral thing to do. Anytime someone suspects child abuse the authorities should be contacted. However, Mr. Bashir chose not to do that (as far as I know), but to turn a quick profit.
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@ Amerie
I have re-worded the article, and replaced “flop” with “disappointment”. “Flop” is too strong of a word, and it fits the media’s stereotype that MJ was “washed up”. I also emphasized that it was entirely Sony’s fault for the album’s poor performance. Thank you for the constructive criticism.
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Fact check thought. Michael found out their was a conflict of interest. Branca was rerpresenting Sony as well as him. They found out he was in on private business negotiations involving his own music and also leaving Sony. They stopped all promotion on the album–leading to what others considered low sales. All these events transpired before the album was released. Michael didnt think the album was a flop– it was #1 every where else but the U.S — alittle media speculation creeped up in your article I see.
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First of all, if would of been wise to have gotten to know Michael a little even if you hadn’t even known him personally then you would know that he was not the type to molest a child..To expose Michael like this is a sick game. The media and especially Mr. Bashier is the one with the problem, NOT Michael Jackson because I know in my heart that Micahel Jackson is innocent and he would NEVER molest a child.. Mr. Bashier is sick and he is a SOB big time…Mr. Bashier is the liar, cheater, and no good person here NOT Michael Jackson. I know in my heart that Michael is innocent. Mr. Bashier and everyone else who tried to expose Michael to be someone he is not…Shame on you…Is your career really worth trying to take an innocent man down. A man who is so caring and was kind enough to let you observe his life for a while. Now Michael is gone and I blame all of you media idiots who will suck blood…You day will come…You have taken away our beloved Michael…
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Brilliant work and excellent article David. Thank you so much for all your hard work and dedication.
Martin Bashir and his ilk are a plague on humanity. They will do anything for money and this has been proven over and over. Why is there still such a big audiance for ther trash?? I have stopped reading, watching and buying their filth years ago. It is so unneccasry to my existance.
Another questionI have is, where are Michael’s relatives?? Yes his wonderful mother recently filed suit against AEG but are they not aware of all this evidence against so many other people who have and who continue to sully Michael’s good name?
Taking the high road is applaudable but Michale deserves better, his voiced has been silenced but the fight must go on. He deserves justice.
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Along with all else he did Sneddon read emails from the computers which were seized. The was a person assigned to this was called a Special Master. This person was suppose to determine which documents were confidential and had nothing to do with the case and which were not confidential. Anyone who believes that Sneddon, the man who called Katherine Jackson to testify before the Grand Jury would not read all the emails need not have children….even. The emails which went into the court documents were cherry picked as to not raise any more of a fuss than there already was. In one of the documents published there is a statement from Evvy Tavasci, personal assistant for MJJ Production. She tells how Bashir tricked Michael and got around not showing him the finished product.
Starting on page 27.
Click to access 042605lodgeddocsevvy.pdf
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Unfortunately Michael had a lot of people around him who betrayed him . Uri Geller might have been one of them, but so was Klein, so he is the last person to go to CNN and accuse other people of anything, IMO. Michael would be mortified about what he has done to his name since he died. He is such an attention whore.
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One more thing that I noticed after reading through Mesereau’s opening statement: he confirmed that Uri Gellar really was paid by Bashir! According to Mesereau:
“Uri Geller also wanted money to go to charity, but he also wanted a personal service fee. He wanted a percentage of the net proceeds, and he worked that out with Bashir, not with Michael.”
The question is this: did Geller ask to be compensated BEFORE or AFTER he agreed to help Bashir get an interview with MJ?
If Gellar asked to be compensated BEFORE he agreed to help Bashir, then that means that he had a financial incentive to convince MJ to trust Bashir, and he certainly could not have been objective (i.e., if he had any doubts about Bashir, he would have ignored them in order to profit from the documentary.) This is what Dr. Arnold Klein asserted when he interviewed Larry King last year, which prompted Geller to sue him & CNN.
But if Gellar asked to be compensated AFTER he agreed to help Bashir & AFTER MJ agreed to the interview, then that is somewhat more acceptable, because it means that he was truly objective when he evaluated Bashir’s character and recommended him to MJ.
This little tidbit of information gives more credibility to Dr. Klein’s assertion that Geller “sold” MJ to Bashir, and personally I think it’s more plausible that Geller asked to be compensated BEFORE he agreed to convince MJ to trust Bashir. But I guess we’ll never know for sure…………….
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Hey everybody, I added in excerpts from Mesereau’s opening statement that further describe Bashir’s deception of MJ. I know, I know, I should have included it originally.
I’m sorry! I’m such a terrible researcher! LOL!
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@ David
Fantastic revelation once again. Thanks!
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Hey guys, I found some new info on NBC and Sony! In January 2003, Andrew Lack was hired by Sony to replace Tommy Mottola. http://www.sony.com/SCA/press/030110a.shtml
Lack was the President and Chief Operating Officer of NBC since June 2001, and President of NBC News for eight years prior to that. In 1993 NBC hired him to help increase the ratings of their fledgling news program, Dateline NBC. Their ratings were down after they were caught manipulating a story by rigging explosions in a report on truck safety! General Motors sued them for libel and defamation, and NBC settled out of court, and FIRED several journalists and producers who were associated with the story.
Whoa, talk about journalistic integrity, huh?
(Open the links below for more info on this scandal:
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Dateline_NBC#General_Motors_v._NBC
http://www.usatoday.com/money/media/2005-06-13-lack-usat_x.htm)
The reason that this is very important is because as the head of NBC, he gave the go-ahead for those horrible Dateline NBC episodes that aired after MJ rejected their interview offer after the Bashir documentary aired. If they had no problem slandering a major corporation like GM, then they certainly had no problem in slandering MJ, who was himself a walking, talking corporation!
This is an excerpt from Maureen Orth’s 2003 article on MJ: http://sinhablar.com/news/orth4-2003.html
This past January, however, Tommy Mottola was out as Sony chairman. Ironically, his replacement is Andrew Lack, the former president of NBC, who, shortly before accepting Sony’s offer, had given the go-ahead for Dateline NBC to do a show for the February ratings sweeps on Michael Jackson’s collapsing face and the downslide of his career. This action of Lack’s was alluded to by Jermaine Jackson, Michael’s brother, on a TV talk show on which he extolled the closeness of the Jackson family while at the same time letting slip that Michael had never met Jermajesty, Jermaine’s son.
MJ always thought that some of his enemies paid Janet Arvizo to make those false claims, and he never ruled out Sony. The fact that Sony hired the President and COO of the network that has done the worst reporting on MJ, instead of hiring a record executive with years of experience, only confirms MJ’s suspicions. Lack approved that Dateline NBC episode in order to boost NBC’s ratings and their revenues, and couldn’t have cared less about MJ’s feelings. So it’s very plausible that he could have paid Janet Arvizo to make those false charges against MJ so he would go to jail and Sony could get control of the catalogue, thus boosting their profits. It’s what any good businessman would do!
And here is another example of Sony’s corruption: in 2002-2003, they were involved in a scandal known as “payola”, where they would pay radio stations to play the music of their artists, regardless of the demand for their music by the public. This scandal was made public during 2005.
It’s amazing that while they were paying radio stations to play the music of such “legends” as Jennifer Lopez & Jessica Simpson, they refused to even market MJ’s “Invincible” album.
MJ was right: the music business is the most corrupt business ever!
http://www.foxnews.com/story/0,2933,163537,00.html
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Thank you David and Helena for this amazing work! You really clarify a lot about this disgusting person…
I just want to add that Diddy was not good eather (sorry for my English limitations). He said after the interview that didn’t like the way Bashit conducted it, but why he gave the opportunity to MB in first place and second the hug he does in the beginning of it it’s very disgusting.
Thanks again!
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some very very interesting points in this item.First to the writer i wish to say i am very impressed you have stood up and said that bashir IS responisible for Mjs death.He knows this,but hasnt got the bravery to admit it (the fact that he has done interviews and re-cut his documentry shows this,he is not attempting to edit out the offensive material to try and make michael look better,he is doing it in an attempt to cover his own back,too little too late).The youtube interview with sneddon on this page was very enlightening.His body language during questions about the vendetta are an indicator that he is being rather evasive.He tends to look nervous when asked these questions and begins speaking with a stutter,Yet other comments he seems very quick off the mark.Particularly when mentioning he is a family man/pillar of the community.This is a rather laughable attempt to make himself look like a “good man”.Are we not often told in reports on serial killers that they were “pillars of the community”?Its shows the “public persona”and private are very different.Veritas is underway people.You are all part of this battle,one we intend to win.And that is why these people are stumbling over themselves.They all know they are about to be exposed.L.O.V.E to you all
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You have done a wonderful job.Keep it coming
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@ David
I don’t think there was something specific that aroused Bashir’s suspicion. He went there with an agenda IMO. He wanted to MAKE it look suspicious!
Like he admitted after Michael’s death he never saw anything suspicious.
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You know, in retrospect it’s easy to say that MJ used bad judgement by letting Gavin and Star sleep in his bed, because had he not done that than Bashir’s suspicion would not have been aroused. But it’s very possible that Bashir would have found some way to insinuate that MJ was acting improper with the kids that visit Neverland.
Also, even if Gavin and Star were forced to sleep in the guest houses, they could have still LIED and said that MJ hopped in his golf cart in the middle of the night, and snuck into their guest room and molested them, and then drove back to the main house, and Sneddon and the media would have STILL believed them over MJ. So it was only inevitable that after the 1993 allegations, Sneddon would have prosecuted MJ over ANY allegation that came from Neverland.
Since we all know that Diane Dimond and Rodney Allen were in cahoots in that failed 1995 allegation from the Canadian kid, it makes you wonder why they let the Canadian cops interview the kid, knowing that they were not prejudiced against MJ. Instead of hopping on a plane and flying to Canada to “investigate” the kid, if she would have flown him to LA to interview with the cops, then she would have gotten the results that she wanted. I’m surprised -but very happy!- that they were that careless!
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Besides Bashir’s shameful practices you know what’s shameful? That a so called “reputable” newspaper as The Independent (not a tabloid!) repeatedly calls Michael by his tabloid name, “Wacko Jacko”. That’s how low “reputable” journalism has sunk…..
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Thank you David!
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@ Suzy,
The link to the article that mentions the forgery is in the sentence “If Bashir had any integrity”, in the paragraph that starts with “Another interesting point is that Bashir spent 5 YEARS trying to interview MJ….”
I’m sorry about that! I didn’t include the link in the same paragraph that it was referenced in. Sorry for the confusion!
Guess what guys? I found ANOTHER article on Bashir’s falsified statements that I truly wish I had found earlier while researching this piece. In this excerpt, it is confirmed that the bank statements were indeed FALSIFIED, but they were not used to help secure the interview with Diana. Whatever!
“Mr Bashir worked on the Venables programme with the same designer who claimed to have made up documents to the presenter’s orders in the run- up to the Princess of Wales interview. The BBC has admitted two bank statements were falsified. So far, it has refused to explain why they were created, except to stress they were not used to secure the interview with the Princess.”
http://community.mjeol.com/viewtopic.php?f=9&t=3332&p=61177
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@ David
“This article mentions how Bashir hired a graphic artist to falsify the bank statements of Diana’s brother’s head of security in order to blackmail her into doing the interview (Bashir acknowledged their existence but insisted that they had never been used, and the disk that they were saved on just “disappeared”)”
Which article?
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Hey, here is Bashir’s “farewell message” to the viewers of ABC!
This guy has some nerve! Here is a summary of his message:
He talks about the privilege of being invited into someone’s home as a stranger, and uses a Bible verse about entertaining strangers who are really angels. He then states that he’s not angelic (DUH!!!), and that he no longer feels like a stranger, but as a “friend”.
When you hear this garbage, and then you think about how MJ invited Bashir into his life “as a stranger”, thinking that he could be trusted, thinking that he was a “friend”, and then you look at all the ways Bashir backstabbed MJ, it’s enough to make your blood boil!
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since my post is linked in the comments here, I just wanted to point out that neither the post “Gone in a Minute: Corey Haim and CSA” nor the majority of commenters mention MJ. When a few people did, they were asked (like everyone else bringing in outside information) to cite their source and stick to published facts. The post and the thread asked people to stop pathologizing, speculating, gaping, etc. and to recognize and honor the humanity.
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