Choreographer Kenny Ortega: Michael Jackson too weak to perform days before death [Updated]

The first witness to testify in Tuesday’s preliminary hearing for Michael Jackson's physician described a run-in with Dr. Conrad Murray six days before the pop star's death on June 25, 2009.

Renowned choreographer Kenny Ortega was the first to take the stand and said the singer showed up at a rehearsal at Staples Center seeming “lost” and too weak to perform.

“It was scary. I didn’t know what was wrong, but I knew there was something going on,” Ortega recalled.

The next day, he said, he was summoned to a meeting at Jackson’s mansion with the singer, his manager, the concert promoter and Murray.

He said the doctor insisted Jackson was emotionally and physically strong enough to perform and scolded Ortega for sending Jackson home -- something he said he hadn’t done.

“Dr. Murray told me that this was not my responsibility and asked me to not act like a doctor or psychologist ... and leave Michael’s health to him,” he said.

Ortega said that earlier in June, there was a week during which Jackson was “sort of missing” from rehearsals without explanation, a situation he said “created anxiety for me.”

But in two rehearsals preceding Jackson’s death, the singer appeared to have turned a corner.

“It was like the Michael we all knew and loved,” he said.

The judge also heard from Jackson’s personal assistant, the first person Murray called after discovering Jackson had stopped breathing.

Michael Amir Williams said Murray left a “frantic” message saying Jackson “had a bad reaction” and urging him to come to the house. At the hospital, Murray went with Williams and Jackson’s manager to inform the singer’s children their father was dead.

His voice faltered as he recalled how the children, still thinking their father was alive, began listing his allergies for the doctors.

“It was horrible,” he said.

Shortly thereafter, Murray took him aside with a strange request, Williams said in his testimony.

“He said, ‘Brother Michael, Mr. Jackson has some cream in the house that I knew he wouldn’t want the world to know about,’” Williams said. “It was an odd question, to ask to go to the house to get the cream.”

The doctor asked for a ride back to the mansion, but Williams said he and other security guards demurred.

Subsequently, Murray said he was going to get something to eat and left the hospital. In his cross-examination, Murray’s attorney, Ed Chernoff, questioned Williams about his connection to the Nation of Islam and about other phone calls he made in the minutes after Murray’s call.

He also asked the personal assistant how frequently he went upstairs to Jackson’s bedroom, and whether his fingerprints may be found on vials, intravenous bags or syringes.

“I don’t know how that’s possible, I never touched any of that,” Williams said.

[For the record at 3:19 p.m.: A typo was fixed in the first sentence of a previous version of this post, changing the word "witnesses" to "witness." The previous version also failed to note that Ortega is the director-producer of the movie "This Is It."]

[Updated at 3:31 p.m.: "This Is It" is a film made from rehearsal footage for Jackson's planned London concert series.]

RELATED:

Dr. Conrad Murray withheld information about powerful drug, prosecutor says

-- Harriet Ryan and Victoria Kim in L.A. County Superior Court

Comments

[Michael Fan]

michael's fans are outside court today once again, fighting for the name of their hero. michael jackson fans like no other celebrity fan, continue to fight for their icon long after his death: http://davidhatton1987.blogspot.com/2010/10/michael-jackson-fans-still-fighting.html

[kindlady1]

It's very tragic and unfortunate when these doctors get hooked up with high powered celebrities and wind up doing their bidding for them, catering to their needs and whims, writing prescriptions, instead of doing medically what is correct. The doctor took an oath. He should have put his foot down and correctly counseled Jackson and informed him the drugs and "medication" he was craving would only lead to his demise. But, as we know, "money talks" and Murray, obviously in a precarious financial state, saw a goldmine before him. Now, Jackson is dead and Murray's career on the line. What a mess.

[Elah]

This is "malicious intent". Saving your own skin and using any means necessary. Mr. Jackson's children are the real victims in this case at this time. Michael is gone but they're still here.

[Jim Kendall]

'm real CLEAR that Jackson, beyond a doubt, committed SUICIDE. The doctor was irresponsible in that he afforded access; but he did not know Micheal's intent.
Jackson was facing that big imminent performance, with the eyes of the young world on him. We can't know of his silent performance-dreads. He was unhappy, and he felt ugly. He was also arch-irresponsible, in that he didn't wish to be remembered as suicidal, didn't leave a note; but couldn't CARE LESS if blame for his death fell to another.

[babalooey]

"In his cross-examination, Murray’s attorney, Ed Chernoff, questioned Williams about his connection to the Nation of Islam..."

Oh, sure. The Nation of Islam played a role in MJ's death. Why not tarnish him with that brush? Muslims get blamed for everything else.

[Tom]

Everyone who knew Jackson said he would never have committed suicide; that's a crazy thing to say since you don't know anything about Jackson and how he was "feeling". The autopsy report said he was healthy and his liver and kidney were normal, in other words he was not an addict.

Jackson hired Murray to monitor and protect him from exactly what happened. Having a doctor you trust and have hired to protect you administering drugs to you is not the same thing as "doing their bidding for them (?), catering to their needs and whims and writing prescriptions".

[Toye Michelle Smith]

I don't understand the Murray's defense. He [Murray] says that Michael injected himself with the propofol while he [Murray] was in the bathroom. How could MJ do that when propofol puts you out albeit, for just a few minutes? And why did it take so daggone long for him [Murray] to call the cops? One more thing....isn't Dr. Conrad Murray a Cardiologist? What associations did he have with propofol and the like? Thank-you in advance, Toye Michelle.

[Toye Michelle Smith]

Why is this going to court after Mr. Joseph Jackson has filed a wrongful death lawsuit against Dr. Conrad Murray? It appears to me to be pretty much open and shut. Propofol was used illegally outside a hospital setting and Dr. Murray has admitted being there with MJ and to injecting MJ with the drug. Even though he [Murray] says it was only 25 mg and the coroner's office states there was much more in MJ's system. Now Dr. Murray's defense is that MJ injected himself? (HA!) Those of you who are going to be there in court please educate those of us who will not [be in court] on what's really going on? From here, the whole thing doesn't make sense! Just put the guy [Murray] in prison and throw away the key! Let's move on to the bigger fish fry in this whole murder scenario of MJ. We know a lot of people wanted MJ dead. Read the the past FBI reports at minimum for goodness sake! Thank-you, TM.

[MJJJusticeProject]

Mr. Tom Mesereau was interviewed on MSNBC and he denounced any thought that Michael Jackson was suicidal, and said it was the probably the only way for Murray's defense team to go.

Tom Mesereau is probably one of the few people who can actually speak with any kind of credence in regards to Michael Jackson. He got to know MJ very well while preparing a defense for the preposterous and bogus charges in the 2005 trial and found him to be the exact opposite of what the media has tried to portray.

It is refreshing to hear truth being spoken about this gentle man and not the repetitious distortions and lies that are generally spewed from the tabloid princesses, who will readily admit that they never even met the man. Many prominent celebrities know the real Michael Jackson but most are afraid to speak out in his defense for fear they would be the next targets of the press. Unfortunately, in America, freedom of the press as morphed into a seeming freedom to slander, harass and harangue someone with salacious unproven allegations for nigh on 20 years. It isn’t any wonder that our nation is at a crisis crossroads of conscience or lack thereof. Bullying has become almost epidemic and the media has led the way on just how to pick a victim, ostracize them and make it acceptable for people to hurl vicious barbs and cutting remarks that scar the soul. When the mass media machine is allowed to bully an innocent man like Michael Jackson to the point that he was forced into seclusion, and then point at him and say, “Look, he’s freakishly isolated”, something is truly amiss. The caricature that the media has propagated against this fine man constitutes a level of evil that hasn’t been seen perpetuated against another single individual in modern times- heck Charles Manson didn’t get vilified as much as Michael Jackson. Dr. Murray’s defense is going to try to use these 20 years of malfeasance by the media against the victim rather than have the jury look at Murray’s malpractice. Somehow, when you think it can’t get any worse, they seem to lower the bar just a couple more inches.

[Roberta]

Thank you MJJJusticeProject.

[Lin]

Really Kenny? That's not what you said a few days after June 25th, 2009. BELIEVE. Michael is alive.

[Jewel M]

Thank you MJJJusticeProject.

[Verneda moore-wilson]

It seems to me that those close to Michael should have been able to see that he was sick both physically and emotionally. But to them he was the MONEY man so the show must go on no matter how bad he felt. So the sicker he felt, the higher his anxiety level so the good Doctor continued to medicate him until he stopped breathing. He could not have done a better if he was trying to kill Michael Jackson. Was he? So much time elapse between the time he discovered Michael not breathing and when he called for help. A non-professional knows better than that. Also Michael needed to have someone to over see his mental health as well. The stress of this upcoming tour must have been overwhelming for him. Did he have NO One at his back? Verneda

[Gabriz]

so the truth is slowly surfacing... how dare Ortega lie to the world that MJ was fine in his interviews following MJ's death while Ortega was promoting TII but is now stating that he had some concerns? all of these people are absurd.

[june]

Believe Tom Mesereau. Michael had his kids and too much to live for.

Kenny Ortega was just dismissed from Katherine Jackson's law suit against AEG, the concert promoter. When This Is It, the movie, was released, Ortega said Michael was in fine health and raring to go (with his arms wrapped around Randy Phillips). Now, under oath, he finally tells the truth that Michael wasn't well. This should bode well for Katherine's suit against AEG, as Ortega can't change his testimony AGAIN. This time, in Katherine's suit, he will be AGAINST AEG, who said Michael was just fine and dandy!

And when he testifies at trial, which he will, Ortega will have to tell the truth for the prosecution against Murray. Best to stay focused.

And Karen Faye tweeted today that no attorney involved in any of these suits, even the DA, has contacted her or Michael Bush, who worked for MICHAEL JACKSON for 30 years, to interview them, who were around Michael all the time in his last months, about what happened. Doesn't someone find that very odd? Let's hope they will call her as a witness as she will surely testify that Michael went downhill in his final week due to the cumulative effect of all the drugs Dr. Death was pushing into him.