AEG Live CEO describes Michael Jackson as forceful businessman

LOS ANGELES (AP) - The CEO of AEG Live LLC told jurors he knew Michael Jackson as a sophisticated, forceful businessman, not the drugged-up performer who's been described throughout a civil trial...

Luther Vandross was outed as gay after his death.

LOS ANGELES (AP) — The CEO of AEG Live LLC told jurors he knew Michael Jackson as a sophisticated, forceful businessman, not the drugged-up performer who’s been described throughout a civil trial.

Randy Phillips told jurors Wednesday that Jackson was a far more complex figure than has been portrayed in the case filed by the singer’s mother over her son’s death.

Phillips says Jackson has been portrayed as “drug-addled 5-year-old” during the trial, which is now in its seventh week. He says that’s not how he viewed Jackson, who he described as competent and knowing exactly who he wanted to work with as he attempted a comeback in 2009.

Katherine Jackson’s lawsuit claims Phillips and his company failed to properly investigate the doctor convicted of causing Jackson’s death.

AEG denies wrongdoing.

Copyright 2013 The Associated Press.

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