By: Lowri Williams on 11/17/2006

It has been revealed that the reason Michael Jackson only sang a few lines of a song at the recent World Music Awards was because his mic was cut off as the event had run over its 11pm curfew.

Jackson was forced to wait before going on stage as the event was running behind schedule and so could only sing a few lines from his song `We Are The World'.

A friend of his told the Mirror: "He is terribly disappointed. He'd rehearsed four songs. He'd decide to sing `She's Out Of My Life' but each time his car drove up to the stage he was told it wasn't ready. Then his mic was cut off. It was just one disaster too far.

Another source added: "It was an extraordinary night for all the wrong reasons. Everything that could go wrong did. Everything was late, running orders were being made up during the show. celebs were being asked to do things with literally 10 minutes notice.

"No one could be persuaded to give Michael Jackson his award ? even Bon Jovi refused. In the end they begged Beyonce ? she said yes, but it certainly wasn't I the schedule."

An event spokeswoman Jules Just said: "The event started late because all the celebs got caught up doing interviews on the red carpet, which was one of the longest ever
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"There were also technical hitches meaning things had to be juggled around. But all the team pulled together and we are appreciative of Philip Green for his support."