Celebrity
Michael Jackson 2013 Sexual Abuse Lawsuits Revived By Appeals Court
(LOS ANGELES) – On Friday, a California appeals court reopened claims filed by two men who claim Michael Jackson sexually molested them as minors for years.
A three-judge panel from California’s 2nd District Court of Appeal determined that a lower court should not have dismissed Wade Robson and James Safechuck’s lawsuits and that the men can legitimately claim that the two Jackson-owned corporations named defendants owed them protection. The appeals court restored them thanks to a new California statute that temporarily enlarged the scope of sexual assault prosecutions.
It’s the second time the lawsuits, filed by Robson in 2013 and Safechuck the following year, have been re-filed after being dismissed. The two men gained fame after recounting their stories in the 2019 HBO documentary ” Leaving Neverland.”
In 2021, a court rejected the lawsuits, ruling that the corporations, MJJ Productions Inc. and MJJ Ventures Inc., could not be expected to function like the Boy Scouts or a church, where a child in their care may expect safety. Jackson, who died in 2009, was the companies’ sole owner and shareholder.
The higher court judges disagreed, noting that “a corporation that facilitates sexual abuse of children by one of its employees is not excused from an affirmative duty to protect those children merely because it is owned solely by the perpetrator of the abuse.”
California appeals court reopened claims filed by two men who claim Michael Jackson sexually molested them as minors for years.
“It would be perverse to find no duty based on the corporate defendant having only one shareholder,” they continued. As a result, we overturn the corporate judgments.”
The Jackson estate’s attorney, Jonathan Steinsapir, said they were “disappointed.”
“Two distinguished trial judges repeatedly dismissed these cases on numerous occasions over the last decade because the law required it,” Steinsapir explained in an email to The Associated Press. “We remain completely confident that Michael is innocent of these allegations, which contradict all credible evidence and independent corroboration and were only made years after Michael’s death by men motivated solely by money.”
In an email, Robson and Safechuck’s attorney, Vince Finaldi, stated that they were “pleased but not surprised” that the court overturned the previous judge’s “incorrect rulings in these cases, which were against California law and would have set a dangerous precedent that endangered children throughout the state and country.” We are looking forward to a merits trial.”
Steinsapir argued in July for the defense that it makes no sense for employees to be legally compelled to stop their boss’s behavior.
“It would require low-level employees to confront their supervisors and call them paedophiles,” Steinsapir explained.
California appeals court reopened claims filed by two men who claim Michael Jackson sexually molested them as minors for years.
Another attorney for Robson and Safechuck, Holly Boyer, argued that the boys were “left alone in this lion’s den by the defendant’s employees.” It is legitimate to assert an affirmative duty to protect and warn.”
According to Steinsapir, evidence acquired in the untried instances demonstrated that the parents had no expectation of Jackson’s staff acting as monitors.
“They were not looking to Michael Jackson’s companies for protection from Michael Jackson,” stated the lawyer.
However, one of the panelists, Associate Justice John Shepard Wiley Jr., stated in a concurring opinion announced with Friday’s ruling that “to treat Jackson’s wholly-owned instruments as distinct from Jackson himself is to be mesmerized by abstractions.” This is not an alter ego situation. This is a case of the same ego.”
The judges did not rule on the veracity of the claims. This will be the subject of a jury trial in Los Angeles soon.
“We trust that the truth will ultimately prevail with Michael’s vindication yet again,” Steinsapir said on Friday.
California appeals court reopened claims filed by two men who claim Michael Jackson sexually molested them as minors for years.
Robson, now 40 years old, met Jackson when he was five years old. He later appeared in three Michael Jackson music videos.
Jackson allegedly assaulted him for seven years, according to his lawsuit.
Safechuck, now 45, claimed that he encountered Jackson while filming a Pepsi commercial when he was 9 years old. He claimed Jackson frequently phoned and lavished him with presents before sexually abusing him.
The Associated Press does not usually identify persons who claim to have been victims of sexual abuse. However, Robson and Safechuck have come forward and agreed to use their names.
The men’s lawsuits had already recovered from a 2017 dismissal by Young, who threw them out for exceeding the statute of limitations. In 2015, Jackson’s estate — the assets he left behind after his death — was dismissed as a defendant
SOURCE – (AP)
Celebrity
Jason Kelce Smashes Football Fan’s Phone
Retired Philadelphia Eagles center Jason Kelce destroyed a Penn State football fan’s phone after the alleged heckler called his brother, Travis Kelce, a fag.
In now-viral footage published on X (previously Twitter) on Saturday, Nov. 2, the retired Philadelphia Eagles great was seen accompanied by football fans outside Beaver Stadium in State College, Pa., for the Penn State-Ohio State game.
As the individual capturing the tape lifted a fist to Jason, 36, and called his name for a fist bump, another man nearby hurled the homophobic slur at the retired Philadelphia Eagles star.
Hey, Kelce. How does it feel that your brother is a queer dating Taylor Swift?” the man questioned, referring to Travis, 34, who has been seeing Swift since 2023. Jason turned around seconds later, snatched the man’s phone, and crushed it to the ground.
“Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason,” the original X user who submitted the video remarked. “Wild scene in State College.”
“Kelce how does it feel that your brother is a f****t for dating Taylor Swift?”
Jason Kelce proceeded to slam this kids phone on the ground.
Looked like a Penn State student was getting in Kelce’s face for no reason. Wild scene in State College pic.twitter.com/3PEdZXWhSg
— Chives (@jarrett_daveler) November 2, 2024
Additional footage on X shows Jason smashing the phone on asphalt before picking it up and walking away. The phone’s owner, wearing a Penn State hoodie at the time of the incident, was shown in many videos strolling closely behind Jason and recording him before the conflict occurred.
Another footage published on X, which appears to have been filmed after Jason shattered the man’s phone, showed the hooded Penn State supporter trudging through a mob to pick up his phone off the ground.
“Give me my phone, bro,” he seemed to say to Jason.
The NFL alum seized the gadget first, then stood in front of the man and asked, “Who’s the fag now?” Others appeared to interfere.
The incident occurred while Jason was at Beaver Stadium for an appearance on ESPN’s College GameDay. The Ohio State Buckeyes won Saturday’s game 20-13 over the Penn State Nittany Lions.
Trending News:
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Romantic Date Night
Taylor Swift and Travis Kelce’s Romantic Date Night Has Alarming Details.
Celebrity
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
Shaun White, the Olympic snowboarding champion, already has an impressive medal tally, but his surprise proposal to Nina Dobrev deserves a gold medal.
On Wednesday, the couple announced their engagement on Instagram. Dobrev posted photographs of the two hugging under an arch of white roses and showing off her five-carat Lorraine Schwartz engagement ring.
“RIP boyfriend, hello fiancé,” Dobrev said in the caption.
However, the photographs only tell half the tale, as Shaun devised an elaborate plan to surprise Dobrev with his proposal.
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
According to a Vogue interview published Wednesday, Shaun said he assembled a team of people from the couple’s inner circle and Vogue personnel to trick Dobrev into thinking she had been invited to an intimate dinner party with Anna Wintour.
Dobrev accepted the invitation, joking that Shaun made it “look so legitimate.”
He even asked Dobrev’s stylist to outfit her in Chanel for the event.
Dobrev said she recognized what was happening when she entered the venue and saw White standing beneath the flowery arch.
Shaun’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
“I went into shock,” Dobrev admitted, later adding that White “said all the right things” before she agreed.
According to the publication, after Shaun proposed, the couple partied into the early morning hours with close friends and relatives.
“Best night of my life,” Shaun captioned his Instagram story on Wednesday.
The duo first became romantically involved in 2020, and they have since publicly recorded their relationship, globe vacations, and White’s Olympic farewell on social media.
SOURCE | CNN
Celebrity
Hollywood Actress Teri Garr Passes Away at 79
Hollywood actress Teri Garr, known for her roles in classics like “Young Frankenstein” and “Tootsie,” has passed away at 79. She died Tuesday of multiple sclerosis “surrounded by family and friends,” said publicist Heidi Schaeffer.
Admirers took to social media in her honor, with writer-director Paul Feig calling her “truly one of my comedy heroes. I couldn’t have loved her more” and screenwriter Cinco Paul saying: “Never the star, but always shining. She made everything she was in better.”
Throughout her career, the performer, often known as Terri, Terry, or Terry Ann, seemed destined for show business from a young age.
Her father was Eddie Garr, a well-known vaudeville comic, and her mother was Phyllis Lind, one of the original high-kicking Rockettes at New York’s Radio City Music Hall. Their daughter began dancing classes at six and was performing with the San Francisco and Los Angeles ballet companies by age fourteen.
She was 16 years old when she joined the road crew of “West Side Story” in Los Angeles, and she began starring in small roles in films as early as 1963.
In an interview from 1988, she described how she landed the role in “West Side Story.” After being rejected at her initial audition, she returned the following day dressed differently and was accepted.
Teri Garr, a comedian
Teri Garr then found steady work as a movie dancer, appearing in the chorus of nine Elvis Presley films, including “Viva Las Vegas,” “Roustabout,” and “Clambake.”
She has also appeared on various television shows, including “Star Trek,” “Dr. Kildare,” and “Batman,” and was a featured dancer on the rock ‘n’ roll music show “Shindig,” the rock concert performance “T.A.M.I.,” and a cast member of “The Sonny and Cher Comedy Hour.”
Her breakthrough role was as Gene Hackman’s girlfriend in Francis Ford Coppola’s 1974 thriller The Conversation. This led to an interview with Mel Brooks, who offered her the Gene Wilder’s German lab assistant role in Young Frankenstein if she could speak with a German accent.
“Cher had this German woman, Renata, making wigs, so I got the accent from her,” Garr once said.
The film established her as a great comic performer, with New Yorker film writer Pauline Kael calling her “the funniest neurotic dizzy dame on screen.”
Her big smile and off-center appeal helped her land roles in “Oh, God!” with George Burns and John Denver, “Mr. Mom” (as Michael Keaton’s wife), and “Tootsie,” in which she played the girlfriend who loses Dustin Hoffman to Jessica Lange and discovers he has dressed up as a woman to revive his career.
A gift for spontaneous humor
Teri Garr, best known for comedy, has shown in films such as Close Encounters of the Third Kind, The Black Stallion, and The Escape Artist that she can also tackle drama.
She had a gift for spontaneous humor, frequently playing David Letterman’s foil during early guest appearances on N.B.C.’s “Late Night With David Letterman”.
Her appearances grew so frequent, and the pair’s good-natured bickering so convincing that rumors of romantic involvement circulated for a while. Years later, Letterman acknowledged those early appearances with helping the program become a success.
During those years, Garr began to experience “a little beeping or ticking” in her right leg. It started in 1983 and expanded to her right arm, but she thought she could handle it. By 1999, her symptoms had gotten so bad that she saw a doctor and was diagnosed with multiple sclerosis.
After disclosing her diagnosis, Garr became a spokesman for the National Multiple Sclerosis Society, giving hilarious remarks at events in the United States and Canada.
Source: AP
“
-
Politics2 weeks ago
Trudeau Orders Facebook to Block Australian Presser Video
-
Business4 weeks ago
Canada CBC News CEO Catherine Tait Recalled to Parliamentary Committee
-
Celebrity4 weeks ago
Shaun White’s Proposal To Nina Dobrev Was Romantic Gold
-
Tech4 weeks ago
Apple Launches The IPhone Into The AI Era With Free Software Update
-
News3 weeks ago
Pro-Khalistanis Sikhs Attack Hindu Temple in Brampton
-
Food4 weeks ago
Starbucks Is Making A Popular Add-On Free Of Charge