Concert promoters termed MJ `emotionally paralyzed mess`

Los Angeles: The promoters of Michael Jackson`s This Is It show have reportedly described the late pop icon as "an emotionally paralyzed mess" who was "scared to death".

This Is It was a series of fifty concerts expected to start in July 2009, but Michael Jackson died June 25, 2009 before they could take off. Tmz.com reports that in the emails, obtained by the LA Times, AEG`s Randy Phillips traded messages back and forth with AEG President Tim Leiweke. In one email leading up to the 2009 press conference to announce the concerts, Phillips wrote, "MJ is locked in his room drunk and despondent ... I (am) trying to sober him up." Phillips said Jackson was "an emotionally paralyzed mess," that Jackson was "scared to death," and that Phillips and Jackson`s manager had to dress him. The press conference ended up being very brief and very strange. The emails were part of the discovery in an ongoing lawsuit between AEG and the insurance company that backed the tour, which is suing to get the $17.5 million policy nullified. IANS