MJ shows up late for court

Michael Jackson kept his fans and adversaries waiting, showing up four hours late to testify for a second day in a $21m (€20.9m) lawsuit against him.

After a judge granted him permission to postpone his scheduled testimony until the afternoon, the reclusive pop star arrived at the courthouse in Santa Maria, California yesterday without the surgical mask he had worn a day earlier, but carrying a black umbrella.

Sporting a blue corduroy suit and bright red shirt, Jackson’s arrival sparked cheers from about 200 waiting fans. The singer took several minutes to sign autographs, throwing kisses as he moved past the barricaded crowd and flashing the thumbs-up sign when he went inside.

Jackson is being sued by his long-time promoter, Marcel Avram, for allegedly backing out of two millennium concerts scheduled for New Year’s Eve 1999. Jackson maintains that it was Avram, not he, who cancelled the shows over concerns they would not be profitable.

During his testimony yesterday, Jackson exhibited a showman’s flair under questioning from Avram’s lawyer, Louis “Skip” Miller. At one point, Mr Miller questioned Jackson’s contention that he had worked toward the concerts by practising dance moves and making plans to include magic in the act.

“Magic?,” Miller said.

“Yes, magic, as in abracadabra,” Jackson answered, drawing appreciative laughs from spectators.

Jackson’s lawyers offered no explanation for why their client needed to postpone his appearance at the last minute when jurors already had been assembled.