There was some speculation on who would fill the vacant seat left by Elijah Cummings’ tragic passing last fall, and after an election last week, it appears the man who Cummings replaced will fill the seat once more.
Alabama sheriffs are responding to the state’s order to keep establishments such as dine-in restaurants and churches closed by...refusing to do their jobs.
LOS ANGELES (AP) — A California appeals court on Tuesday overturned most of a 2017 jury verdict awarding Quincy Jones $9.4 million in royalties and fees from the Michael Jackson estate over the use of Jones-produced Jackson hits in the concert film “This Is It” and two Cirque du Soleil shows.
The state’s 2nd District Court of Appeal ruled that the jury misinterpreted a contract that was the judge’s job to interpret anyway. It took away $6.9 million that jurors had said MJJ Productions owed Jones for his work on “Billie Jean,” “Thriller,” and more of Jackson’s biggest hits.
The appeals court found that the jury wrongly granted Jones money from licensing fees, wrongly went beyond the 10% royalty rate Jones was owed for record sales, and incorrectly granted Jones money for remixes of Jackson’s master recordings.
The court kept intact $2.5 million of the award, which Jones said he was owed for the use of his masters in “This Is It” and other fees.
READ MORE: Michael Jackson estate, Disney reach settlement in copyright dispute
The court also rejected a counter-appeal from the 87-year-old Jones arguing that the trial court should have allowed him to make a claim of financial elder abuse.
“While we disagree with portions of the Court’s decision and are evaluating our options going forward, we are pleased that the Court affirmed the jury’s determination that MJJP failed to pay Quincy Jones more than $2.5M that it owed him,” Jones’ attorney J. Michael Hennigan said in a statement.
Jones, who was already a music business giant when he produced the classic Jackson albums “Off the Wall,” “Thriller” and “Bad,” had sought $30 million from the estate when he first filed the lawsuit in 2013.
“Quincy Jones was the last person we thought would try to take advantage of Michael Jackson by filing a lawsuit three years after he died asking for tens of millions of dollars he wasn’t entitled to,” Jackson attorney Howard Weitzman said in a statement. “We knew the verdict was wrong when we heard it, and the court of appeal has completely vindicated us.”
On the stand during the trial, Jones was asked by Weitzman whether he realized he was essentially suing Jackson himself.
Jones angrily disagreed.
“I’m not suing Michael,” he said. “I’m suing you all.”
The trial centered on the definitions of terms in the two contracts Jackson and Jones signed in 1978 and 1985.
READ MORE: Jermaine Jackson urges Quincy Jones to continue to promote his brother’s music at upcoming concert
Under the deals, for example, Jones is entitled to a share of net receipts from a “videoshow” of the songs. The Jackson attorneys argued that the term was meant to apply to music videos and not feature films like “This Is It.”
The film was created from rehearsal footage for a comeback tour that Jackson was working toward when he died in 2009 at age 50.
“So many people have tried to take advantage of Michael and mischaracterize him since his death,” Jackson estate co-executor John Branca said in a statement Tuesday. “It’s gratifying that in this case the court in an overwhelmingly favorable and just decision, recognizes that Michael Jackson was both an enormous talent and an extremely fair business executive.”
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The new documentary, Becoming, premiered today on Netflix. The documentary chronicles the 34-city book tour of the best-selling memoir by Michelle Obama.
The documentary also delights viewers with the first interview by the former first lady’s daughters, Malia and Sasha Obama.
READ MORE: Netflix releases trailer for Michelle Obama’s inspiring ‘Becoming’ documentary
In the film, the former first daughters, make a brief cameo where they praise their mom. “I’m excited for her to be proud of what she’s done,” Sasha says, “Because I think that that’s the most important thing for a human to do, is be proud of themselves.”
Big sister, Malia, is seen hugging her mom telling her, “You’re so good. I love you too much,” she tells her that she cried. Malia tells her mother that she was moved seeing thousands of people moved by her words and acknowledging her hard work.
The interview is the first public interview with the Obama daughters whom we watched grow up before our eyes during their eight years in the White House. They are seated next to each other, dressed casually in jeans and t-shirts.
Both girls are college students. Malia is a junior at Harvard and Malia is a freshman at the University of Michigan. The elder sister shared that their mom is “no longer facing that same scrutiny — being able to let all of that leave your mind creates so much more space.”
In the documentary, Mrs. Obama says that she sobbed on the plane after their last day in the White House. She said that she was overwhelmed with relief after eight years of having to be “perfect.”
READ MORE: Malia Obama goes fresh in the city with braided style and media loses it
The incredible documentary is an intimate look inside Mrs. Obama’s life before and after the White House. Former President Barack Obama also makes an appearance in the film. The documentary opens with the Chicago book tour date which was hosted by Oprah.
Becoming, the book, is the best-selling memoir of all time.
The post Malia and Sasha Obama to break public silence in Netflix’s ‘Becoming’ appeared first on TheGrio.
May is Mental Health Awareness Month, and now more than ever, it’s incredibly important to have mental health check-ins with yourself and loved ones in order to stay sane during these challenging times. Taraji P. Henson is working to ensure that in the age of COVID-19, the mental health of those on the frontlines…
