SANTA MONICA, CALIFORNIA - A wide-eyed Michael Jackson testified he "was shocked" when he saw a video of his ex-associate actively directing a gay porn film, according to videotaped deposition shown in court yesterday.The no-show singer's ghostly image was projected on a 4-foot-by-4-foot screen in the trial of a $1.5 million breach-ofcontact suit filed by his former video producer Marc Schaffel in Santa Monica Superior Court.
In the sworn testimony, which was taped in London's Dorchester Hotel on Sept. 23, 2005, and May 22, 2006, the pop star says he told his advisers to sever all ties with Schaffel as soon as he found out about his past employment as a porn filmmaker.
"I was shocked by what I saw. ... [Schaffel] was directing two guys. They were naked from head to toe ... and he was telling one what to do with the other and he grabbed their penis or something," said Jackson, who was dressed in a dark, striped, button-down shirt.
"I didn't believe it!" said Jackson, who had a house full of hard-core heterosexual porn magazines and DVDs when cops searched it in November 2003 before his arrest on child molestation charges.
Schaffel's lawyer, Howard King, asked Jackson if he was shocked by the "gay-themed show." But the entertainer said he was shocked to learn Schaffel had been "in that circle."
Jackson, who has twice been accused of sexually molesting teenage boys but never convicted, said he didn't think "mothers" would approve of his association with someone who made "gay pornography."
Jackson's insistence that he knew nothing of his ex-associate's porno past has opened the door for Schaffel to return to the witness stand and refute the claim.
In an earlier trial brief, King warned that if the singer went that route, Schaffel was prepared to reveal "their intimate discussions" and discuss "Jackson's sexual proclivities."
Jackson's videotaped testimony is set to continue today for about two more hours. Jurors will see three hours, 40 minutes of the pop idol in total.
In earlier testimony yesterday, Schaffel shed more light on a top-secret $300,000 cash payment he made to someone in South America immediately after Jackson was charged with molestation.
He said the money went to someone he labeled "Mr. X" in Argentina. He said it was "a very private transaction of a very sensitive nature for Mr. Jackson" and that he didn't record it in his business ledger at the time because "it was during the criminal matter."
from The New York Daily News
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