SANTA MARIA, Calif., March 29 -- A Los Angeles comedy club owner told jurors in the Michael Jackson child molestation case Tuesday how he feverishly worked his celebrity connections to introduce the boy at the center of the case to the pop star.
At the time, the boy was deathly ill with cancer; he is now Jackson's accuser.
Jaime Masada said the boy asked him if he could meet Jackson.
(Pool Photo Eric Neitzel Via AP)
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Jamie Masada, owner of the Laugh Factory in Hollywood, told jurors he first met the boy and his family in 1999, at a charity comedy camp he ran for underprivileged children.
He said that after the boy's mother told him about her son's illness, he did everything he could to help, including rousing numerous comedian friends from their beds to accompany him on early-morning trips to the boy's hospital room. The comedians would tell the boy jokes while Masada tried to feed him cantaloupe or ice cream, promising the child $50 bills if he would take a few bites, the club owner testified.
"I had tears in my eyes because I didn't know what to do. I was trying to do everything in my power," Masada said.
Weak and emaciated from chemotherapy treatment, the boy pointed to Michael Jackson on the television in his hospital room.
"He said, Michael is my idol and can I meet him? Can I arrange it?" Masada said. "I want to encourage him to eat eat eat and I want to make his wish true."
Masada, who did not know Jackson, got on the phone, calling everyone he could think of, including Quincy Jones, to make the cancer-stricken boy's wish come true.
The next day, Jackson called the boy at the hospital and invited him to his Neverland Ranch. Masada said he never knew exactly who coordinated the interaction.
The comedy club owner said he routinely emptied his wallet, handing the boy's father cash for gas and food and even writing out checks to pay the rent on the family's East Los Angeles studio apartment.
"Every time he asked I gave him cash, $50, $20, $30, $40," Masada said. He told the jury he had no idea how much money he gave to the family. "He would ask me for more money and more money and more money and more money."
Those requests increased when the boy's father began cruising around town in a white sport utility vehicle Jackson gave him to bring the children to Neverland. The father explained to the comedy club owner that the new vehicle took more gas.
When the boy needed blood, Masada opened up the Laugh Factory to the American Red Cross for a blood drive.
The father, along with his children, collected thousands of dollars at two charity benefits held at Masada's Hollywood club to raise money for the family.
