MICHAEL JACKSON FACES SUIT OVER MILLENNIUM CONCERTS

Everyone's favorite surgery mask-wearing King of Pop has been sued for $21.2 million by German concert promoter Marcel Avram. In a lawsuit filed in Los Angeles this morning, Avram's company, Mama Concerts & Rau, claims that Michael Jackson backed out of a four-concert pact, specifically the super-gimmicky two shows on New Year's Eve in Sydney, Australia and Honolulu.

According to the company's statement totaling the lawsuit, Jackson was paid a $1 million advance, production and other costs were $11.2 million and $10 million was lost in income from broadcasting rights. Avram has been Jackson's concert promoter since 1972.

Last June, Jackson did perform two of the scheduled four shows, one in Seoul, the other in Munich. He pulled out of the millennium concerts in October, citing recording commitments.

"We booked everything—stadiums, hotels, flights," said Avram. "And there was no way we could cancel at the start of the new millennium. We were hunkered down in our bunkers waiting for the world to end. Boy were we disappointed. "