Huge Eric Muhammad - whose 6ft8ins frame meant he was once detailed to look after Jacko's three kids - is secretly demanding $150,000 dollars (£91,000) for his sick piece of memorabilia. But the conniving minder's shameless betrayal is exposed on video today after he tried to clinch a deal with an undercover News of the World reporter. Muhammad took the silky black mask from the Thriller star's limo after he drove children Prince, Blanket and Paris to the Los Angeles hospital where doctors frantically tried to save their dying father. In a meeting with our investigator, posing as a rich businessman, the burly guard pulled the mask from a plastic zip lock bag and told us: "This is the only way I could, you know, preserve it. This was HIS and you are more than welcome to DNA it. "It still has his MAKE-UP on it. It still SMELLS like him. "It's very sentimental to me and it's personal. The number that I had initially in my mind was to offer it up for 200 hundred grand." Then in an effort to prove his closeness to Jacko, and the provenance of his goods, the free-talking security man MOUTHED OFF about the night the King of pop died, BLAMED personal medic Dr Conrad Murray for the tragedy and BRAGGED how the Jackson children lovingly nicknamed him Big E. Muhammad's attempt to line his own pockets comes just after Michael's rhinestone-studded glove - worn for his first Moonwalk dance in 1983 - was sold to a Hong Kong gaming resort boss for $350,000 (about £212,000). But that was a legitimate auction. Slippery Muhammad's offer is a hush-hush private get-rich-quick scheme. We were tipped off by an LA businessman who had already been approached, and our man took the 'customer's' place. Within seconds of entering our suite at the Intercontinental Montelucia hotel close to his home in Phoenix, Arizona, Muhammad was boasting of his close relationship with the Jackson clan. Muhammad, 36 - who boasts of celebrity clients including Britney Spears, Kanye West, Claudia Schiffer and Bette Midler - guarded Michael for the final three months of his life at the star's Bel Air mansion. His role included driving Jacko to and from rehearsals for the This Is It tour, running errands for the superstar and taking the kids shopping. "I was the first one he seen everyday when he came out of the house," bragged Muhammad, sporting a bright orange shirt with his name embroidered on the collar and large fake diamond cufflinks. "I took care of the children, I took care of him. I took care of whatever he wanted. I'd bring him his food at rehearsal and make sure he got into the house at night." Muhammad drove Jackson to the last rehearsal two days before his sudden death on June 25 and said the 50-year-old star appeared "fit and healthy". The minder blamed Dr Conrad Murray for the tragedy, accusing the medic of dozing off after administering powerful prescription drugs to get the singer to sleep. "I think Dr Murray left him under this anaesthesia, whatever it is, too long," said Muhammad. "Dr Murray would get there quite early but MJ wouldn't go to bed sometimes until five in the morning. "So once Dr Murray got him under, he'd take a nap. I just think he made a bad mistake and it cost MJ his life." Muhammad said he was one of the security team booked to accompany Jackson on the UK This Is It tour that was never to be. "It would have been phenomenal," said Muhammad. "It was all set and I had my own apartment. Michael said the fans in London are unbelievable." Outrageously the minder views the sale of Jacko's mask as some sort of compensation for missing out on the tour. "I was looking online and there's a lot of stuff on there but none of it is personal items," he said. And, pointing to a brown smudge of make-up on the nose area of the mask, he added: "This IS a very personal item. "I was responsible for cleaning the cars, so I'd take all Michael's valuables or things I thought might go missing and just keep them. And ironically I just kept that mask! "So that's it, man. He'd be rehearsing in that. When he'd come out he would wear it. I was just fortunate enough to be where I was at the time to get it." Setting his first price at $200,000, greedy Muhammad told us: "I was really banking on getting the money from the tour to do me well, and I'm not asking for a handout... "To part with that, it's a big sentimental piece for me, obviously consider that." When told he was asking too much, 22-stone Muhammad agreed to a cut-price $150,000 (£91,000). Bizarrely, despite blatant betrayal by SELLING one his boss's possessions, muslim Muhammad claimed he would never exploit tragic Jacko by TALKING about him for cash. "I would never give an infidel the pleasure of that," he said arrogantly. "Michael was very into Islam. That's why we were all Muslims doing security for him. "He's not somebody I'd want to talk bad about. People have no loyalty!" No Mr Muhammad, obviously not. . . * KNOW a scandal Maz should expose? Email maz@notw.co.uk or call his team any time on 020 7782 4402.Michael Jackson's trusted bodyguard caught trying to sell star's mask for £100k
Smudge
Lawyers for MJ's estate want to stop Joe Jackson, 81, from getting his hands on reports including the singer's autopsy, toxicology probe, doctor's notes and UCLA hospital records in the final few hours of his life. They have filed a court motion blocking Joe and his legal team from pulling public records to show his family the exact causes of Jacko's death. Last week we showed the world the paperwork where coroners ruled Jackson's death was a homicide - but no further records have emerged about what was in the star's drug addled, stick thin frame. As yet police and California district attorney have not charged anyone. Dad Joe wants the world and his family to see what substances were in his son's system and ask experts to unravel what triggered his son's fatal cardiac arrest on June 25. The former manager of the Jackson 5 believes these documents will be the key in his planned private lawsuit case against Doctor Conrad Murray for wrongful death of his son. He is still considering whether he will file an action against concert promoters AEG as to whether they were complicit in MJs treatment. Joe insists Murray was employed by AEG to " look after the star's needs." However estate administrators John Branca and John McClain reckon that most of his medical records should remain secret on "privacy" grounds forever. In December LA judge Mitchell Beckloff denied Joe the right to contest Branca and McClain's right to govern the Thriller star's $1bn fortune. He is now hoping to bank a monthly allowance from his dead son's fortune. A source close to the family said : "Joe is a father simply trying to learn the truth about his son's death ; the family have had to endure almost seven months with these records being kept secret . "Now the estate, the people who are meant to be acting in Michael's best interests, are blocking him from doing that. "Joe is asking for this information to establish how strong our case would be against Murray and any other "The problem is Joe would need money from the estate to sue Murray on behalf of his son - but they don't want a part of it. "Joe has to present his case for cash to the judge, but cannot do that without these records. "We are going to fight this, but if we lose and the police either don't take the case to court or get a plea-bargain from Murray then Michael's health records will remain a secret forever. "If the estate get their way just how Michael died will be hidden forever. His family and fans will not have peace with that. If there was foul play no-one will ever know why. "It means the public may not know just what levels of drugs were in the star's body, what happened at Jacko's house and the hospital. These records are so important" The source added: "This is a delaying tactic. If the case is made criminal all these documents will be released to the public. We cannot understand the administrators' stance." Last night Brian Oxman, lawyer for Joe, told The News Of The World: "The world and Michael's fans should rise up in outrage that a grieving father should not be permitted to know how his son died." The estate lawyers have filed a motion to block Joe's subpoenas to pull medical records from UCLA hospital and the coroners offices. The row is set to explode in court when Joe, Branca and McCLain go head to head in the LA Superior Court on February 11. So far coroners concluded Jackson died from an overdose of Propofol, a hospital based anesthetic drug which Dr Murray told cops he had injected. Cops' affidavits also showed that Murray gave him a batch of prescription pills to help the star sleep hours after a rehearsal for his London comeback shows. However the autopsy, toxicology and hospital emergency room records have been kept under wraps. Last night Howard Weitzman - legal representative for the estate's administrators - said: "Mr Jackson is not entitled to the records as set out in our court motion. "He is before the court asking for a family allowance for his support and these records have no relation to that request. "The motion and requested order protects Michael's privacy. "If there is a criminal case against Dr. Murray the overwhelming number of items asked for by Mr Jackson will not be part of that case nor would they be released to the public."JACKSON COURT BID
Records detailing Michael Jackson's death could be hidden forever
Michael Jackson's drug intake and medical reports may never be made public thanks to an extraordinary court battle - The News Of The World can reveal.
Privacy
Court
We obtained a copy of the document and an amendment to it - that have never been published. On the original July 7 certificate deputy coroner Cheryl MacWillie refuses to give a cause of death. But after further probes, it is amended on August 31 by medical examiner Christopher Rogers to "homicide". He concludes Jacko died from "acute Propofol intoxication" due to an "intra-venous injection by another". Meanwhile Jacko's doctor Conrad Murray, 56, has hired a hotshot lawyer in case he is charged over the June 25 death. Hollywood legal eagle Michael Flanagan saved a nurse from a murder charge when she was accused of wrongly administering painkiller Propofol. Murray already has a Houston law firm building his defence. Police affidavits say he admitted loading up Jacko, 50, with Propofol and other drugs in the hours before his death. The prosecution is likely to use lawyer Patrick Dixon, who helped put Phil Spector behind bars. But yesterday a Jackson family source said: "We are all keeping our faith with the police. We want them to do this case properly and put away the man who we feel is responsible for Michael's death. "We want the authorities though to release details of what happened to Michael in his last few hours. We want the paperwork to come out to show just what drugs were put inside him and what happened in his last few hours alive. "Much of the documentation has been kept secret - and we can't understand it. "We still feel that there is more than one person responsible for Michael's tragic death. Joe won't give up on getting justice for his son and a lawuit is his focus." Last night a coroners office worker explained the void branding on the forms was issued by the health authority which holds the documents. They brand forms like this to avoid them from being used for fraudulent purposes.Michael Jackson: It WAS homicide
'Up' wins best feature at Annie Awards
Jeffrey Katzenberg honored at ceremony
Nominated for five Academy Awards, "Up" is the odds-on favorite to win the Oscar for animated feature, and is only the second animated film to earn a nomination in the best picture category. It is also nominated for best screenplay, music and sound editing Oscars.
Other big Annie winners were "Coraline" and "The Princess and the Frog," with three awards each.
Disney/Pixar's "Up" earned a total of two Annie trophies -- best animated feature and Pete Docter for direction -- extending its string of prior awards including last month's Golden Globe. In all, awards were presented in 23 Annie categories in features, TV and commercials.
The Annie for best animated feature has matched the eventual Oscar winner each year since the Academy Awards first awarded the category in 2002, except for twice. A year ago, the Annie Awards came under some scrutiny after DreamWorks' "Kung Fu Panda" dominated the Annies and won the top prize, shutting out eventual Oscar winner "Wall-E" from Pixar.
William Shatner hosted this year's Annie ceremony, which is presented annually by ASIFA-Hollywood, the Los Angeles chapter of the International Animated Film Society.
During the ceremony, Winsor McCay Awards went to Tim Burton, Bruce Timm and Jeffrey Katzenberg, but only Katzenberg was in attendance. Tom Sito earned the June Foray honor. The Ub Iwerks Award went to William T. Reeves. Special Achievement Awards were presented to Martin Meunier and Brian McLean. Myles Mikulic, Danny Young and Michael Woodside received certificates of merit.
"Dear John"'Dear John' tops 'Avatar' at Friday b.o.
Romance breaks 'Avatar's' seven-week streak
Tatum Channing and Amanda Seyfried, who play the young lovers of Lasse Hallstrom's PG-13-rated "Dear John,"based on a novel by Nicholas ("The Notebook") Sparks, proved to be more popular than expected. Sony/Screen Gems' release of the Relativity production took in an estimated $13.8 million on Friday in 2,969 theaters.
That puts it on track to take in more than $30 million over the weekend, although it will still have to contend with East Coast snowstorms and Super Bowl Sunday.
Meanwhile, the ever-reliable "Avatar," the beneficiary of nine Oscar nominations on Tuesday, shifted into second place for the day as it picked up an additional $6.2 million.
"From Paris with Love," the weekend's other new wide release, checked in in third place. The R-rated action pic, directed by "Taken's" Pierre Morel, and starring John Travolta and Jonathan Rhys Meyers, pulled in nearly $3 million in 2,722 locales for distributor Lionsgate.
Rounding out the top five, the second weekend of the Mel Gibson starrer "Edge of Darkness" ranked fourth. The Warners release brought in $2.3 million.
Close behind in fifth was the second weekend of Fox's family film, "The Tooth Fairy," which attracted $1.6 million.
While Warner's "Sherlock Holmes" was hanging on in tenth place with almost $800,000 for the day, that holiday release is positioned to hit the $200 million mark today.
Cartoon Net has 'Hero: 108' franchise plans
52 episodes kick off next month; game, toys in the works
Cartoon partnered with Moonscoop Entertainment to co-produce the animated show that targets young teens, and Gamania Digital Entertainment, which will launch a massively multiplayer online game in the summer. The fourth partner is Playmates Toys.
Gamania, which handles Asian rights to such popular games as "Lineage" and "MapleStory," makes its first foray into the U.S. with "Hero: 108," loosely inspired by a 14th century Chinese novel called "The Water Margin Stories."
That novel has a small band of ordinary citizens, eventually growing to 108 of them, rising against a corrupt government. The TV show and online game has stripped the politics from the story.
"We figured fighting against the government wouldn't resonate with kids," Gamania product director Kevin Crawford said.
In the updated take, a bad guy named High Roller -- bestowed with the power to speak to animals -- convinces his furry friends that humans are an evil menace.
"Hero: 108" is an original property from Gamania, which employs 1,300 people mostly at its Taiwan headquarters. It recently opened a 10-person U.S. office in Irvine, Calif.
"FlashForward"David Goyer out as 'FlashForward' showrunner
Will still be 'involved' with show, but in a reduced capacity
Co-creator David Goyer is stepping down from his role running the series, sources confirmed.
The "Dark Knight" scribe will still be "involved" with the show, but will focus on feature films and directing.
"As my feature projects have started ramping up again, I felt I was being pulled in too many directions," said Goyer in a statement. "I'm proud of the show and excited about the relaunch. It's in great hands."
Goyer had limited hands-on TV series experience, so "Eli Stone" co-creator Mark Guggenheim was brought as showrunner in after his "FlashForward" pilot received a pickup to help with the launch of the mystery drama based on Robert Sawyer's novel.
After the show creative struggled out of the gate, Guggenheim stepped down as showrunner in October and was replaced by Goyer.
Who will serve as the new showrunner for "FlashForward" is not yet clear. The production is currently shooting episodes 17 and 18 of a 23-hour order.
"FlashForward" is set to return March 18.
