AEG EXECUTIVE’S RANDOM
ACCESS MEMORIES

AEG Live’s Paul Gongaware and plaintiffs’ attorneyBrian Panish could have been riffingon Abbott and Costello’s "Who’son First? " routine during the co-CEO’s testimony in the Michael Jackson wrongful death trial yesterday.They certainly got a bunch of laughs out of those in attendance.

The topic was an email the Jackson family's lawyers call the "smokinggun," which appears to show that AEG executives used Dr. Conrad Murray’s fear of losing his $150k-a-month job as M.J.'spersonal physician to strong-arm him into keeping Jackson upright by any means necessary.And Gongaware’s response to numerous questions from Panish was "I don'trecall."

Panish questioned Gongaware about his reply to an email from show director Kenny Ortega expressing concerns thatMurray had kept Jackson from attending a rehearsal the day before, CNNnoted in its coverage. "We want to remind [Murray] that it is AEG, not MJ,who is paying his salary," Gongaware wrote. "We want to remind himwhat is expected of him."

In a video deposition played in court on the first day of the trial, Gongawarehad cleaimed he couldn’t remember writing the email. Panish played a section ofthat deposition, recorded in December, in which Jackson lawyer Kevin Boyle questioned him about whathe meant when he said "AEG, not MJ, who is paying his salary"—hence the"smoking gun" characterization. Here’s what the jurors heard:

Boyle: "Based on the assumptions that AEG is your company and MJ isMichael Jackson, do you have an understanding of what that means?"

Gongaware: "No, I don't understand it, because we weren't paying hissalary."

Boyle: "So why would you write that?"

Gongaware: "I have no idea."

Boyle: "Now, let's go on to the next sentence. When you say 'his salary,'who are you talking about?"

Gongaware: "I don't know."

Boyle: "Oh, but how do you know you weren't paying his salary if you don'tknow who we're talking about?"

Gongaware: "I don't remember this e-mail."

Boyle: "Didn't you just testify that 'we weren't paying his salary'?"

Gongaware: "AEG?"

Boyle: "Yes. No. You just testified 'we weren't paying his salary.' Youjust testified to that a few seconds ago, right?"

Gongaware: "I guess."

Boyle: "Well, whose salary were you referring to? Dr. Murray?"

Gongaware: "Yes."

After Gongaware’s memory appeared to suddenly improve, Panish suggested it maybe a case of "repressed memories" where "someone doesn'tremember something for three or four years."

"You didn't have any psychotherapy to remember what you wrote here?"Panish asked. "You didn't like get put to sleep? (Judge Yvette Palazuelos injected: "Hypnotized?")to see if you remembered this?

"No," Gongaware answered.

Gongaware also said he thought Ortega was "over-reacting" when he raisedhis own concerns about Jackson's health, and denied thinking that Jackson wasfrail in the last days of his life, despite all the evidence to the contrary.Another Gongaware email—this one sent to a friend two weeks after Jackson'sdeath—appears to refute his statement. "I was working on the Elvis tour when he died so I kind ofknew what to expect," it read. "Still quite a shock."

In another comedic moment, Gongaware—who’s currently overseeing the Rolling Stones’ 50 & Counting tour—testified that the only artist he ever knewwho was using drugs on tour was RickJames.