MJ’s Hair On Fire

Watercooler

By Nads | Thursday, July 16, 2009 | 2:51 am | 7 Comments
Posted in: Watercooler

US Weekly has just released the video of the 1984 Michael Jackson Pepsi commercial where his hair caught on fire.

I guess I was too young to remember how it went down, so needless to say, I was shocked when I watched it. What a horrible tragedy! Think about it: You’re Michael Jackson and you’re shooting a huge commercial for a major brand when sh*t hits the fan–Annnnnddd your hair bursts into flames. Not Positive!

Here’s the infamous video:

About

Although comedy is her profession, Nadine has accomplished a lot in her young age. She is a national champion black belt, a world-class soccer player, and an avid snowboarder. She started playing soccer at the age of 4, and continued playing through college where she majored in Biology, but quickly realized her destiny was to tell jokes, not to wear a lab coat. So she decided to be funny while finishing her Bachelors Degree in biology and continued on to get her M.B.A. Nadine’s comedy style is much like her athleticism, fearless. She’s made her way up the comedy ladder very quickly, and has become a club favorite at many of the country’s top comedy clubs, including the Improv chain. Performing in the Boston Comedy Festival and being noted as the “one of the youngest and brightest up and comers” and traveling to the Middle East to entertain the troops are just a few of her notable accomplishments. These days Nadine splits time between the stage, a radio studio, her computer blogging, and a television studio. Nadine’s TV, Radio, Writing credits include: national commercials, talking head roles on E! Entertainment, Showtime’s Hot Tamales Live, The Skinny: Fat Free News, The Sunny Side of The Truth: Real World Hollywood, TVgasm, Zazreport, Daddy’s Girls, Jerseylicious, celebrity interviews on Mania TV, a weekly half-hour television show that syndicates to colleges across the country for National Lampoon and a nightly radio show on XM Satellite Radio.

7 Comments

  1. 1
    singleinmymind
    Posted July 16, 2009 at 7:34 am

    My husband pointed out to me – this is what started MJ’s weird behavior – we wondered if it scarred more than his head if you know what I mean…

  2. 2
    Clair
    Posted July 16, 2009 at 8:36 am

    I don’t remember this either but holy crap, that looked painful.

  3. 3
    J-Mo J-Mo
    Posted July 16, 2009 at 9:15 am

    They were pretty successful at keeping how truly serious this was under wraps at the time. I remember this incident very well and all we ever saw was the bandaged Michael (with his glove still on) waving from the ambulance and a blurry picture of him coming down the stairs from the front with his hair on fire, but they had made it sound like he was just singed a little. Never did we know that it burned off most of his hair! (And you can see how embarrassed he is when he realizes that he’s got a giant bald spot!) Just sad.

    love, J-Mo :)

  4. 4
    mamatl
    Posted July 16, 2009 at 12:17 pm

    I was just a baby when this happened… how terrible! I didn’t know how bad it was. Poor Michael. I’m sure seeing himself so badly burned didn’t help his dysmorphophobia and just lead to more and more surgery.

  5. 5
    Y3KPhenom
    Posted July 16, 2009 at 1:51 pm

    I was old enough to be a full-fledged-i-wanna-marry-michael-jackson-when-i-grow-up fan at this time (but still a kid) and remember being angry at Pepsi for burning my husband-to-be.
    Although, like J-Mo said, they did a good job of covering it up. I don’t think anyone knew how bad it was except the ones who were there that day. I still don’t drink Pepsi.

  6. 6
    2muchbravo
    Posted July 16, 2009 at 2:21 pm

    Yowzaa! That looks terrible! I remember hearing about it too and it didn’t sound nearly as horrific as it looked!
    My co-workers said he was bald from the burns when he died.

    Yeah, I agree, that’s enough to push someone who’s already got self-image problems over the edge!

  7. 7
    itchy
    Posted July 17, 2009 at 12:44 am

    Yep, J-Mo’s right, they definitely played it down at the time — like it just singed a bit of his hair, no big deal. Was a great source of jokes for a few weeks there. It definitely makes sense that it screwed with his mind– you can see in the video that his hair/skin was burned down to the scalp.

    For me, at the time, the most significant part was that this was one of the first times that a major brand attempted to buy its image by linking up with a major star. It started the whole slippery slope that has made product placement and corporate sports arenas seem normal.

    It’s one of the reasons why I’ve always held (post-Thriller) MJ in such contempt. But I suppose that’s what the 80s were all about anyway.

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