Justice Peter Kelly described the rapper’s testimony as a “possibly crucial” part of a civil action that promoters MCD are taking against three London-based insurance companies – Liberty Syndicate Management, Brit Insurance and Markel International – for the alleged non-payment of $2 million.
MCD claim to have had a contract with the insurers entitling them to the money if the gig was either canceled or relocated.
Eminem’s lawyers had wanted his testimony, which will be given to a judge in the U.S. District Court of the Eastern District of Michigan, to be treated confidentially, but Justice Kelly decreed there was a constitutional mandate that justice be administered in public.
Having initially cited “exhaustion, complicated by other medical issues”, the American admitted that the Slane no-show was due to him being treated for an addiction to prescription drugs.