Did the Pepsi Accident Change Michael?

Kill MJ? - Their best PR person at the time?

That would make no sense at all. He was the biggest star they had in their commercials...
 
The 1984 Pepsi accident did change him and in a very negative way.

The 1984 Pepsi accident was actually the starting point of his use of drugs (prescription painkillers initially, and later more powerful drugs) in order to treat the intense pains of the burn injuries on his scalp.

It is important to note that although his personal doctor Dr. Steven Hoefflin advised him, right after that accident, against the use of those drugs (for the pain of his burn injuries on his scalp) because he knew as a doctor that this would evolve into an destructive addiction for him, yet Michael Jackson did not listen to him at all.

Michael Jackson continued increasing the drugs’ dosages but also he started taking other, more powerful drugs as well in the following years.

Doctors and enablers around him were more than happy to provide him the drugs that he was asking for.

The 1984 Pepsi accident led to a vicious circle because he had also to have reconstruction surgeries on his scalp on that burned area, which in turn caused to him additional pains, and thus taking even more drugs to ease these pains from those extra scalp surgeries (see, for example, his 1993 Neverland statement).

Also, the fact that he had been taking drugs (for his scalp pains), this made the transition easier to other, more powerful drugs (such as, Demerol) when he wanted to battle the additional anxiety and emotional distress of the allegations against him in 1993.

To put it differently, the exponential increase of the drugs because of the allegations (in 1993) would not have been physically possible if he had not already been taking drugs for his scalp.

Even in his very final years, the pains on his scalp continued and they were still causing to him ache and discomfort, worsening in that way even more his insomnia.
 
I think it must have affected him negative in a psychological way. He was very young and the most famous man on the planet when that happened and now he had a bald spot on the middle of his head that he had to hide using hairpieces and wigs. That would make anyone self conscious, now imagine being the most recognizable person in the world..
 
No doubt the accident affected him in many many ways. - And very badly.

His prescriptionmedicin-problem started here. And it followed him (in periods) the rest of his life.

I can see the thread has now been edited so it does not say anything about Pepsi trying to kill MJ - glad to see that, since that seems like nonsens and conspiracy theory IMO...
 
The most insecure and image conscious man in pop music.

He has vitiligo, he has lupus and now he has a massive permanent bald spot in the middle of his head, which means he requires surgery, which leads to even more surgeries on his face because of his insecurity and in turn leads to more drugs.

Without a shadow of a doubt, the changing point in his life. His drug use and surgeries to me, didn't seem to have gotten too bad up to around Black or White. He still looked great and was coherent when he spoke on camera.
 
Wow! We need a new project to come out so we have something new to talk about. It’s not like this hasn’t been discussed a million times before.
 
Smooth72;4290743 said:
Wow! We need a new project to come out so we have something new to talk about. It’s not like this hasn’t been discussed a million times before.

And speculated.... (see mj_frenzy going wild)
 
Definitely yes.
The craziest fact is that it happened in the exact date in the middle of his life.
Anyway I never understood why he remained partner with Pepsi for almost 10 more years after that. He must have been full of offers by big companies so why he stayed with those who seriously put in danger his career and life?
 
Definitely yes.
The craziest fact is that it happened in the exact date in the middle of his life.
Anyway I never understood why he remained partner with Pepsi for almost 10 more years after that. He must have been full of offers by big companies so why he stayed with those who seriously put in danger his career and life?

Tour sponsorship keeps ticket prices low for fans whilst the artist gets their cut, regardless.

Plus, we know why Coca Cola didn't want him and I doubt any other company out there would have sponsored his tours, put him on TV adverts to sell his music. Although, would have been funny to see Michael side shuffle in a pair of Doc Martens
 
Tour sponsorship keeps ticket prices low for fans whilst the artist gets their cut, regardless.

Plus, we know why Coca Cola didn't want him and I doubt any other company out there would have sponsored his tours, put him on TV adverts to sell his music. Although, would have been funny to see Michael side shuffle in a pair of Doc Martens
Um....why didnt coke want him? This'll be new to me
 
Jackson Rules;4290752 said:
Anyway I never understood why he remained partner with Pepsi for almost 10 more years after that. He must have been full of offers by big companies so why he stayed with those who seriously put in danger his career and life?

Because the Pepsi contract specified that he was not allowed to back out from the contract (that he signed with them in 1983) until the end of his Dangerous Tour in 1993.

So, even if he wanted to cancel the Pepsi contract prematurely after that accident, legally he was not allowed to do that.

Pepsi also used to give him complete quality control over the Pepsi commercials, something that Michael Jackson wanted.

There was also a great deal of money that Pepsi kept offering him, especially during the company’s sponsorship of his BAD Tour, so it would have been unwise for him to cancel that contract before 1993.

MOR316;4290774 said:
Tour sponsorship keeps ticket prices low for fans whilst the artist gets their cut, regardless.

Plus, we know why Coca Cola didn't want him and I doubt any other company out there would have sponsored his tours, put him on TV adverts to sell his music. Although, would have been funny to see Michael side shuffle in a pair of Doc Martens

There was also the Quaker Oats Company (which although does not belong to the drink industry but to the food industry) was interested in signing him with a long-term contract that would put him on TV commercials, would sponsor the Victory Tour, would sponsor his later solo tours, etc., but Michael Jackson turned their offer down.
 
Um....why didnt coke want him? This'll be new to me

They apparently considered him but, didn't see how he would appeal to a mass audience and thought he would only appeal to a more ethnic. black audience. They offered him a flimsy financial deal and he rejected it

Pepsi hesitated too but, whoever negotiated the deal at the time suggested the two adverts and Michael himself offered Billie Jean with new lyrics to the adverts and that's apparently what clinched it
 
Is Bob Giraldi really that stupid to tell Michael to stand longer by the explosives before going down the steps?

 
Alright don’t know about or if I should look at those links with Detail on them I like to look at something that’s not trying to put MJ in the negative aspect so I don’t bother with their videos
 
Elton-Cetera;4291276 said:
Is Bob Giraldi really that stupid to tell Michael to stand longer by the explosives before going down the steps?

Seems like it. This is from Moonwalk:

“It seemed so simple. I was to walk down the stairs and these bombs would blow up behind me. We did several takes that were wonderfully timed. The lightning effects from the bombs were great. Only later did I find out that these bombs were only two feet away from either side of my head, which was a total disregard of the safety regulations. I was supposed to stand in the middle of a magnesium explosion, two feet on either side.

Then Bob Giraldi, the director, came to me and said, "Michael, you're going down too early. We want to see you up there, up on the stairs. When the lights come on, we want to reveal that you're there, so wait ."

So I waited, the bombs went off on either side of my head, and the sparks set my hair on fire. I was dancing down this ramp and turning around, spinning, not knowing I was on fire.”
 
KrisMJFan;4291510 said:
Alright don’t know about or if I should look at those links with Detail on them I like to look at something that’s not trying to put MJ in the negative aspect so I don’t bother with their videos

They’re usually okay to watch. They do those clickbaity titles, but the actual content is most of the time fairly well researched. There are a few exceptions, especially among their earlier videos, and of course they want you to buy stuff at their shop, but you can simply ignore that part. ;)
 
ScreenOrigami;4291519 said:
Seems like it. This is from Moonwalk:

“It seemed so simple. I was to walk down the stairs and these bombs would blow up behind me. We did several takes that were wonderfully timed. The lightning effects from the bombs were great. Only later did I find out that these bombs were only two feet away from either side of my head, which was a total disregard of the safety regulations. I was supposed to stand in the middle of a magnesium explosion, two feet on either side.

Then Bob Giraldi, the director, came to me and said, "Michael, you're going down too early. We want to see you up there, up on the stairs. When the lights come on, we want to reveal that you're there, so wait ."

So I waited, the bombs went off on either side of my head, and the sparks set my hair on fire. I was dancing down this ramp and turning around, spinning, not knowing I was on fire.”

To be fair - this is only MJ's version of what happend. This was a 100 % accident - and I really don't think anyone was to blame. It was terrible and had a HUGE impact on MJ's life afterwards, but there is noone to blame. Sometimes bad things happen... this is just one of those situations.
 
To be fair - this is only MJ's version of what happend. This was a 100 % accident - and I really don't think anyone was to blame. It was terrible and had a HUGE impact on MJ's life afterwards, but there is noone to blame. Sometimes bad things happen... this is just one of those situations.

Yes, accidents happen, but there's human responsibility/mistakes too (we don't know which one happened in this particular case without knowing the circumstances of course, but it's not something that can be ruled out either). I think we can accept as fact that multiple takes were done, and considering it wasn't an entirely safe stunt involving explosions they could have settled with the initial successful takes.
 
Hess;4291559 said:
To be fair - this is only MJ's version of what happend. This was a 100 % accident - and I really don't think anyone was to blame. It was terrible and had a HUGE impact on MJ's life afterwards, but there is noone to blame. Sometimes bad things happen... this is just one of those situations.

ozemouze;4291569 said:
Yes, accidents happen, but there's human responsibility/mistakes too (we don't know which one happened in this particular case without knowing the circumstances of course, but it's not something that can be ruled out either). I think we can accept as fact that multiple takes were done, and considering it wasn't an entirely safe stunt involving explosions they could have settled with the initial successful takes.

Michael Jackson’s hair got fire because of Bob Giraldi’s insistence for wanting to have him up there on the stairs when the pyrotechnics exploded.

And this was not just Michael Jackson’s version of how that Pepsi accident happened.

Donald Donester was also there and he witnessed the accident taking place in front of his eyes.

Donald Donester was at that time the Los Angeles Fire Department Captain.

According to Donald Donester, the director of the Pepsi video Bob Giraldi insisted that Michael Jackson had to wait on the platform until the explosion of the pyrotechnics.

“…What happened is that the talent, Michael, was told by [Bob Giraldi] to stand there and look more majestic, so subsequently he stood under the sparks instead of being half way down the ramp when the pyrotechnics went off. He was actually under the pyrotechnics when they went off. Subsequently, you know, catching his hair on fire…You can blame [Bob Giraldi] for not communicating with the fire safety officers… What happened if we would have known what was going to be done, the communications were good until that point. And a lot of times when we’re out there as fire safety officers, the directors don’t want to be told no, so I’m sure that if he had brought that to us, we would have told him no…” (Donald Donester, Access Hollywood)

Donald Donester actually put the blame on Bob Giraldi’s insistence for wanting to have Michael Jackson up there on the stairs when the pyrotechnics exploded.

Miko Brando, who was also there during the shooting of that Pepsi commercial, confirmed both what Michael Jackson wrote in his ‘Moonwalk’ book about that, and what Donald Donester stated about that.

So, it was an accident brought on by Bob Giraldi’s mistake.
 
Hess;4291559 said:
To be fair - this is only MJ's version of what happend. This was a 100 % accident - and I really don't think anyone was to blame. It was terrible and had a HUGE impact on MJ's life afterwards, but there is noone to blame. Sometimes bad things happen... this is just one of those situations.

What’s wrong with it being “only” MJ’s version? He was there. I take MJ’s word over anybody else’s. He has no reason to skew the facts. When he wrote this, the case was already settled. Why would he give an inaccurate account of the event?
 
ScreenOrigami;4291599 said:
What’s wrong with it being “only” MJ’s version? He was there. I take MJ’s word over anybody else’s. He has no reason to skew the facts. When he wrote this, the case was already settled. Why would he give an inaccurate account of the event?

This is sometimes what's wrong with fans - not only MJ fans. - But MJ lied (or said inaccurate stuff) many many times... MJ is not always the most reliable source.
He made himself look good in Moonwalker - "I could have sued them, but we just made a settlement for only 1 million dollars..." - MJ writes something like that in the book, and it is making him llok good, so that's why he could have a interest in saying it.
 
This is sometimes what's wrong with fans - not only MJ fans. - But MJ lied (or said inaccurate stuff) many many times... MJ is not always the most reliable source.
He made himself look good in Moonwalker - "I could have sued them, but we just made a settlement for only 1 million dollars..." - MJ writes something like that in the book, and it is making him llok good, so that's why he could have a interest in saying it.

But what should he say if that's what happened? And why would this make him look good? It's completely neutral.

And no, accidents shouldn't happen during shootings, there are protocols how to handle situation that may become dangerous (e.g. including explosion). There's responsibility if something goes wrong and compensation for the injured is a common process.

And please stop with the fan-generalizing, it's tiring. Or should I start with "there are those fans too, who always questions MJ but are ready to believe anyone else no matter how reliable they are"?
 
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