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]