Michael Jackson's raising Hell in NEW YORK....
Michael Jackson Brands Recording Industry As Racist.
Source: Billboard.com
Author: Billboard.com

Michael Jackson, already feuding with his record company, charged
Saturday that the recording industry was a racist conspiracy that
turns profits at the expense of performers -- particularly minority
artists. "The recording companies really, really do conspire against
the artists -- they steal, they cheat, they do everything they can,"
Jackson said in a rare public appearance. "[Especially] against the
black artists."

Jackson, 43, who began his recording career as a child, spoke at the
Rev. Al Sharpton's National Action Network in New York's Harlem
neighborhood. Sharpton and attorney Johnnie Cochran Jr. recently
formed a coalition to investigate whether artists are being
financially exploited by record labels.

Jackson, who records for Sony Music Entertainment's Columbia label,
also singled out company chairman Tommy Mottola, saying he was "mean,
he's a racist, and he's very, very, very devilish." Jackson also
accused Mottola of using "the n-word" when speaking about an
unidentified black Sony artist.

Sony Music issued a statement calling Jackson's comments "ludicrous,
spiteful, and hurtful. It seems particularly bizarre that he has
chosen to launch an unwarranted and ugly attack on an executive who
has championed his career... for many, many years."

Jackson's last album, "Invincible," has had disappointing sales
despite an estimated $25 million in promotion. The singer's fans say
Sony has not done enough to launch the album. Others in the industry
say sagging sales are indicative of Jackson's declining appeal.

Jackson mentioned several black artists as victims of the industry,
including James Brown, Mariah Carey, and Sammy Davis Jr. Jackson
alleged that Davis died penniless, although Davis' attorney said in
1990 that the "Rat Pack" member left an estate worth more than $6
million when he died. "If you fight for me, you're fighting for all
black people, dead and alive," Jackson said, adding: "We have to put
a stop to this incredible injustice."

Outside Sony's Manhattan headquarters, about 150 fans gathered later
Saturday, hoisting signs reading "Please Sony, stop killing the
music," "Terminate Tommy Mottola," and "Invincible Is Unbreakable."
Jackson arrived at the building on a double-decker city tour bus that
twice circled the block. He stood in the open top deck and, raising
his fists, joined the crowd in chanting "Down With Tommy Mottola!"

Jackson held up a poster with three boxes marked "The Good, The Bad
and The Ugly" -- with an image of himself in the "The Good" box and
Mottola's face with devilish horns in "The Bad" box, while Mottola's
real image adorned "The Ugly" box.

---

Michael Jackson's raising Hell in NEW YORK....
Michael Jackson Brands Recording Industry As Racist.
Read Article

Advertising

---