Mexico City. The heirs of American musician Michael Jackson (1958-2009) prevented “extremely rare” unreleased recordings of the late King of Pop from being auctioned, his lawyers said in a statement.
The Gotta Have Rock and Roll auction house planned to sell more than two dozen tapes supposedly recorded by Jackson in 1994 at The Hit Factory studio in New York. The bid sought to raise up to $4,000 for each recording and was stopped by the heirs’ lawyers, who threatened to sue, arguing that they are “unquestionably stolen.”
In a document issued by attorney Jonathan Steinsapir, the auction house was required to “cease and desist all efforts to sell these tapes” and immediately return the recordings, stating that they belong to Jackson’s heirs.
Despite the letter, the auction was not initially stopped, but after the threat of a temporary restraining order and a preliminary injunction, the tapes were removed from the sale.
The tapes were labeled “copyright-free artifact only” with reproduction “strictly prohibited.” Titles like Oh Love, New Jelly and Doing What My Heart stand out on the list.
The film company Lionsgate plans to make the biographical film called Michael, which will be directed by Antoine Fuqua and will address the life of Michael Jackson from his childhood, his time in The Jackson Five, to the civil and criminal lawsuits before his death. The King of Pop’s nephew, Jaafar Jackson, will play his uncle in that film and expressed his gratitude for getting the role through his X account.
2023-12-24 22:43:44
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