Tightly pulled actor Rupert Everett sat down for a long cozy interview with UK’s Daily Mirror for what seemed to be no other reason that talking some serious smack about bigger celebrities. He wasn’t really promoting anything – there was a relatively brief mention of his upcoming documentary, “The Scandalous Adventures of Lord Byron,” but that’s it. He was just there to share some nasty, catty thoughts, as per usual.

The main target of his tirade was Michael Jackson, who Everett once had a crush on, but clearly fell very much out of love with. But he also made sure to pick on Gwyneth Paltrow while praising Katie Price too.

It’s 7pm in a busy Italian restaurant just off New York’s Broadway and Rupert Everett is in full gossip mode. As the pre-theatre dining crowd crane to eavesdrop, he leans in and says in a slightly too-loud stage whisper: “I would have leapt at the chance of sleeping with Michael Jackson when I was 14.”

An elderly lady blushes beetroot red, and a waiter almost drops a plate of pasta. Everett takes a sip of his red wine, blissfully uns aware of the shock he has just caused… Not that Everett, whose own brief foray into the pop world included singing backing vocals on his mate Madonna’s version of American Pie, was any fan of Jackson’s.

“He was a freak,” says Everett, who at 50 is the same age Jacko was when he died. “He looked like a character from Shrek. He was a black to white minstrel. He was crucified by that court case when he was accused of child molestation – that killed him. He personified the pain and anxiety of a black man in a slave country. We all watched as he changed from black to white. He was living performance art. I think it was fortuitous that he died. He was supposed to be doing 50 concerts in London.

“It wouldn’t have mattered how good or bad he was. He wouldn’t have managed to do all of them and the press would have destroyed him.” Everett believes that Jacko’s death may even spell the end of modern-day celebrity itself. “You cannot divide the music from the person,” he says. “I think his life – and death – is a great lesson.

[From the Daily Mirror]

He later notes, “‘We have Michael Jackson, a black man who has gone white, and we have President Barack Obama, who is a half-white man gone black. It’s absolutely fascinating to watch.’” Rupert seems to lack the normal self-censoring gland most of us have. He seems to relish the shock factor more than anything. Everyone’s allowed their own opinion, and Michael Jackson certainly arouses a lot of them. But… damn. Those comments are best shared privately between close confidants, not tabloid journalists. Of course Everett knew saying stuff like that would get him a lot of attention, and that was probably the purpose. After all, he also took on Katie Price and Gwyneth Paltrow, saying he’d rather be stuck on a deserted island with Katie, because at least she’s real.

Ask him about other celebrities and he homes in on Katie a Price, the former glamour model Jordan whose marriage to Peter Andre crashed and burned on reality TV. “Jordan is one of those people who has integrity,” he says. “She is not dishonest about what she is doing. She should make hay while the sun shines.

“Her eldest son is severely disabled – she needs the money for the future. She is very beautiful and even the books that she may or may not have written have been a success. She has achieved more than a lot of other people.” And then, out of nowhere, he shows his manicured claws. “If I had the choice of being on a desert island with Jordan or Gwyneth Paltrow, I would choose Jordan,” he says.

“With Jordan you get the truth. She’s treated like a quasi-hooker, whereas Gwyneth is seen as the patron saint of good living. Which one has more integrity? I would much rather have Jordan any day.” Miaow. Saucer of milk to go with the plate of pasta for table two please.

He says he is still good pals with Gwyneth’s mate Madonna, although when asked if she has been to see him during his stint on Broadway he shakes his head.

[From the Daily Mirror]

Something tells me Madge won’t be attending any Rupert-related functions for quite a while. She and Gwyneth are super close, and I seriously doubt she’d put up with a more distant acquaintance talking smack about her joined-at-the-hip friend. In all fairness we’re not exactly big Gwyneth fans at Celebitchy, so I can’t really blame Rupert. But as far as I know Gwyneth and I don’t have any mutual social connections that I could be irreparably severing. I can kind of see his point about Katie Price if you wanted to look at her celebrity really superficially. If her sole motivation was making enough money to take care of her son Harvey, that would be fairly noble. It appears that fame and lots of drunken debauchery is also really important to her, so that sort of dims Rupert’s argument a bit. Nonetheless, if you made me choose between Gwyneth and Katie on a deserted island, I’d probably go with Katie. She could teach me how to apply false eyelashes and crush my boobs together. Gwyneth would just teach me how to make another vegan sandwich.

Thanks to Hollywood Rag for the lead.

Here’s Rupert Everett at the Princess Anne Theatre in London for the preview screening of his documentary for Channel 4, ‘The Scandalous Adventures of Lord Byron.’ Images thanks to WENN.com .

Michael Jackson’s body has not yet be interred in its final resting place, but there are plenty of plans underway to cash in on his memory. There’s a potential documentary coming, featuring previously unseen footage of his concert rehearsals, a TV special to showcase Jackson’s music and choreography, and two tribute concerts planned with his family at O2 arena, where he would have started his comeback show last week. I’m sure everyone just wants to honor Michael in their way, and doesn’t care at all about the boatload of cash they stand to make off his tragic life’s work.

Sony bids $50 million for Jackson rehearsal footage

Sony Corp.’s movie studio has bid $50 million to acquire the worldwide distribution rights to a film based on rehearsal footage for Michael Jackson’s “This Is It” comeback concert series, according to a person familiar with the bid.

The person said Monday that the bid came after several studios, including Paramount, Universal and 20th Century Fox, were shown footage starting early last week. The person spoke on condition of anonymity because the bidding had not been completed. None of the studios would comment on the record.

The winning studio would produce the film with Jackson’s concert promoter, AEG Live, and his estate. It would go a long way to helping AEG Live recoup some of the $30 million to $32 million it spent producing the concert before Jackson died June 25.

The bidding was reported earlier by the Los Angeles Times and industry blogger Nikki Finke.

Sony Pictures has a leg up on other bidders because Sony Music distributes Jackson’s music and is in a 50-50 partnership with his estate in Sony/ATV Music Publishing. Sony’s bid is on par with the cost of making a mid-range budget movie, and is offset by the fact that the Sony group of companies would benefit from the music licensing rights attached to the film…

“This type of a story, if put together right, could be very compelling and draw a very, very wide audience,” said Mark Fleischer, an entertainment attorney with Venable LLP and former executive at MGM Studios.

Jackson musical special could be coming

The estate and AEG Live are also negotiating with several television networks and pay-per-view outlets on a TV special that would be a stage show featuring Jackson’s music and dancing. It would be directed by “This Is It” director Kenny Ortega.

The selling price being discussed for the rights to show the TV special is also in the tens of millions of dollars.

General Electric Co.’s NBC has been in talks on the TV show, but the concept, air date and cost for the rights has not been finalized, said NBC spokeswoman Rebecca Marks.

“We have no deal for the rights to the Michael Jackson special,” Marks said.

The special administrators of Jackson’s estate, attorney John Branca and former music executive John McClain, have been moving quickly to secure Jackson’s assets and cut deals to capitalize on the surge in interest in the pop star since he died.

Last week, Branca and McClain received signed court papers authorizing them to act on his estate’s behalf until another hearing Aug. 3. McClain has been sorting through unreleased Jackson recordings, while Sony Music is interested in releasing a commemorative album. Music sales have soared.

[From AP via Huffington Post]

Meanwhile Jackson’s four brothers are planning at least two concerts to “honor” Michael. The first is scheduled for his birthday, August 29, at O2 arena in London.

Brothers plan tribute concerts

If all goes according to plan there will be not one, but two tribute concerts for Michael Jackson at London’s O2 Arena this August. The date for the first is Aug. 29, which would have been Jackson’s 51st birthday.

“As the schedule stands right now, there will be a second show on Aug. 30,” said a source involved with the scheduling.

Jackson’s brothers, Jermaine, Jackie, Tito and Marlon, have been involved in “every part of the concerts’ planning process” according to the source, and they have good reason to be: they’ll be performing at the shows, too. Expect to see the Jackson 4 perform a medley of the Jackson 5’s greatest hits.

A plan to do a tribute show was first announced at a meeting of “This is It” tour cast and crew on June 27. At that meeting, tour director Kenny Ortega told the cast and crew that the memorial concert would be “what Jackson would have wanted.”

According to the current schedule, rehearsals will take place in Los Angeles the first two weeks of August, and they’ll move to London the week before the concerts.

[From MSNBC's The Scoop]

Over the weekend, LaToya Jackson released a tribute song for Michael. I’m sure most of the family, Joe excepted, is broken up about Michael’s death and is heartbroken to lose a family member. They sure aren’t hesitating to get involved in these probably well-paid tributes, though. It seems like Michael is more of a commodity to his family and business managers in death than he ever was in life. He never did learn to manage his vast wealth or fame, and now that he’s passed on others are more than willing to do it for him.

Photos are of fans gathered outside Notre Dame Cathedral in Paris on 6/27/09. Credit: ANG/Fame Pictures

Vanity Fair has a really interesting story about the photographer who took the last photo of Michael Jackson – the infamous ambulance shot. Michael had a very interesting relationship with his fans, one that was surprisingly close. According to the paparazzo, Christopher Weiss, Jackson would occasionally deliver handwritten letters to the (mostly) young women who followed him around and camped out outside his home.

And sometimes Michael would come out and say hello. One time he handed out five handwritten letters that said things like ‘I can feel your energy through the walls. You inspire me so much. I love you all. Thank you for being there. Thank you for being my friend. Thank you for loving me. With all the love in my heart, Michael Jackson.’ I was always impressed by that, how deeply he seemed to care for these girls. When he hugged one of them, he would put one hand on her neck, behind her head, that extra-comforting move like you would do to a person you know. The writing in those letters had a style that was personal, deep, flowery, ornate. It was not ‘Thanks guys. Have a good night. I hope you like the music.’”

[From Vanity Fair]

Vanity Fair also notes that “every member of the core group of Jackson fans that I met had, at some point, been invited into his house to have dinner or to watch movies and hang out.” That’s obviously not something you get with 99.99% of celebrities. As they also point out, if you camped outside of Bruce Willis’ house screaming about how you loved him, you’d probably be arrested. Do it long enough to prove you mean it and Michael Jackson would invite you in for dinner and some Xbox.

The article talks a lot about the complex relationship between the paparazzi and celebrities. Weiss and the agency he worked for, National Photo Group, were the most dedicated to covering the Jackson beat. They took photos back when no one was really interested. Weiss had only been covering Jackson for about six months, but noted that sometimes he’d chat with the paparazzi a bit and seemed genuinely kind.

Christopher Weiss and his boss Ben Evenstad gave some interesting thoughts on the ethical quagmire associated with the now-infamous photo.

How does it feel, knowing that Jackson might well have been dead when the picture was taken? Weiss struggles to formulate an answer, then says, “I am glad, if somebody had to take that photo, that it was me. But I would rather it not have happened. I’d rather have a photo of him carrying his kids piggyback in the park, which is something that’s never been shot and I used to hope for. I understand the magnitude of the photo and that it has a kind of place in history. But it sucks. It just sucks.”

This ambivalence was eating at both of the photographers the day after Jackson died. Evenstad, who didn’t sleep that night, says, “I’m not a morbid person. I don’t want to celebrate someone’s death because I’m making money. I wish Michael wasn’t dead. And I would do better, business-wise, if he were still alive. But given that he died, I am not sorry that we got the last photo. That’s something that the world wants to see. It took skill and effort to get that photo, and for that I’m proud. But we are in mourning.”

[From Vanity Fair]

It does seem sort of fitting that if someone had to take that shot, at least it was a photographer who’d followed him and learned about him and become a genuine fan. The whole article is really interesting in reading the photographers’ accounting of what happened that day. Ben Weiss used to be a paramedic, and he talked about zooming in on some of the displays inside the ambulance, which told him the situation was serious. The agency will probably end up netting somewhere around a million dollars for the photo, with Weiss getting a six figure bonus.

It’s clear to hear Weiss speak about Michael that he really was a fan and found his work unexpectedly interesting. Both he and Ben Evenstad made it clear they’re saddened about Michael’s passing, and would have made a lot more money over time if he’d stayed alive. But as they kept saying it is what it is, and they did their jobs and made the best of the situation.

You can see the infamous photo here.

Michael Jackson is shown out in Beverly Hills on 10/23/08. Credit: Fame

Comedian Kathy Griffin was in the audience when Michael Jackson’s head caught on fire during his ill-fated Pepsi commercial shoot in 1984. Griffin was an extra, and said that she didn’t notice anything was wrong at first until a group of guys jumped on Jackson, spraying him with a fire extinguisher.

Kathy Griffin reveals she was an extra on Michael Jackson’s ill-fated 1984 Pepsi commercial.

“I was happy to be an extra. I was just part of the crowd scene,” the comic explains to Extra. “I will just never forget seeing Michael Jackson from a distance and just thinking, ‘Oh my God, that’s Michael Jackson.’ You kind of can’t believe it.”

Griffin says she remembers the scene — shot in L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium in front of 3,000 fans — “vividly.

“Jon [Lovitz] was there. They were taping it. We really didn’t notice [his hair on fire at first],” she says. “When it actually happened…he was literally spinning, and then there was smoke and a bunch of people kind of jumped on him.

“They didn’t tell any extras what was going on. Then rumors kind of rippled through the audience,” Griffin goes on. “By the time I got home that night, it was the biggest news story on the news. It’s fascinating somebody had that tape.

“And we never knew how serious the injury was,” she says. “I could only imagine that [it] was very painful.”

[From Us Weekly]

I would imagine that, from straight on in the audience, even if someone was closely watching Jackson, it wouldn’t be clear exactly what happened to him. Really, what is most significant about that video is the angle from which it was shot. It must have been an interesting experience to be there, and I’m surprised Griffin hasn’t mentioned it before.

In Pepsi’s response to the video’s release, they asked, “Why share such frightening images?” Well, I think a good reason is what Kathy said about never really knowing how serious the injury was. And she was there. But when you see the video, especially the upsetting part that shows the wound on the top of Jackson’s head, you realize what a big deal it was. Combined with what his doctor has shared about all the painful procedures he went through in an attempt to correct the damage from that one incident, it does make some people see some of Jackson’s issues in a different light.

Here is the video – with the obvious warning that it is graphic and upsetting to some.

PepsiCo has issued an official response to the video that’s circulating featuring Michael Jackson’s hair catching fire on that fateful day in 1984 when he was filming a Pepsi commercial. They’re thoughtful and considerate in their statement, saying they’ll never forget the incident, and don’t understand why someone would release the footage. They can’t hold anyone responsible for leaking the video because there’s no way to tell who owns it after all this time:

Pepsi has responded to yesterday’s appearance on the internet of footage of Michael Jackson being burned while filming an ad for the soft drink in 1984. Contacted by EW about the material, which was posted by US Weekly, Pepsi spokeswoman Nicole Bradley sent the following statement.

“We don’t know how the footage became available. Twenty-five years later, we’d question why anyone would want to share such frightening images. It was a terrifying event that we’ll never forget.

We were grateful for Michael’s recovery and for the chance to continue working with him on a number of successful projects.

As for Michael as an artist, his music helped us define a generation and, like everyone else, we’re deeply saddened by his passing.”

Bradley also told EW that the company is not currently attempting to get the footage taken down and that Pepsi itself may well not own the rights to the material. “We don’t know where it came from,” she says. “We don’t know what that footage is. It’s 25 years ago. We don’t know who owns it, so we have no recourse as far as I know. I can only tell you what I know. We didn’t put it up and we don’t know where it came from.”

[From EW.com]

Many of you said that the video was really disturbing and you wish you hadn’t watched it. Others said it put Michael’s prescription drug abuse in context and showed what a harrowing, painful experience he went through at the height of his career. His dermatologist, Dr. Klein, told Larry King that Jackson was using something called “tissue expanders,” or balloon-like devices in his skull to try and repair all the scar tissue there, and that the expanders just kept increasing his bald spot. He had a lot of problems that were often compounded by all the treatments he sought.

Pepsi knows why US Weekly released that footage. It’s a sensational video that shows a terrible accident in the life of a now-deceased International superstar. It’s likely that Michael Jackson would have been a much different person in the last decades of his life if his hair hadn’t caught on fire that day. We’ll never know, though. We can watch the video and be shocked, and maybe have some compassion for a man we used to dismiss as a warped eccentric version of his former self.

Michael Jackson is shown performing in Tel Aviv, Israel in 1998. Credit: ANG/Fame Pictures

Paul McCartney did a free concert for fans atop the marquee of the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York for his appearance on The Late Show last night. McCartney was performing at the same place the Beatles made their US television debut, on the Ed Sullivan Show in 1964. It was the first time McCartney had appeared on Letterman in over 25 years, and Letterman joked that he gave up trying to get him back on the show after about 15 years.

McCartney played the Beatles tunes “Get Back” and “Back in The USSR,” (video below) a possible reference to the fact that he was “back” after a hiatus. He also performed a new track from his latest album with his band The Fireman (with Youth of Killing Joke) called “Sing The Changes.” (Update: I’ve also found video of him performing “Band On The Run” and “Helter Skelter“) He was on to promote his upcoming US tour, which opens at The NY Mets’ new stadium, Citi Field, on July 17.

During the show the banter between McCartney and Letterman took a while to get rolling, with Letterman asking him about his past at first. McCartney recounted some stories about how the Beatles became a worldwide phenomenon. McCartney came across as kind of low-key and not too concerned about his young rise to massive fame. It was like it happened, it was cool, and he went on to other things. He said that “other people know my history better than I do,” meaning that he wasn’t too focused on the past and doesn’t revel in the old times much.

On how the rumors that he was dead got started
McCartney told a funny story about how the old rumors that he was dead got started in the 1960s. Letterman specifically asked him about it, and he explained:

“What happened is that we did a cover for a record called ‘Abbey Road’… [applause]

“So the idea was to walk across the crossing, and I showed up that day with sandals, flip-flops… It was so hot that I kicked them off and walked across barefooted.

“This started some rumor that because he was barefooted, he’s dead. I couldn’t see the connection myself…”

Dave asked “How do you manage something like that, because it was a global rumor?”

“I just laughed at it and knew it was just because of the fame and the craziness. It was an American DJ so you guys are to blame…

“It was a little bit strange because people started looking at me like ‘is it him or a very good double?’

Dave explained “That was the other part of it, that there was a guy that looked like you taking your place.”

McCartney pointed to himself and said “This is him.”

On his collaboration with Michael Jackson
Dave then showed a photo of McCartney with Michael Jackson taken in 1982 when they were working together.

McCartney explained that Jackson called him up on Christmas Day one year and asked “Do you want to make some hits?”

“So I said yeah, sure, you know being of the hit-making variety. So we did and it was really nice. He came to my house, and we got to know the family and stuff and he had a great guy, used to come with him, a guy called Billy.

“It was very nice. We had a really good time. We made a couple of records together, did a video and we’re very good friends.”

On how their friendship suffered when Jackson bought the Beatles catalog
“It actually kind of fell apart a little bit later because he was talking to me and asking my business advice and one of the things I said to him was ‘Think about getting into music publishing,’ and then he looked at me and I thought he was joking and he said ‘I’m going to get yours.’”

“It turned out to be true… which was cool. Somebody had to get it I suppose…”

On asking Michael Jackson for a raise
“Then I started to ring him up. I thought, ‘He is the guy historically placed to give Leno/McCartney a good deal at last.’

“We got signed when we were 21 or something in a back alley in Liverpool and the deal remained the same, even though we made this company… hugely successful.

“So I kept thinking it was time for a raise… You would, you know? I did talk to him about it. He kept saying ‘That’s just business Paul.’

“We never got to it, so we kind of drifted apart. It was no big bust up.”

“He was a lovely man, massively talented and we miss him.”

Last week, McCartney wrote that he’s not upset that Jackson didn’t bequeath the Beatles song catalog to him in his will, and that never never expected him to. I doubt whoever eventually gets control of it will give McCartney a raise, either.

I really like Paul McCartney. You can tell he’s comfortable with his fame and just takes it as a matter-of-fact without any conceit at all. He also clearly loves to perform and make music, and at 67 he can still bring it for his adoring fans young and old. I found myself smiling and tapping my feet to both McCartney’s classics and his new song, a uplifting thoughtful tune. Thanks Paul, for being you and for hanging in there despite all the craziness you’ve endured over the years.

You can watch McCartney’s interview on YouTube:
Paul McCartney Interview on David Letterman 7/15/09 – Part 1
Paul McCartney Interview on David Letterman 7/15/09 – Part 2

Paul McCartney and Michael Jackson are shown in 1983 (note: some of you said the dates were wrong on other early Jackson photos from this agency, WENN.com). McCartney is also shown performing outside the Late Show last night. Bruce Willis read the Top Ten that night and he got a prime seat. Credit: Janet Mayer: PRPhotos

This is obviously not the photo. You can see that on ABC News. This photo is reportedly from 1985. Credit: WENN.com

ABC News has exclusive photos of Michael Jackson’s legs, taken in 2002, and there’s a huge black spot that looks like a painful giant wound. (The Daily Mail has larger versions of the images if you can tolerate seeing them.) It’s hard to describe the injury except to say that it looks like there’s a chunk missing from his shin and that it’s healing slowly. They quote a doctor who says that the wound looks like necrosis, or tissue death, which may have been caused by “acidic fluid” entering the skin via IV. There are multiple IV-like puncture wounds on his legs. Jackson is said to have been taking the powerful anesthesia drug Propofol, which burns on contact and often requires “pretreatment with Lidocaine,” according to Wikipedia. Propofol, which should never be administered at home, is thought to have ultimately caused his death. It is strange for someone to implant an IV in the legs, and the doctor says she’s never seen it done and that it must be a last resort when the veins in the arms are no longer accessible.

Exclusive photos of Michael Jackson obtained by ABC News show a serious wound on the pop star’s right leg, which a medical expert said appears to be surrounded by unusual needle punctures.

“On the photographs of Michael Jackson, it looks like there was necrosis on his lower leg where there might have been fluid that went into his lower leg,” a possible result of an IV that had leaked into the leg, Dr. Debra Jaliman, a leading dermatologist and spokeswoman for the American Academy of Dermatology, told ABC News.

“It looks like there are multiple puncture points from IV placement,” she said.

The wound seen in the photos, which were taken in 2002, could have been a result of contact with highly caustic, acidic fluid that would burn the skin and cause it to turn black, Jaliman said.

“If, in fact, he had an IV here, and the IV fluid, which may have been acidic fluid, went into his skin, it might may have, in fact, destroyed the skin,” she said. “That’s all dead skin that would then make an ulceration underneath that skin.”

In the photos, Jaliman highlighted areas of blue discoloration in Jackson’s leg and puncture marks, which she said point to needle entry.

“If you look at his lower leg you can see puncture points here, so it looks like there was a needle entry here, possibly a needle entry here on his leg,” she told ABC News.

Jaliman called the practice of placing an IV in a leg “very unusual.”

“In 22 years of training, I’ve never seen an IV placed in the legs. You would put, you know, IVs in hands, arms, but oftentimes in my training when I have dealt with people who didn’t have veins anymore in their hands or arms, you look for veins that you can use and sometimes you have to look in other areas of the body,” Jaliman said.

[From ABC News]

The photos also show plenty of evidence of vitiligo, the auto-immune skin condition that Jackson suffered that caused him to lose pigmentation. He is thought to have used prescription bleaching cream to even out his skin.

Jackson’s dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, said on Larry King that he knew that Jackson had an anesthesiologist on his tour with him in Germany and that he used Propofol in order to sleep at night. He also claimed he warned him about the drug, but who knows if that’s true. The last time Jackson was on tour was 1997 during the HIStory world tour. That means that he was using this very potent potentially lethal anesthesia drug for over ten years before his death. It’s possible he only used it occasionally, but seven years ago, in 2002, he had to resort to receiving an IVs in his leg and suffered severe damage to his tissue because of it. He was also using an astronomical amount of prescription drugs and mixing them, with staff members saying he took upwards of 10 Xanax a night, and sometimes 20 to 30. Jackson’s death might have been an accident, but it seems like one that was kind of inevitable given the path he was on.

Update: Spider bite theory
Thanks to commenter copper woman for mentioning that these photos may be of one of Jackson’s alleged spider bites in 2002. MTV carried this story, and Jackson used the supposed spider bites as an excuse for missing a court date in his trial for reneging on a concert deal. He claimed he suffered spider bites on his hand and ankle, though, not on his shin. An entomologist is quoted as saying there are no spiders in California which can cause the swelling that Jackson was showing at the time:

When Michael Jackson failed to show up for court on Thursday due to a spider bite, the judge in his ongoing breach-of-contract trial in Santa Maria, California, ordered the singer to undergo a medical examination.

Jackson has complained of a series of medical maladies since the beginning of the trial, in which he’s accused of backing out on a pair of millennium concert performances

The singer initially blamed his late arrival on November 14 on a mysterious ailment — it later turned out he was just sick of the unflattering court photos taken the previous day. The next day, Jackson claimed he received his first spider bite, on his hand. Then, when court resumed after a two-week recess in which Jackson took a controversial trip to Germany, Jackson showed up to Santa Barbara Superior Court on crutches on Tuesday, complaining of a second spider bite. This time the bite was on his left foot, which he said was swollen.

In addition to the crutches, Jackson relied upon a bodyguard, who helped carry him out of court on Wednesday. “It is a spider bite,” Jackson told reporters. “It is real bad. If I showed it to you, you’d be shocked. It hurts very much right now as I speak.”

Though Jackson keeps pet tarantulas on his Neverland ranch, he claimed that a small indigenous spider that had crawled out from the scrub brush near his compound caused the bite. He said it had been smoked out during a routine fumigation. However, a Southern California entomologist told the New York Post on Wednesday that he thinks it’s doubtful Jackson’s spider bite could have been caused by a local variety, since the only kind of poisonous spider in Jackson’s neighborhood would be the black widow, whose bite does not cause swelling.

“The fact that Michael Jackson says he has a spider bite is a bunch of crap,” Rick Vetter, staff research associate in the department of entomology at UC Riverside and an internationally known expert on spiders, told the Post. “Jackson has no idea what he’s talking about. I want to see the spider.”

[From MTV News]

Radar Online has a new interview with a guy who was the live-in lover of Michael Jackson’s dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein, for four months in 2006. They were dating for about a year before they moved in together, and met on a gay men’s website that has “Bear” in the title.

Yesterday Dr. Klein’s ex told Radar that Klein gave him about three prescriptions for Codeine to help him cope with pain in his back. He said that Klein had the prescriptions filled in his own name, not his name, and that it seemed suspicious. The guy insinuated that if Klein was so willing to give him a prescription for an opiate and to try to hide it that he would most likely do the same for his old friend Michael Jackson.

Today Radar has posted an interview in which the guy says that Klein told him he’s the father of Michael Jackson’s three children. Supposedly the mother of the two older children, Debbie Rowe didn’t know that Klein was the sperm donor until about a year before the divorce in late 1999. At that point, Prince Michael was two and Paris was just a few months old. Further complicating this story is the fact that Rowe used to work as a nurse in Klein’s office.

In a bombshell new interview, Paul Gohranson, a former live-in masseur and lover of Dr. Arnold Klein, tells RadarOnline.com exclusively that Klein told him as far as he knew, he was the father of all three of Michael’s children – including the youngest, Blanket.

In our explosive interview, Gohranson also says that Debbie Rowe — Michael Jackson’s former wife who gave birth to two of Jackson’s children – at first did not know that Klein was the sperm donor. Rowe had worked with Klein as his nursing assistant while he was treating Jackson for his severe acne.

Gohranson says: “According to Arnold (Klein), they (Jackson and Rowe) had come to a business agreement, marriage was supposed to be the cover to have the children. As far as what I understand was that Debbie was to not know who the sperm donor was, she was supposed to be led on that Michael donated the sperm because apparently, he hadn’t shared with her that he couldn’t have kids.”

Gohranson reveals Rowe found out it wasn’t Michael’s sperm about a year prior to the couple’s divorce. He says he does not know who told Debbie the truth.

Gohranson says: “Arnold (Klein) said they (Jackson and Rowe) were very happy together…. It was basically a vocal contract between the two and he would get the kids… When Michael Jackson exercised his part to get out of the marriage she either wanted to stay in the marriage or he was going to have to pay her a good hunk of money to keep his secret.”

Gohranson says Rowe didn’t tell Jackson that she knew he wasn’t the biological father of the kids until “it looked like the free ride was over.”

While Rowe did give birth to Jackson’s two oldest children, the biological mother of Blanket remains a mystery.

[From Radar Online]

Can we believe this guy or is he just trying to cash in on this high profile story with allegations? Dr. Klein’s statements on the issue of paternity have been strange to say the least. He told Diane Sawyer that “All I can tell you is to the best of my knowledge, I am not the father of these children.” In his next interview, on Larry King, he clarified that statement, admitting that he had donated sperm “once, to a sperm bank,” but saying that he “absolutely [did] not” donate sperm to Michael Jackson.

In that Larry King interview, Klein also said he was willing to take a DNA test and that “If I was the parent, I would spend every moment of the day with the children.” He praised them repeatedly, saying “These are the brightest children I’ve ever met, the best behaved children I’ve ever met.”

A sperm donor doesn’t have rights to his children in most cases, unless there is some sort of written agreement. The law is still being worked out in these cases, and given the custody issues, and the fact that there’s a lot of money at stake in child support, the paternity of his children is likely to come up. The fact that Jackson didn’t adopt any of his children, which presumably aren’t biologically his, might come up as an issue. TMZ claims that the two older kids aren’t even biologically Debbie Rowe’s, and that they were conceived with someone else’s eggs.

These kids didn’t ask for any of this, and they just lost the father who loved and cared for them. Let’s hope that their grandmother and/or aunts can take care of them far away from the many people who would use them for money in any way.

Us Weekly has obtained exclusive footage of the fire that – some would say – was the beginning of Michael Jackson’s medical problems. In 1984 he was shooting a video for Pepsi when a pyrotechnic went off too soon. You can see Jackson’s hair catch fire, which he does not realize. He makes it all the way down the stairs of the stage before he’s tackled by a group of men with a fire extinguisher. It appears like he’s either trying to fight them off (probably because he still didn’t realize his hair was on fire, and a bunch of people were rushing at him) or is panicking. The video is immensely disturbing – a feeling that’s enhanced by the creepy music it’s set to.

New footage has emerged of Michael Jackson’s harrowing Pepsi commercial accident 1984 that set the late singer’s hair on fire, causing severe burns to his face and scalp — and is said to be the start of his reported painkiller addiction, according to Us Weekly.

Jackson was filming the commercial with his brothers at L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium on Jan. 27, 1984. The video, obtained by Us, shows that pyrotechnics were set off too early at the start of the sixth take, setting Jackson’s hair on fire.

Jackson is unaware of the flames at first and continues dancing before people rushed to his aid. The King of Pop suffered second- and third-degree burns to his face and scalp. He was prescribed different pain medications, which kick-started his addiction and obsession with plastic surgery, Us reports, adding that the singer — who was at the height of his career at the time — was “never the same” afterward.

[From the Seattle P.I.]

Last week Celebitchy reported that Jackson’s dermatologist, Dr. Arnold Klein told Larry King that Michael was using tissue expanders in his skull as a result of this accident.

KING: Did he have hair?

KLEIN: He had lost a great deal of it. You forget this first fire…

KING: That was the Pepsi fire, right?

KLEIN: Yes. But then what happened is he used a great deal of what are called tissue expanders in his scalp, which are balloons that grow up — blow up the scalp. And then what they do is they try to cut out the scar.

Well, because he had lupus, what happened is every time they would do it, the bald spot would keep enlarging.

So, I mean, he went through a lot of painful procedures with these tissue expanders until I put a stop to it. I said no more tissue expanders, because he had to wear a hat all the time and it was really painful for him.

[From CNN Transcripts]

The way Klein describes it, it sounds like Jackson must have been in excruciating pain. I think most people have heard about the Pepsi commercial accident off and on, but actually seeing the footage for the first time was more upsetting than I expected. Probably because it seemed like such a turning point in Jackson’s life. He still had some of his best work ahead of him, but also a lot of scandal and heartache like most of us will hopefully never have to endure. But it’s like, right up to this point, you’re seeing THE Michael Jackson, when it was just about the phenomenon. And in a second, he’s about to start having pill addiction, cosmetic surgery addiction, all sorts of mental health issues, abuse scandals. It’s just a very strange moment to watch.

TMZ is reporting that sources in the LAPD that confirm that Michael Jackson’s death is being treated as a homicide. They’re honing in on Dr. Conrad Murray, who is thought to have administered the dangerous anesthesia drug propofol to Jackson at home. Although final toxicology reports are not yet back, it’s been reported that a perhaps overdose of propofol led to the pop star’s sudden death.

Multiple law enforcement sources tell TMZ the LAPD is already treating Michael Jackson’s death as a homicide, and they are focusing on Dr. Conrad Murray.

Law enforcement sources tell us the evidence points to the anesthesia Propofol as the primary cause of Jackson’s death. As we first reported, vials of Propofol were found in Jackson’s home after he died.

Law enforcement sources say there is already “plenty of powerful evidence” linking Dr. Murray as the person who administered the drug to Jackson. The evidence includes various items found in Jackson’s house, including the Propofol, an IV stand and oxygen tank.

Dr. Murray’s lawyer would neither confirm nor deny if his client administered the Propofol.

And we’ve learned the LAPD has had “multiple conversations” with the L.A. County District Attorney’s office, although the case has not been formally presented to the D.A.

[From TMZ]

If the case does end up being presented to the D.A., and they decide to pursue it – is Dr. Murray going to plead out or will this case go to trial? If it does go as far as a trial, it’s going to be a circus like everything else surrounding Jackson’s death. Jackson begged for this specific drug, according to a nurse who treated him. A doctor who spoke anonymously told TMZ that Jackson sought prescription painkillers, and several of Jackson’s staffers have said that he regularly took way too many drugs and tried to get prescriptions in their names. Along with doctor shopping, Jackson also reportedly sought out dentists in order to score anesthesia drugs.

He obviously found someone who was willing to administer propofol to him at home despite the extreme risk. Authorities are going to want to hold this doctor and whoever supplied the drug responsible. Even if Dr. Murray was just following Jackson’s orders, this is a drug that never should have been given at home. Abuse of propofol is thought to be rare, but according to Wikipedia, users can quickly develop a tolerance to it, increasing the risk of cardiac arrest: “The steep dose response curve of the drug makes such abuse very dangerous without proper monitoring, and several deaths have been recorded.” This was an “accident” that never should have happened.

Photos are of Michael at the 2006 World Music Awards. Credit: PRPhotos