New Spin on Collapse of Jackson’s Charity Project

From nowhere he emerged, an unknown in the music industry--with one big exception. He was a friend of Michael Jackson.

In the days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, F. Marc Schaffel was traveling in new circles, assembling a choir of superstars to sing with Jackson on a fund-raising single that would be sold through McDonald’s Corp. Jackson had made Schaffel executive producer.

The singer’s handlers were as bewildered as everyone else--so much so that they set out to learn more about Schaffel. What they discovered would trigger a major damage-control effort and bring a halt to a project that some of the country’s top performers had hoped would help the grieving families.

Schaffel, it turned out, was in the gay pornography business--and Jackson’s people did not want him linked to the self-described King of Pop, whose legacy already was tarnished by allegations of sexual molestation in 1993.

Given the high stakes for Jackson--and the high visibility of the charity project--his aides quietly asked Sony Music Entertainment Inc. to bury the single, according to documents obtained by The Times and interviews with those familiar with the deal. The record suffered yet another setback when McDonald’s backed out of a multimillion-dollar proposal to sell it at its franchises, fearing fallout from customers who would be unhappy with the chain’s association with Jackson, sources said.

None of this, however, was mentioned last weekend by Jackson when he blamed Sony Music for blocking the release of the charity single, which is called “What More Can I Give” and features two dozen artists, including Ricky Martin, Mariah Carey, Gloria Estefan and Reba McEntire. Jackson accused Sony Music’s chairman, Thomas D. Mottola, of being a racist who not only had failed to release the charity record but also had ruined sales of Jackson’s last album, “Invincible,” because of poor marketing.

Now, his highly publicized remarks, delivered at a press conference in Harlem with activist the Rev. Al Sharpton, have backfired.

Had the singer not launched his offensive against Sony, the details behind the collapse of the charity project might still be under wraps. Instead, the music industry was abuzz Friday with the latest bizarre twist in the singer’s career.

Some say that career is in decline. Nevertheless, Jackson remains a powerful force in music. “Invincible,” released late last summer, topped the charts with 366,000 copies sold in its first week. Still, sales quickly dropped and the album was seen largely as a disappointment given Sony’s $26-million marketing campaign. Its sales, for example, were far behind the 1.9 million sold by ‘N Sync’s “Celebrity” in its first week.

Regardless, Jackson outsells many new acts and remains one of the industry’s biggest global stars. And few in Hollywood have Jackson’s clout or ability to assemble a star-studded cast such as the one willing to contribute to the charity event.

Now that the project has fallen apart, Jackson’s representatives are declining to comment except to say that when they and the singer learned of Schaffel’s background, they immediately broke ties with him. Sony also declined to comment. A McDonald’s representative said an agreement was never signed to sell the charity single.

Among the key players, only Schaffel is talking. And he says he feels wronged.

“I believe this charity single could still generate lots of money to help those in need,” said Schaffel, who has produced and directed dozens of gay pornographic videos. “Why shouldn’t it come out? Because of something I did in the past? I mean, this is an industry in which rock stars date porno queens. Adult film doesn’t have the same stigma it used to. So really, what’s their excuse?”

According to Schaffel, he and Jackson became friends several years ago. The two are believed to have been introduced by a Beverly Hills dermatologist.

Schaffel said that even before the World Trade Center and Pentagon attacks, he and Jackson began discussing the possibility of producing a charity record to try to duplicate the success of the Jackson-penned hit recording “We Are the World” in the mid-1980s. This time, Jackson wrote the music and lyrics and signed away the rights to Schaffel sometime before the terrorist strikes.

“I am the executive producer of the project, which was financed primarily by Michael,” Schaffel said.

That decision by Jackson left many in the industry puzzled about why an entertainer known for shrewd deal making would simply give away the song’s rights to Schaffel. The singer never consulted or notified his lawyer and manager that he had sealed the deal in a written contract, sources familiar with the deal said.

After the terrorist attacks, Schaffel said, he and Jackson decided to transform the song into a 9/11 tribute. The singer informed his inner circle about the project and introduced them to Schaffel, whose attorneys suggested they try to land a corporate sponsorship from McDonald’s to help advertise and sell the song.

Sony Music agreed to manufacture and distribute the single. It would be released in two versions, one in English and one in Spanish. Sony agreed to help Jackson and Schaffel recruit the performers.

By Sept. 20, artists were lining up to donate their time, and Schaffel was flying around the country in a Jackson-chartered jet, stopping at studios in Miami and Chicago to record their vocal tracks. According to Schaffel, the voices were mixed together later and engineered with the two recordings costing about $3 million.

“We did the entire thing very quickly and very cheaply--the way that things are done in the adult film business,” Schaffel said. “We didn’t waste money the way they do in the music business.”

By mid-October, Schaffel and his attorney had set up a meeting with McDonald’s marketing executives in a suite reserved by Jackson at the Beverly Hills Hotel to work out the details of a sponsorship deal. McDonald’s thought it could sell 5 million or more singles in its U.S. outlets and offered to pay an estimated $20 million for the product.

But after news of the possible deal leaked Oct. 13 to a New York tabloid, McDonald’s was bombarded with complaints from parents upset that the family food chain would consider selling a single by an entertainer who had settled a child molestation case. After conducting an internal poll, McDonald’s notified Schaffel it was backing out.

“We had the McDonald’s deal 99.9% done while we were sitting at the Beverly Hills Hotel,” Schaffel recalled. “When the story leaked, they weren’t happy. They told us the factor that killed it was the tight time window for delivering the product.”

By November, Jackson’s advisors, curious as to how Schaffel had obtained the rights to the charity single, launched an investigation into the mystery producer’s background. That is when they learned that Jackson’s new 35-year-old business partner was a producer and director of gay pornographic videos. Schaffel appeared in at least one of them.

Jackson’s advisors confirmed through public records that Schaffel and his business partner, Paul Hugo, once owned their own adult film house called Sosume Industries, which distributed movies made by Schaffel through a subsidiary called Renegade Video. They also learned that Schaffel operated several gay porn sites on the Internet.

“It’s no secret that my background is in the adult film business,” Schaffel said. “I’ve been doing this since I was 17. I’ve directed lots of films, but I consider myself primarily to be a producer. I’ve never hidden it. Everybody knows what I do.”

When asked whether Jackson was aware of his resume, Schaffel said: “I’m not going to comment. You’ll have to ask Michael that question.”

In mid-November, the charity project began to unravel as more was learned about Schaffel.

The entertainer’s attorneys notified Schaffel in writing that Jackson was terminating his contract because “information about Mr. Schaffel’s background, previously unknown to Mr. Jackson, [had] just been discovered,” according to a copy of the Nov. 15 legal notice.

At the same time, Jackson’s advisors, apparently without his knowledge, began lobbying Sony Music to terminate the project. According to sources familiar with the single’s collapse, the singer’s advisors asked Sony to refuse legal permission for its stars to appear on the record, essentially torpedoing the project--at least until Jackson was able to recover the rights to the single.

But Schaffel pressed ahead. He tried to stage a concert in Washington to film a video for the song. Jackson did not show up. Schaffel faxed a June 13 letter to Nobuyaki Idei, chairman of Sony Music’s parent company, Sony Corp., pleading for him to release the single or allow it to be released through another distributor.

“It would be a tragedy almost as great as the first one to let corporate greed or politics stop the movement of people working together in the healing process,” Schaffel wrote.

In the last several months, as Jackson’s feud with Sony Music has escalated, his fans have urged the company to do the “humanitarian thing” and release the single.

“If you ask me, I think there are people who don’t want to see Michael on top,” Schaffel said. “I guarantee that this project would be very successful and it would paint him in a different light than how they want him to be seen. They don’t want Michael to succeed. And they’re using my background as an excuse. I’m a scapegoat.”