Closure is not yet in the cards for all those involved in the death of Michael Jackson, as Jackson’s personal assistant has taken legal action against the company responsible for Jackson’s cancelled This Is It tour. According to TMZ, Michael Amir Williams believes that The Anschutz Entertainment Group (AEG) that organized the tour should be held accountable for $7.5 million promised to Jackson’s staff for their services during the tour.
Dr. Conrad Murray, the man convicted of involuntary manslaughter after administering Jackson a fatal dose of Propofol, was hired by AEG, a decision Williams claims makes the group responsible for Jackson’s death and the tour’s cancellation. Williams is seeking an unknown amount in damages in the case.
On Tuesday, Untouchable: The Strange Life and Tragic Death of Michael Jackson, a new book chronicling Jackson’s life hit stores, the culmination of the three years journalist Randall Sullivan spent alongside the King of Pop. Jackson is portrayed as a man weighed down by fame, a burden that split over into his sexual and emotional relationships. Sullivan described Jackson’s fascination with youth and his belief that he was “a child trapped in an adult world.”
“I think he did all that he could to neutralize himself,” he said. “I don’t think Michael was trying to be homosexual, heterosexual, pedophile, I think he was trying to be asexual: pre-sexual actually,” Sullivan told ABC Nightline. “I think he was aiming to be pre-sexual because he saw that as the one place where innocence and purity and great ideas and you know, artistic visions and poetic fantasies all abide.”
Jackson’s family declined the opportunity to be interviewed for Sullivan’s 800 page book, perhaps due to the writer’s harsh criticism for the rest of the Jackson clan. “People want to believe that the Jackson’s are a family of very, very talented people,” Sullivan said. “Really there was one very, very talented person. I mean Jermaine has a bit of a voice, but I don’t think he’d have risen above the level of lounge singer without Michael.”