By Edna Gundersen, USA TODAY Michael Jackson's accusation that Sony Music blocked release of his all-star benefit single seems to be backfiring with revelations of the star's ties to a gay-p*rn maker. Jackson hired adult-film maker Marc Schaffel to be executive producer of What More Can I Give, recorded shortly after Sept. 11 and due in stores by the end of 2001. Schaffel, also known as Marc Frederics and Frederic Marc Schaffel, operates pornographic Web sites and has directed numerous gay p*rn videos. He had no music-production credits when Jackson enlisted him to oversee the song's recording and video. Schaffel and Paul Hugo, a fellow pornographer, teamed to produce the video under the company banner Neverland Valley Entertainment. (Neverland also is the name of Jackson's compound in Santa Ynez, Calif.) Jackson and Schaffel said they expected the English and Spanish versions of What More, featuring vocals by Ricky Martin, Celine Dion, Mariah Carey, Reba McEntire and others, to raise $50 million for terror victims. The long-overdue song remains in limbo. Sony representatives, who last week issued a statement condemning Jackson's "unfounded and unwarranted" attacks on Sony chief Tommy Mottola, had no comment on the new controversy. Schaffel, who told the Los Angeles Times that he never concealed his background in p*rnography, did not return calls. In a USA TODAY interview in September, Schaffel referred to Jackson as a longtime friend. Jackson singles out Schaffel in current album Invincible's credits under the heading "Michael Jackson Gives Special Thanks." The entry reads, "Marc Schaffel ... Thank you for all your help. I love you." Branding Mottola a racist, Jackson blamed Sony's inadequate marketing for the poor performance of Invincible, which has sold roughly 2 million copies since its release Oct. 30. It spent only 29 weeks on the Billboard chart, vanishing after it sank to No. 198 in late May. By contrast, 1992's Bad spent 117 weeks on the chart. Industry observers now suspect Sony and Jackson's own advisers quashed the single after learning of Schaffel's history. Dan Klores, Jackson's spokesman, seems to interpret the Schaffel disclosure as retaliation. "It's unfortunate that old stories like this are being leaked to the media in order to further hurt Michael," Klores says. "The perpetrators of this leak have known for months that Schaffel has had no relationship with Michael Jackson. The minute Michael and his advisers found out about Schaffel's background, they cut the cord immediately. This was months ago. (Schaffel) has nothing to do with Michael Jackson, doesn't represent him in any way, shape or form, and has been told this repeatedly by Michael's attorneys."
Man, I knew all this dumbass Mottola is racist bs (I'm black btw) would backfire on Michael. He really needs to sit down somewhere. Its sad to see him now, kinda like Hakeem.
