Guy Sebastian is not proud of describing an audience as “fat older feral women” in an email to his former manager accused of embezzling nearly $1 million from him.
The pop star in the NSW District Court on Thursday returned for his fifth day of evidence against his former long time manager Titus Emanuel Day.
Day, 49, has pleaded not guilty to 50 charges including fraudulently embezzling money allegedly owed to Sebastian through royalties and performance fees.
He also denies 50 alternative counts of larceny, or stealing.
The Australian Idol winner was taken to an email exchange in 2017 about his hesitations in supporting former Westlife boy band member Shane Filan on tour.
The email previously read to the jury was missing three descriptive words.
“Cool, what do you think of the demo?” Sebastian’s email read.
“I’m not trying to be cheesy but it’s a big investment and talking to Sammy who did a similar tour she said it was all women, just throwing out some considerations.”
On Thursday Sebastian agreed the words “fat older feral” was missing before the word “women”.
“Obviously not something I was proud of saying and using that to make a point,” he said.
But he denied the suggestion he omitted those words, and said it was Day who deleted them from his response to the singer.
“I’ve never denied writing this email,” he said.
The entertainer previously said he left the tour early because: “(It) wasn’t really the right tour but I was also struggling with mental health issues at the time.”
After performing about half the shows he instructed the team he would be returning home, but denied he was just dissatisfied with how it was going.
“Abandoned is not the correct word. I used that word when Mr Day left (the tour) after three shows because of another client on a TV show,” he said.
“There were a lot of reasons for why I chose to go home.”
Sebastian had been advised by Day that he would be paying costs for the tour, but said he later discovered additional fees were purportedly paid for him to perform.
The Crown says this is part of Day’s cover-up to explain how he allegedly embezzled almost $900,000 between 2013 and 2020 from the singer, who he managed via 6 Degrees between 2009 and 2017.
The musician first filed a civil lawsuit against his long-time manager in July 2018, when he says he discovered money was owed to him.
Two years later he approached police when he allegedly discovered “criminal behaviour”.
But Day’s defence barrister Dominic Toomey SC said his client has an answer to every single charge, and the police were perhaps “seduced” by the entertainer’s high profile.
He also submitted that Sebastian owed his client money on contra, or items gifted to him by brands in exchange for his services or ambassadorship.
Mr Toomey referred Sebastian to such a deal with Toyota he described as “lucrative.”
“I wouldn’t say it was lucrative … I don’t own the cars,” Sebastian said.
The barrister pointed to a valuation by the car brand of its ambassadorship with Sebastian worth more than $140,000 a year.
But the witness said he was not privy to such costings.
The court was previously told that the musician was owed $494,360 for accompanying Taylor Swift four times on her Red Tour in Australia in 2013.
Sebastian says he never received half that fee.
Mr Toomey suggested to Sebastian that he requested Day to use that money to buy shares in My Medical Records, a company he had previously invested in, to avoid paying taxes on the substantial amount.
“I couldn’t disagree with that statement any more,” Sebastian said.
The trial is due to resume on Monday.
