HOLLYWOOD - Sporting his customary surgical mask, pop oddity Michael Jackson made a rare public appearance at a Santa Maria, Calif., courthouse Wednesday to testify in a $21 million breach-of-contract lawsuit by a former promoter.The suit says Jackson signed a deal with German-based promoter Marcel Avram in early 1999 to perform four concerts: two charity benefits in June of that year and two New Year's Eve millennium concerts on either side of the International Dateline, one in Honolulu and one in Sydney, Australia.
Avram claims Jackson backed out of the two millennium concerts, citing recording commitments. He also contends the singer was paid a $1 million advance and had debts totaling $1.2 million covered.
Accompanied by a police escort and a white-gloved chauffeur, Jackson made his way through a horde of reporters and about 100 screaming fans behind a barricade. Some 30 people won seats in a lottery for a rare, up-close glimpse of the star.
According to Reuters, the gloved one entered the packed courtroom wearing black slacks, a red corduroy shirt, black eyeliner and pink lipstick. He sported a wispy goatee and skin appeared to be flaking from his nose.
Jackson weathered about three hours of questioning from Avram's lawyer, Louis "Skip" Miller. During the proceedings, he often smiled or laughed to himself and at one point appeared to dance around in his seat to a song in his head.
Jackson insisted it was Avram who canceled the concerts and said he had a vivid memory of the call.
"I remember feeling a little bit upset because I was looking forward to doing the millennium shows," Jackson said. "I was so excited about them that I told people in my organization that we should reach the Guinness Book of World Records because I felt that these would be the most-watched events of all time."
When Miller pointed out discrepancies in Jackson's testimony Wednesday with what he said Avram told him in a deposition last June, Jackson said his memory surrounding the event had improved.
"It's not unusual for my mental clarity to be heightened," he said.
Jackson went on to say that he had rehearsed for the shows in his bathroom.
"I remember dancing in my bathroom, in the mirror," he said. "I was conceptualizing things I could do in the show."
Heightened mental clarity notwithstanding, Jackson, however, had difficulty remembering many of the dispute's key points and told Miller he would not answer because he did not want to guess.
Jackson's lawyer, Zia Modabber, said it was Avram who postponed the concerts when he met with Jackson's representatives in October 1999. According to Modabber, Avram had agreed to pay Jackson $15 million but realized the shows would not be as profitable as he had hoped.
Jackson is expected to return for more questioning today.