- Title: UK: GEORGE MICHAEL HOLDS NEWS CONFERENCE TO PROMOTE THREE NET AID CONCERTS
- Date: 22nd September 1999
- Summary: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM (SEPTEMBER 17, 1999) (REUTERS) VARIOUS NETAID POSTERS CONCERT PROMOTER HARVEY GOLDSMITH WELCOMING GEORGE MICHAEL TO PRESS CONFERENCE CUTAWAY OF PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL SAYING: "I think we'd better get one thing out of the way first, which is that I know a lot of people in this room would love to hear me talking about some of this week's George Michael news but I'm afraid that's not going to happen not for any legal reason, not because I don't want to talk about it I've plenty to say about the events of the last couple of days but simply because the needs and the problems of the people that we're here to talk about today are so massive compared to my minor irritations, that I think it would be very inappropriate for me to address that today so I won't be talking about Mr. Rodriguez today." CUTAWAY PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL SAYING: "I'm here in two capacities really, as a musician I'm here to add my support, add my weight to NetAid and to talk about the concert on October 9. Secondly and more personally I'm really here as one of the millions of people who sat night after night, literally crying in front of the television watching the news bulletins that were coming back from Kosovo and as someone with the privilege to have a public platform such as this, I'd really just like to give a very simple message to the British public, which I think is something which has been lost over the last couple of months and it's simply this that the people of Kosovo, the men, women and children of Kosovo still desperately need our help." CUTAWAY PRESS CONFERENCE (SOUNDBITE) (English) MICHAEL SAYING: "I don't think Live Aid was a failure in any way. I think LiveAid was a great success in many ways and I don't think it was the fault of anybody that organised Live Aid or played Live Aid or supported Live Aid that one of the major problems in Africa remains drought and famine. I don't think the conditions for Agriculture in Africa can be blamed upon Live Aid in any way. I do think that since then there's been a charity fatigue which is why a conference like this is necessary in 1999, believe me I don't wish to be here. But I do think that Live Aid was a great thing it focussed people, I think it showed young kids the way in many respects and I think a lot of people are still inspired by what happened in the mid-eighties."
- Embargoed: 7th October 1999 13:00
- Keywords:
- Location: LONDON, ENGLAND, UNITED KINGDOM
- Country: United Kingdom
- Topics: Arts,Politics,People,Social Services / Welfare
- Reuters ID: LVAHUHG2Y6MLW1CGCY7PS4Z9V32
- Story Text: Pop idol George Michael promised on Thursday (September 16) to speak to British tabloids about his current legal battle with an American policeman, if they helped him to advertise three NetAid concerts in October, an initiative to combat world poverty and to refocus public attention on the plight of Kosovo's refugees.
Promoting "NetAid" concerts to be held next month to raise money for the poor, Michael promised to discuss a $10 million lawsuit linked to his arrest last year for 'lewd conduct' in a public place if the media accepted his challenge.
Michael, who is due to perform alongside pop artists like David Bowie, Bono of U2 and Robbie Williams in a NetAid concert at Wembley Stadium on October 9, urged Britons not to forget Kosovo's refugees.
"The men, women and children of Kosovo still desperately need our help," Michael said.
"There are hundreds of thousands of people who have returned to Kosovo but have returned to virtually nothing," he said.The proceeds of NetAid concerts in London, New York and Geneva, to be held simultaneously, are to be split between refugees in Kosovo and Sudan.
Michael admitted that he'd been reduced to tears several times when watching recent footage of refugees from Kosovo.He revealed that he'd donated five hundred thousand pounds 'anonymously' to a fund set up to help the plight of the refugees but insisted that there was a lot more to be done and pleaded for the British to continue donating money and help to the cause.
The concerts will be Webcast on the NetAid website (www.netaid.org), which is a joint venture between the United Nations Development Programme and Cisco Systems.
Michael, who found fame with pop band Wham! in the 1980s and is now one of the Britain's top-selling solo artists, promised the tabloids he had "lots to say".
The singer is being sued Marcelo Rodriguez, the Beverly Hills policeman who arrested him in a public toilet last April for performing a "lewd act upon himself".Rodriguez argues in his $10 million suit that he has suffered humiliation, mental anguish and emotional and physical distress.
He says the singer slandered him in a pop video for the song "Outside", written after the incident and portraying gay policemen kissing.Michael claims Rodriguez tried to entrap him by waving his genitals in front of him and soliciting casual sex. - Copyright Holder: REUTERS
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