Michael Jackson’s movie “This Is It” made an outstanding $14 million over the weekend and finished in second place. It’s quite an achievement. The worldwide total is upwards of $128 million.
Meantime, Michael’s sketchy dermatologist and personal Dr. Feel-something, Dr. Arnold Klein, gave TMZ a 90-minute video interview that’s the equivalent of verbal diarrhea. It’s full of Klein self-contradicting and lying as he blabs and blabs and blabs nearly uninterrupted by Harvey Levin, who didn’t even bother to get dressed up for this meeting of minds.
Klein right off the bat impeaches himself when announces at 22:08 (I watched this whole piece of junk for you, dear readers) that “we didn’t see him in May or June.”
However, Dr. Klein just sued Michael’s estate for $48,000 for treatments from mid-March until June 22, 2009. Jackson was in Klein’s office almost every other day and received 51 injections of Demerol. So what is Klein talking about? He doesn’t know, but he just keeps on talking. Later he tells Levin that Jackson was in his office about five days before he died. “When did he die?” Klein asks in the middle of his rapid spewing. He doesn’t remember that Jackson died on June 25, which seems pretty strange. You’d think that date would be so etched in his head.
Klein is a rat of the first order. He calls the late Johnnie Cochran “greedy,” says the famous attorney had a face-lift and maligns Katherine and Janet Jackson, among others. There isn’t a secret he doesn’t want to tell, or a person he doesn’t want to gossip about. He’s got an opinion about everything. Frankly, Klein seems unusually revved up. Levin should have given him a blood test before the cameras started rolling.
Levin suggests after an hour or so that he’ll ask one more question and “we’ll call it.” Klein responds: “You don’t have to call it; I could go on for hours.”
P.S. Just after 73:00 Klein gives this reporter an ignominious shout out. I have no idea what he’s talking about.
November 8th, 2009 at 1:59 pm
Let’s face it, Dr. Klein will never get this much attention again in his life, I watched the entire interview, noticed the discrepancies and wondered why such a silly, repellant man is given so much coverage-you are right Roger, he seemed so hyper that one wonders what he was on, but he has always been that way, from the first interview. And all the Demoral, I have asked some physicians in Europe and they have been horrified at the amount, of course Klein kept changing the amounts and the days and the times…sad,terrible, sad, sad, sad.
November 8th, 2009 at 2:04 pm
Sorry, Demerol.
Don’t the lyrics go: Demerol, oh, God, he’s taking Demerol?
November 8th, 2009 at 4:21 pm
Klein is a nut just like that nutty makeup artist Karen Faye. I don’ believe most of what Klein says. He is deflecting to save his butt. No Demerol was in Michaels system and it would have been based on the alleged time-frame Klein claimed since it does not leave the system quickly. I wouldn’t be surprised if Klein’s lawyers drop him because he is digging a hole for himself. No one, especially the DEA has forgotten that Klein was writing scrips for himself and his ex-lover.
Access Hollywood said that Klein approached them first about doing the interview but they declined. Billy Bush even said if someone wants to know about Michael they should go watch the movie.
I think the public is getting tired of these hanger-ons and stalkers getting on television every 5 minutes with stories about MJ.
It’s interesting that none of his real friends like Liz, Teddy Riley, etc. are flapping their jaws unless its something very positive. But the tabloid doesn’t want those stories. They want to get the nut cases.
November 8th, 2009 at 4:30 pm
Why the hell nobody takes an action against Klein (as well as Mark Lester), they both have proclaimed themselves as those who knew Michael as “best” friend, how can a best friend betray the (best) friend….???
They both, especially Klein betrayed all the principles of being a doctor and the friend…, telling the secrets of the friendship…, the same leeches as Rabbi Boteach…
November 8th, 2009 at 4:31 pm
Jim Carrey’s Scrooge collected holiday donations from movie fans with his new take on “A Christmas Carol,” which took in $31 million to open as the weekend’s top movie.
The Disney animated version of the Charles Dickens classic knocked the King of Pop out of the No. 1 spot as “Michael Jackson’s This Is It” slipped to second place with $14 million, according to studio estimates Sunday.
Sony’s “This Is It,” presenting rehearsal performances Jackson shot before his death last June, ——– raised its domestic total to $57.9 million. Worldwide, “This Is It” has taken in $186.5 million.
AP
November 8th, 2009 at 5:25 pm
Klein is a famewhore of the first order. I watched this interview, fuming that Levin allowed this quack a platform to spew lies. Then I noticed Harvey’s face. He didn’t believe a word of it. He was just giving Klein enough rope to hang himself with. And boy did he ever! Klein said, “I never gave him Demerol.” Then Levin reminded him of the billing for intramuscular injections of Demerol. Klein responds, “Yeah, for his acne treatments. He had horrible acne, you see.” Then goes off on another rambling rant.
This man talks like a recalcitrant schoolboy. He thinks if he talks fast enough, uses enough jargon, namedrops (Hi, my friend Roger Friedman!) enough, or asks the listener to finish his thoughts– we’ll believe what he says. That interview should have stripped any credibility from the good doctor, but we all know that those who hate MJ will lap it up like manna from heaven. You CANNOT believe this man. He is sleaze. By the way, notice he muddies the paternity waters when he says he “donated sperm”? He has NEVER said he “donated sperm to Michael Jackson”. Because he hasn’t. Rowe laughed in derision at the suggestion that Klein fathered her children. Klein says he’s not the father “to the best of my knowledge.” Of course he isn’t, but if he can get 15 more minutes, he’ll let people speculate that he is.
Repugnant.
November 8th, 2009 at 6:45 pm
Roger, this is the ONLY time I will ever say this but… THANKS! Thank you for giving 90 minutes of your life you can never retrieve to provide me with this summary. I could not bring myself to watch it because I knew it would only raise my blood pressure. I think Klein injects himself with more crap than he ever did MJ. This guy is definitely missing some screws! Drug-induced psychosis anyone?
November 8th, 2009 at 6:47 pm
He knows that the DEA is on to him for self prescribing.
November 8th, 2009 at 7:18 pm
I couldn’t believe it when Dr. Klein stated that he had only given MJ very small doses of Demerol – just 100 mg he says. Well damn – Demerol comes in 50 mg, 75mg and 100mg vials. 100mg is the highest dose I ever gave a patient – and not for cosmetic surgery either – for huge surgeries like removal of a spleen or removing tumours from the bowel. I wonder what Dr. Klein would consider a ‘big’ dose of Demerol? And I wonder how much he REALLY gave???
November 8th, 2009 at 10:09 pm
Just watched the Dr. Klein interview for the first time.
I did know Mike. We worked together over the years and we were friends. I even met the Dr. twice while he was with him. I can say that Dr. Klein’s demeanor and the way he communicated in the TMZ interview is the same as it was on the two occasions I met him. Whatever my opinion, I know Mike loved Dr. Klein. He held him in high regard and he was one of Mike’s closest confidants. (Actually Mike introduced him to me and the others in the studio that first time as “one of my best friends.”) Having that first-hand knowledge of their relationship is what makes this all the more repugnant.
I am disgusted in equal measure by Dr. Klein’s choice to discuss Mike’s personal life openly and Mr. Levin’s choice to encourage and provide an outlet. There are things the Dr. said which I never heard before. Then there were other more personal things Dr. Klein said that I know to be true, like Mike’s feelings toward his extended family. I know this because Mike himself said the same things to me and others on different occasions over the years. It was not a good situation according to Mike. People closest to Mike also knew how painful the subject was for him. Whatever the reason is Dr. Klein felt compelled to share the information Mike confided in him with the public-at-large, it is inexcusable.
Not everyone who knew Mike are out for their own personal gain – though some surely are. Some of us are fortunate enough to not need to exploit our relationship with him to promote our next project. For others it appears exploiting their relationship to Mike is now their bread and butter. It is the ugly side of our business. Many who loved Mike won’t or can’t speak up because professionally they do not want their names associated with the circus the aftermath of his death has become. It’s just not worth it. As much as we love Mike, it won’t bring him back and no matter what anyone says someone else will call them a liar and more mud is slung. That’s not what Mike was about. Shame on you, Dr. Klein. Shame on you, Mr. Levin.
November 8th, 2009 at 11:30 pm
I think it’s highly interesting to listen to this man (or at least make an effort to listen, some of the time you can’t even hear what he’s saying) since he says he had 179 procedures done on MJ during the spring, and MJ (according to the coroner) died of propofol. He says he never administered it, but no one has asked him if he was ever in the room when propofol was given to MJ, the answer to that would probably be yes. Someone taught Murray (badly) how to do it, and that may have been someone Klein knew. Who else? Klein says Murray didn’t call him on the night MJ died (I don’t know what the telephone records say), but if you were Murray, who would you call when you found MJ not breathing if not Klein? (It should have been 911, but obviously it wasn’t.)
There were many contradictions in that interview, but my favorite was:
K(hinting at foul play): –We know Grace was in the house that night (of death), don’t we?
HL: –But I know she was in Switzerland.
K: –But there are telephones, aren’t there?
November 8th, 2009 at 11:32 pm
Can someone tell me why everyone is suddenly turning against Karen Faye?
November 9th, 2009 at 12:43 am
Just watched the Dr. Klein interview for the first time.
I did know Mike. We worked together over the years and we were friends. I even met the Dr. twice while he was with him. I can say that Dr. Klein’s demeanor and the way he communicated in the TMZ interview is the same as it was on the two occasions I met him. Whatever my opinion, I know Mike loved Dr. Klein. He held him in high regard and he was one of Mike’s closest confidants. (Actually Mike introduced him to me and the others in the studio that first time as “one of my best friends.”) Having first-hand knowledge of their relationship is what makes this all the more repugnant.
I am disgusted in equal measure by Dr. Klein’s choice to discuss Mike’s personal life openly and Mr. Levin’s choice to encourage and provide an outlet. There are things the Dr. said which I never heard before. Then there were other more personal things Dr. Klein said that I know to be true about Mike and his extended family. I know this because Mike himself said the same things to me and others on different occasions over the years. It was not a good situation according to Mike. People closest to Mike also knew how painful the subject was for him. The Dr. surely knew that. Whatever the reason is Dr. Klein felt compelled to share any information Mike confided in him with the public-at-large, it is inexcusable.
Not everyone who knew Mike are out for their own personal gain – though some surely are. Some of us are fortunate enough to not need to exploit our relationship with him to promote our next project. For others it appears exploiting their relationship to Mike is now their bread and butter. It is the ugly side of our business. Many who loved Mike won’t or can’t speak up because professionally they do not want their names associated with the circus the aftermath of his death has become. It’s just not worth it. As much as we love Mike, it won’t bring him back and no matter what anyone says someone else will call them a liar and more mud is slung. That’s not what Mike was about. Shame on you, Dr. Klein. Shame on you, Mr. Levin.
November 9th, 2009 at 12:47 am
I would be interested in the Karen Faye criticism,too.
My favorite bit in the interview was all the addicted doctors breathing in Propofol fumes from patients mouths:THUS-Conrad Murray probably fell asleep from breathing in the fumes-this part of the interview was difficult to understand and I had to repeat it , incredible and HL looked as if he was resisting the urge to laugh and how about the country singer who wet the bed to keep warm, well as my grandmother used to say: beyond belief!
November 9th, 2009 at 2:17 am
Looking and listening at Arnold Klein for five minutes makes your skin crawl with impatience (because he is so erratic, pompous and talkative – sorry Dr Klein, but you are), just as it obviously did to Harvy Levin, so it makes you wonder – how did Michael Jackson stand it? Did he honestly like the guy, or was it because he provided procedures and small doses of Demerol?
You don’t give Demerol to someone you consider being a drug addict, just as you don’t offer a small sherry or a beer to an alcoholic. Dr Klein made very fleeting remarks on this point and gave the impression that in his world, Demerol is not a big deal. Are any drugs a big deal to him? Doctors seem to run a huge risk of blurring many ethical lines, and this doctor is far on the wrong side of those lines.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:48 am
Klein is an idiot of the first order.
For those asking about Karen Faye, here a very brief recap:
Karen Faye is working with Randy Jackson to spread the rumor that MJ is not the bio dad of the kids
karen Faye has sold pictures of Michael’s final resting place to TMZ. without Katherine’s permission. she has been taking fans (who are NOT on the authorized guest list) with her to get to MJ’s tomb.
The ruse? She posted the pictures on her facebook a few weeks ago…than accused fans of copying the picture from her facebook’s album. All that was a ruse, because she knew she was gonna sell them to tabloids for big money, and her story was to be a fan stole them and sold them to TMZ. Not true. She herself sold the pictures to TMZ.
Karen Faye is collecting MJ fans because she is writing a book of her experience as MJ’s makeup artist.
I hope she also writes of her experience at MJJsource, a fansite she created with Randy Jackson, in Michael’s name, and they ended stealing membership funds from fans. When MJ found out, he wasn’t happy he fired her ass$…
Karen faye is a despicable human being…If she thinks she is gonna make money off Michael…she will get what is coming for her. She should only look at what happened with the fake rabbi book for an example.
November 9th, 2009 at 4:03 am
Roger — your statement that Harvey didn’t dress up is ludicrous. This is a daily video that Harvey & TMZ do everyday…..he never dresses up. He answers questions from his readers. The Dr. called Harvey (not the other way) and then he came on to give his opinion and impressions of Michael. I thought it was very entertaining and really quite authentic.
I doubt you watched the whole thing. And Harvey DID interrupt him, and gave his opinion the next day contradicting several things he said. i think you’re jealous of Harvey.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:00 am
Re: Karen Faye. Some folks think her posting Facebook photos of MJs mausoleum were inappropriate. That’s were Levin got the pix he just posted on his site. I highly doubt he “stole” them. He’s a lawyer. Therefore, she is profiting by selling pictures of a sight that was to never have been seen by the public.
Other than that and her proximity to Michael Jackson (she was his personal makeup artist), I can’t imagine why people are up in arms.
November 9th, 2009 at 5:27 am
Karen DID NOT sell those pics to TMZ! She made an offer to fans to take some emails and flowers to Michaels grave which she did. She took some photos for herself and to let the fans know that she had done what was promised via FB. Most of us never saw the actual site where MJ is..some appreciated the photos, some were not ready to see them and obviously someone sent them to TMZ. She could have sold them but would not sellout Michael. Karen never has. I think Karen has stated that MJ was thin was not incontrol and possibly a drug addict. I really don’t think even she truly knows and if so like I constantly been stating..WTH was she then???
November 9th, 2009 at 6:28 am
Dr.Klein needs to go back under the rock he slithered out from!There is something fishy about this guy,right after Michael died he was on Larry King and has done numerous interviews since,Klein lost his meal ticket and it’s all about money.His interviews don’t even make sense half the time,all he is doing is making himself look like a complete idiot and I don’t believe half of what he says.
November 9th, 2009 at 10:06 am
@Py: If she files a cease and desist (and the pix are pulled), I’ll believe you. I don’t think that’s going to happen tho. Levin knows from copyright infringement.
November 9th, 2009 at 11:46 am
Levin is an attorney and he’s very meticulous about the information he collects.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:00 pm
I my opinon when someone that was a great entertainer as MJ when they die everybody and their brother comes ut swing because mj is not here to say what is right and what is wrong I think or anybody is going to attach their wagon onto mj fortune just to make a dollar I think that it is ashamed michael gave people mainly children in his life the man worked worked hard for everything he has or had I just feel now that he has die everyone is coming out of the woodwork leave him and his children in piece there is just not any right in the world he was’nt important to many people until he come into money from the sells of his records and the show this is it. just let him rest in peace.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:12 pm
“Levin is an attorney and he’s very meticulous about the information he collects.”
Well he may have gone to law school and passed the bar, but he isn’t currently practicing law and he’s far from meticulous when it comes to information about Michael Jackson and members of the Jackson family.
Arnie Klein is useful to Harvey. Harvey knows he’s full of ish, but he wants him out there throwing shade on MJ. For reasons best known to himself, Harvey has a palpable hatred for Michael Jackson, just like his buddy Diane Dimond. (Maybe they put the moves on MJ and got turned down. They certainly act like spurned would-be lovers.)
My favorite Arnie Klein fun non-fact: he claims to have given $300 million to charity, just like MJ. If he popped every pimple in LA County, he still couldn’t have earned that much cash, much less have given it away.
November 9th, 2009 at 2:20 pm
@Simba: Yepyep. I’m aware that Levin could care less about MJ, but my point is that he allows KLEIN to say slanderous crap and then he prints it in quotations without the risk of being sued for libel. It ain’t libel of you print something someone alleges. The risk is on Klein. Re: Faye. Those pix are still up. Who got paid for them? If she’s claiming copyright and they stay up, what does that tell you?
November 9th, 2009 at 2:50 pm
Roger’s buddy Debbie Rowe is the one being PAID by the Jacko estate to keep her mouth shut, NOT Dr. Klein. I found his comments about Debbie Rowe RIGHT ON, especially her publicity stunt and having ET to drinks in the cafeteria of Dr. Klein’s office building, MILES away from where she lives.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:01 pm
Karen Faye SOLD the pictures. It is past time that some people wise up to her. I find it pathetic that some fans are too stupid to see through her scheme. Michael fired her as$ for a reason..unfortunately, he had to take her back for TII because of his financial problem. That viper knows what she is doing, and is INDEED TMZ stole the pictures, she should file a libel suit.
Which we all know she won’t because TMZ LEGALLY bought the pictures from her. There is a reason why TMZ put their WATERMARKS on the pictures….they own them.
November 9th, 2009 at 3:41 pm
Simba: “If he popped every pimple in LA County, he still couldn’t have earned that much cash, much less have given it away.”… funny!
That sum 300 million dollars just jumped out of his mouth, showing he has MJ totally on his mind.
DR can have coffee wherever she wants. The means AK used to stay close to MJ isn’t much to brag about, by the looks of it. She did MJ more good than he did, didn’t she?
November 9th, 2009 at 6:11 pm
Calista: Debbie was in that building for a reason. She’d been accompanying a great friend of hers to the gyno in the building. Klein isn’t the only doc in that complex. He’d even had her banned from the office (their acrimony is THAT intense). Paparrazzi stake out HER ranch, not Klein’s mansion. Re: pay. That’s his ex-wife, who cares how much she’s paid? What matters is that qualuude quack is talking as fast as his mouth will move with no regard to the truth. He was a Doctor Feelgood who was as culpable for Michael Jackson’s death as Murray and Jackson, himself.
November 9th, 2009 at 8:20 pm
Klein is a nut. If you have anything to say about someone say it when they can defend themself. Michael can’t defend his self, so people might think that everything which comes out of this fool’s mouth is the truth. With friends like this guy Michael didn’t need any enemies. I don’t watch TMZ. Their is no respect for Levin or that piece of trash.
November 10th, 2009 at 12:45 am
Debbie Rowe was once a pretty, happy girl. Here she is with Klein in his office 1993.
http://www.gettyimages.com/Search/Search.aspx?contractUrl=2&language=en-US&family=editorial&assetType=image&p=arnold%20klein#2
November 10th, 2009 at 6:10 am
Klein is a pompous douche bag like you who thinks that he is God’s gift to Dermatology or medicine, he is such a narcissist and just needs someone to cut him down a notch. He lives in a world of pointing the blame instead to taking the obvious blame. I couldn’t sit through another of his rants about himself and how great he is to the world as a Super Doctor and God to mankind. He is the craziest person that hasn’t been diagnosed by a legal professional, when he gets older, he will be the most annoying person at a nursing home and they will drug him just to get him to shut the F… up.
@whilome … I co-sign everything you said.
November 14th, 2009 at 6:43 am
Why do most of these anti-klein responses sound like it’s one or two people making all these comments?
Also, why doesn’t Roger Friedman explain how he’s connected to Debbie Rowe and how biased his viewpoints are in this piece of yellow journalism?
Let’s just put the record straight- poor dear Debbie Rowe- who has not been seen on Roxbury for ages- shows up at Klein’s bldg after a swarm of paparazzi appear? If she were there to accompany a friend to the gyno – who alerted the paparazzi she was arriving?
I work on Roxbury and those paparazzi swarmed each time just before darling Debbie arrived.
Seems like those who may be calling Klein a fame whore should take off their blinders and really look at who notified the paparazzi because she needed to extend her well over 15 mins of fame.
Any mother who pawns off her kids so she can get her monthly stipend back for her precious horse farm and pretend like she’s not getting any money out of the pawning deal should be locked away.
Klein was right about Rowe. He was right about a lot of things.
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