New Footage Surfaces Of Michael Jackson’s 1984 Fire Accident
Back in 1984, Michael Jackson and his brothers filmed a commercial for Pepsi Cola in order to promote their Victory Tour and very famously suffered an accident on the set that caused his hair to catch fire, scarring him for life. MJ would go on to be a Pepsi spokesmodel for many years after the accident but that one incident became part of MJ history for all time. There has been footage of the accident for many, many years but US Weekly managed to scrounge up new footage of the accident that gives the most clear view of what happened to MJ on the set of that commercial shoot. The magazine makes the assertion that it was because of this fire accident that MJ got addicted to pain medication:
Usmagazine.com has exclusive, never-before-seen footage of Michael Jackson’s Pepsi commercial accident, filmed in L.A.’s Shrine Auditorium on Jan. 27, 1984. The clip shows one take where the pyrotechnics exploded as planned — after Jackson descended the stairs and began performing with his brothers. On the sixth take, though, things went horribly wrong: The fireworks erupted too early, igniting Jackson’s head in flames. Jackson is at first unaware he’s on fire, and continues dancing. He was never the same after the accident, reports the new issue of Us Weekly, on stands today. To relieve the second and third-degree burns on his scalp and body (and later to help him tolerate multiple surgeries on the scorched spot on his head), Jackson was prescribed several medications — which kicked off his addiction to painkillers and obsession with plastic surgery, multiple sources tell Us.
Wow … this new footage is pretty incredible. I’ve seen the footage previously made available but this is the most clear view of what happened on that fateful day. You can tell that MJ didn’t even know his hair was on fire until men jumped on stage to douse his head with fire extinguishers. After the jump, check out the video in full — be warned: the clip auto-plays …
Poor MJ. It’s pretty stunning to think that if this accident hadn’t happened, he might never have been exposed to the strong prescription drugs that it is alleged he was addicted to. I’m hearing that the first results from MJ’s autopsy toxicology report might be released this week. We may soon know what killed Michael Jackson.
[Source]
Tags: Michael Jackson, Pepsi Cola Co., US Weekly Magazine
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July 15th, 2009 at 11:07 am
OMG… that’s pretty horrifying to watch. Even if you do not like Michael Jackson, that’s a terrible thing to see…
July 15th, 2009 at 11:08 am
wow poor guy,i know from experience how painful fire burns can be :(
amazed that he didn’t realize it though???
July 15th, 2009 at 11:23 am
My hair caught on fire once at a restaurant (candles on the table) and I didn’t know for a few minutes why everyone was pointing at me and screaming. I just heard this crackling and smelled this gross smell and then there was a lot of light. It takes a few minutes for the heat to reach your scalp. Luckily I just lost about 10 inches of hair in front and had minimal damage to my scalp. A few minutes later and my whole head would have been engulfed. This is awful to watch – poor, poor MJ! This really makes you wonder what if….
July 15th, 2009 at 11:30 am
So, did his hair ever grow back? I’ve heard numerous things like he was wearing a wig and what not… anyone know the truth?
July 15th, 2009 at 11:33 am
Does US Weekly have nothing better to do or report on?
July 15th, 2009 at 11:39 am
Holy shit…his hair went up! Thank god he didn’t get hurt worse.
July 15th, 2009 at 11:52 am
DJ Whoop,
Like what? Is Britney having regular bowel movements? It’s USWeekly, don’t expect good reporting
July 15th, 2009 at 12:17 pm
This made me cry. What a terrible thing to happen to him. His whole head was on fire.
July 15th, 2009 at 1:29 pm
That is so awful. After Michael, Anna Nicole, Heath…it just makes me terrified to ever take pain killers. What a freak accident, I feel so bad that it happened to him. It almost seems as if this is the turning point where his life starts to go down hill. Drug addiction is a horrible thing, and while many times people can function at the same time, it eventually catches up with them if they don’t get help. Very sad.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:09 pm
That is so incredible. We’ve never seen the full footage of what actually happened, just that one pic with a flame coming off Michael’s head. In this you can see EVERYTHING that happened, including what his head looked like after the fire was put out. That is just SO horrible. To think if they had not had to do that 6th take…
July 15th, 2009 at 2:46 pm
If this incident and the falling off stage incident never happened he wouldn’t have been on pain killers.
it’s horrifying to watch.
July 15th, 2009 at 2:49 pm
This is such shocking footage!! What a traumatizing experience this must have been for him!
I can’t believe MJ had to endure so much pain throughout his life. It’s really really sad.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:23 pm
Oh wow, that was seriously sad to watch. His face is so scared and when he tries to hold his head :S
July 15th, 2009 at 3:56 pm
Wow, I understood why he might of worn wigs from this horrible accident.
July 15th, 2009 at 3:58 pm
That is SO freaking sad.
It DOES make you wonder how things would have turned out if that had never happened. Poor Michael. :(
July 15th, 2009 at 8:27 pm
You know, when it happened, I felt like it wasn’t that big of a deal. I had no idea that he was so injured in that incident. That made me sick to watch.
July 15th, 2009 at 10:22 pm
:O <—-My expression. Wow, I didn’t know/think it was this bad….omg…..wow….wow. wow.
July 16th, 2009 at 5:42 am
Hell no I don’t expect any kind of serious journalism from UW,but after everything that’s happened do we really need to see Michael Jackson’s hair on fire…again?
Plus, they reported on Britney’s BM’s last week.
;-)
July 16th, 2009 at 6:26 am
they showed this almost 18 times in a row on Today – it was awful and so unnerving, like, i get it, his head caught on fire, stop showing it already!!!!
July 16th, 2009 at 4:17 pm
like i have always said…had he not been burned he would not have gotten addicted to plactic surgery, i blame pepsi! but still very sad to see :-(
July 16th, 2009 at 7:40 pm
omfg, this is really really heartbreaking to watch…
the amount of pain mj must have gone through, and the rest of the events that happened in relation to this accident…
July 17th, 2009 at 2:09 am
I hardly think this “started his obsession with plastic surgery.”
He was no stranger to the surgeon’s scalpel long before this happened.
July 17th, 2009 at 10:25 am
I cant begin to imagine how awful that was for him