№ 07 · MOMENT
The Pepsi Fire
Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, January 27, 1984
MICHAEL JACKSON
The King of Pop
★ RARE
← MICHAEL JACKSON
CARD N° 07 · MOMENT · ★ RARE
The Pepsi Fire
Shrine Auditorium, Los Angeles, January 27, 1984
№ 07 MOMENT
The Pepsi Fire
While shooting a Pepsi commercial that re-staged a Jackson 5 concert, a pyrotechnic flashpot detonated too early and ignited Michael's hair. He suffered second- and third-degree burns to his scalp. The injury — and the painkillers prescribed afterwards — began the prescription-drug dependence that would shadow him for life.
▶ THE MOMENT
Michael Jackson — Pepsi Commercial Fire Accident (1984)
www.youtube.com/watch?v=1ZmW1HW7qkc
MICHAEL JACKSON · B·SIDE · VOL.I
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THE FACT
While shooting a Pepsi commercial that re-staged a Jackson 5 concert, a pyrotechnic flashpot detonated too early and ignited Michael's hair. He suffered second- and third-degree burns to his scalp. The injury — and the painkillers prescribed afterwards — began the prescription-drug dependence that would shadow him for life.
WHAT MOST DON'T KNOW
Take six was the take they used. Michael was meant to walk down a staircase as fountains of sparks erupted behind him on a four-second delay. On take six the timing was off; the magnesium flash bomb went off above his head as he turned, igniting his hair pomade. The footage shows him calmly continuing the move for several seconds before realising. He was rushed to the Brotman Medical Center, then to the Cedars-Sinai burn unit. Pepsi paid $1.5 million in damages. Michael donated all of it to the Brotman burn centre, which renamed its facility 'The Michael Jackson Burn Center'. His scalp was permanently scarred and he wore wigs for the rest of his life. He also began a course of prescription painkillers — initially Demerol, later propofol — that would, twenty-five years later, kill him.
▶
THE MOMENT
Michael Jackson — Pepsi Commercial Fire Accident (1984) — The unedited take, including the moment the sparks ignite his hair.