Jacko shows up four hours late to second day of testimony

On his second day of scheduled testimony in the breach-of-contract lawsuit filed against him, Michael Jackson showed up to court four hours late, only to testify that he had little recollection of the disputed deal that would have had him playing two ”millennium” concerts on New Years Eve in 1999. Promoter Marcel Avram has sued him for $21 million, claiming the singer unilaterally pulled out of the shows, but Jackson had testified Wednesday that it was Avram who pulled the plug on the concerts.

Jackson’s lawyers offered no explanation for the King of Pop’s tardiness, but one pool photographer, identified by E! as Spencer Weiner, told reporters that Jackson’s lawyers had objected to the intrusiveness and distraction of the cameras in the courtroom, leading to a discussion in Judge Zel Canter’s chambers, in which the judge urged the photographers to be more discreet but did not ban them from the courtroom. Of course, Jackson may also have objected to an unflattering and widely disseminated photo taken during his testimony Wednesday, which showed the singer with what looked like a bandage or plaster flaking from his nose.

The bandage was gone, however, when Jackson arrived Thursday at the Santa Maria, Calif., courthouse. While on Wednesday he had denied responsibility for canceling the two concerts, on Thursday, he said he didn’t remember many of the details of the contract with Avram. ”There’s an overview [that I get] of what’s going on financially, but I’m in the creative department,” Reuters quoted him as saying. ”I’m a visionary.” He also said that giving two concerts, scheduled hours apart on opposite sides of the International Date Line, would have been ruinous to his health. ”That would have been tough,” Jackson said, according to the New York Post. ”Every show, I lose 15 pounds. They weigh me before and after the show. We have to balance things for my health.”