I'm sure it's never very exciting to have multiple lawsuits against you, but I can't help but wonder if Michael Jackson is at least relieved to be sued merely for lack of payment these days.
Plaintiff #1: his former publicist Raymone Bain, who shepherded him through those less pleasant lawsuits is suing him for $44 million she claims to be owed. I didn't know that a publicist could make more than $5 million a year, but there are a lot of things I don't know about life at the Michael Jackson level.
Plaintiff #2: Ola Ray, the girl in the Thriller video, who is suing for back royalties from the video. Via Rolling Stone, she's issued as friendly of a statement as a plaintiff in a lawsuit could:
“She just wants to get her fair share of payments from this extremely successful project that she’s very proud of,” said Ray’s lawyer, Jason Feldman. “She did receive some payments early on, but we don’t believe they were complete, and they were never timely.” He claims his client has not received one dime from Jackson since 1998, and he expects any judgment a jury might render will be “a significant sum.”
In better news for Jackson, he begins a 50 concert run in London this summer, his first consistent string of shows since 1997. He stands to make a handsome sum which will come in handy should he lose either of these suits, but an applause is in order for one of the great performers balancing out his courtroom time with some stage time.
