Michael Jackson’s friendships always fail – usually they’re soured by an unproved accusation of molestation or something.
But at other times Michael Jackson falls out with people because he goes to live with them and then doesn’t pay his way. That’s the case with Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain, who’s suing Michael Jackson for taking an advance on a recording contract and not seeing it through, amongst other things.
Apparently Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa paid Michael Jackson a $7 million advance for his participation in a joint recording project that never happened. Some observers are claiming that this lawsuit could spell financial ruin for Michael Jackson. However, given that the alternative is the release of an album of duets by Michael Jackson and a rapping sheikh, that’s something we’d be absolutely happy to live with.
If we were Michael Jackson, this week would be the worst week of our lives. Just a few days ago Michael Jackson lost his beloved Neverland ranch and now he’s being sued by a vengeful sheikh for millions of dollars. That’s a double combo of misery that not many could take.
However – simply because no children have accused him of wanking them off and no large chunks of his face have plopped off into his soup during dinner – this actually counts as a fairly decent week for Michael Jackson. Oh Michael Jackson, you’re such a glass half full kinda guy.
But, anyway, that doesn’t detract from the fact that Michael Jackson is being sued by Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa of Bahrain. Remember Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa? Of course you do – he’s the man who Michael Jackson hightailed it to after he was acquitted of child molestation. He put Michael Jackson up in Bahrain while Jackson decided to make his comeback by recording an album with the sheikh.
Somewhat predictably, the deal fell through a few months later and Michael Jackson hightailed it out of Bahrain just as fast as he’d gone there. Which would be fine, except that Sheikh Abdulla bin Hamad Al Khalifa says he paid Michael Jackson $7 million for the album, and he’s suing Jackson to get it back. AP reports:
Al Khalifa wanted to work with Jackson on rebuilding his career. To that end, the sheikh spent millions paying Jackson’s legal fees, moving him to Bahrain and supporting Jackson, his family and entourage. The expenses included $350,000 for a European vacation for Jackson and his associates. “The cost even included the expenses of bringing out Mr. Jackson’s hairdresser. It’s not a conventional commercial dispute.”
Now, this isn’t the first time that Michael Jackson has been sued before, and we think we know the deal here – Michael Jackson will stall for as long as he can and then an arrangement will be made that involves about 15 oddly-named umbrella finance firms which are all subsidiaries of one another who’ll shunt Michael Jackson’s debt around with such confusing frequency that it’d even make Carol Vorderman lose all semblance of bowel control.
Or Michael Jackson could win the lawsuit, which could happen. Or, worst case scenario, Michael Jackson could agree to pay the $7 million outright. And that’s a lot of handshakes.
Really, though, we’re just disappointed that Michael Jackson didn’t make the album he’s accused of bailing on. After all, who wouldn’t want to hear the fruits of a recording session between Michael Jackson and an obscenely wealthy Middle Eastern sheikh who fancies himself as a bit of an amateur songwriter and performer?
But sadly it didn’t happen, and so we’re left with only dreams of what could have been. Those dreams, incidentally, include the release of the following songs:
Hippy Hippy Sheikh
Sheikh Down
Sheikh A Leg
Sheikh Your Groove Thing
Sheikh That Ass
Sheikh Appeal
Chicken Sheikh
Sheikh Dog Sheikh
Boom! Sheikh The Room
OK, we’re just going to go and kill ourselves now.
Julian Mentat says
Hang on. Did the contract say that the album and play had to be any GOOD? Or SUCCESSFUL?
If not, what the heck does MJ do all day? Make stupid posts on blogs?
Wanker Spotter says
This writer/commentator, Stuart Heritage is a simpleton.
What a waste of the effort it would have required for him to reach adulthood and his inane comments make me wonder if he as to pay this site to post them.