Sony Music Entertainment has denied a report that it conceded in court that it released three fake Michael Jackson songs on the singer’s first posthumous album, “Michael,” in 2010.
On Friday, a number of outlets cited the rap blog Hip-Hop N More to erroneously report that Sony admitted in a California appeals court that the three songs on the album, “Monster,” “Keep Your Head Up,” and “Breaking News,” were recorded by a Jackson impersonator.
“No one has conceded that Michael Jackson did not sing on the songs,” Sony Music said in a statement to Variety. “The hearing Tuesday was about whether the First Amendment protects Sony Music and the Estate and there has been no ruling on the issue of whose voice is on the recordings.”
The hearing in question stemmed from a 2014 civil lawsuit brought by a fan named Vera Serova, who accused Jackson’s longtime friend Eddie Cascio and his production company, Angelikson Productions LLC, of creating and selling fake music through Sony and the Jackson estate.
Serova argued in 2014 the Los Angeles Superior Court that the songs were fake and performed by an impersonator named Jason Malachi, according to court documents obtained by several outlets.
Hip-Hop N More cited tweets that claimed Sony had “conceded that the songs were fakes” earlier in court this week.
Variety reported the following on Friday:
“According to sources close to the situation, individuals who attended Tuesday’s court hearing seized upon a statement by an attorney for Jackson’s estate in which he said something to the effect of ‘even if the vocals weren’t Jackson’s’ as proof that they were indeed faked. The sources insist that the attorney was speculating.”
