I don't think this is the right question. To me, the right question is: “Was he tricked into doing fifty shows?” I don't care if you are “Mr. Olympia” on steroids; There was something fishy about that contract. I've never, in my life, heard a person work an artist for as long as Phillips worked on Michael. And, I have never heard of a man telling an artist that they wanted him to do ten shows, then, the next morning, it's fifty. Even if a person is totally ready for something, that's just trickery. I've never heard of it, in my life. I've never heard an artist get one piece of news like that, in one day, and another dramatic one like that, twenty-four hours later. If there was a contract, it's got to be a “Shape-Shifter” contract from “Star Trek.” How does it change over like that? In 2001, MJ made it clear that he HATED touring. He never gave the impression that he was waffly about those things. He said it put him “through ****.” MJ came across as soft-spoken, those who spoke to him came off as being on bully pulpits. Even in that “P.H.M.” Video. Sure, he laughed it off, but it was easy to tell he hated being confrontational. Those people got the last word, and he joked about loving touring, but it didn't feel right.
It doesn't matter what your physical state is, if your mental state is not ready for something.
MJ seemed to like to do as few things as possible, to make the biggest impact. Two “M.S.G.” shows. Make tapes. Let everybody see it worldwide.
It seems like ten shows, the Internet or T.V., big impact.
At least, it seemed that many people thought that MJ was the kind of person that waffled on people, but what really seemed real was it was the other way around. People waffled on MJ. Ten shows, hocus-pocus....Fifty? I'm still smarting about that.
It feels like something went terribly wrong that we don't know about, between those ten shows, and his death. And, I have a hard time with the idea that his physical health had anything to do with it.
I don't think MJ needed a rhyme or reason to do what he wanted to do, whatever that was....Whether it was ten shows or no shows, and just to continue raising his kids. And, I refuse to ever, ever believe he had financial troubles. I maintain what I believed from the very beginning. MJ set himself and his kids up for many lifetimes, many years ago. And, he simply didn't really want to tour anymore, and get run into the ground, like James Brown, which were his exact words, before a lot of people started shouting in his ear, and he started looking like he was acquiescing, because he shied away from being on bully pulpits, and shouting to get his points across, like other people do. I still believe he didn't really want to tour. And, I know that is hard for people to hear. And, that doesn't mean he didn't love his fans; He loved his fans more than any other artist in history. But, he was a human being, not a machine. And, there are many ways to entertain someone, besides what the shouters in his ear were suggesting.
I think MJ was physically fit enough to do fifty, but that doesn't mean he should have been obligated to do fifty, if he didn't want to do fifty. That doesn't make him selfish. He has qualified to be THE MOST charitable person on earth; He can never be accused of selfishness, if he didn't want to tour. Even if he was healthy enough to go around the world ten times.