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Eminem Asked For Open Testimony
High Court judge Justice Peter Kelly has requested for Eminem to come to Dublin’s Commercial Court and give evidence explaining the last-minute cancellation of the rapper’s proposed concert at Slane Castle in 2005.
Eminem pulled out of the September 17th sold-out 80,000-capacity concert, part of the Anger Management tour, after complaining of "exhaustion."
Denis Desmond’s MCD is suing London-based insurance companies Liberty Syndicate Management Ltd., Brit Insurance Ltd. and Markel International Ltd. for euro 1.41 million because they’ve failed to pay out on the cancellation.
Eminem had asked that he be allowed to give his testimony in private regarding his state of health at the time of the concert, but Justice Kelly refused the application, saying it would be inappropriate.
The judge also said that there was a constitutional mandate that justice be administered in public and that Eminem’s testimony is important and "possibly crucial" in settling the dispute between Desmond and the insurers.
The 80,000 tickets for the Slane Castle concert were sold within an hour, but just weeks before the September 17 show, Eminem pulled out because he was suffering from exhaustion.
On December 4th, Justice Kelly granted MCD’s application to have the case admitted to the Dublin Commercial Court and made directions for both sides to issue the relevant legal documents.
"The dispute has been going on for well over a year and so we’re fast-tracking it by going to the Commercial Court, which doesn’t take as long as going through the High Court," Desmond told Pollstar at the time.
In an affidavit, Desmond told the court that Eminem’s tour was due to begin in Germany on September 1, 2005, but, a month earlier, his manager Paul Rosenberg announced that the controversial rapper was canceling it due to exhaustion