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Why did Michael work with John Landis twice given the latter’s reputation?

KingofPop125

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en.m.wikipedia.org

Twilight Zone accident - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org

This was one of the most infamous and sickening moments in film history. A moment that completely changed the safety standards of filmmaking. Even though Landis was controversially acquitted, it was so bad that Steven Spielberg and Eddie Murphy (two of Michael’s celebrity friends), eventually dissociated from him completely.

I wonder why MJ decided to work with him, because there is no way he didn’t know about the deaths, it was that big. Now John Landis helped create two of the greatest music videos of all time, Thriller and Black or White. But, from an ethical pov, why did MJ work with Landis given his likely criminal negligence?

(Doesn’t help that Landis bad mouthed Michael after making those videos).
 
MJ isn't here and none of here worked with him so you're only going to get speculative answers from this forum.

The news about R. Kelly marrying Aaliyah when she was underage was public knowledge before MJ worked with him and that didn't stop him.

I don't say this to bash on MJ's judgment, I'm just saying that maybe he could turn an eye to certain things about a person's past when it came to professional relationships....except for the What More Can I Give single....
 
Ethics and moral principles do not seem to matter in the entertainment industry.

Michael Jackson was not an exception to that rule.

Although the singer knew (in 1982) that there would be a criminal trial against John Landis (for involuntary manslaughter), yet he decided to collaborate with that director (in the following year) for the 'Thriller' music video.
 
It was irresponsible and an accident happened.
If michael had dropped his kid from the balcony we would be talking about it too
 
KingofPop125 said:
it was so bad that Steven Spielberg and Eddie Murphy (two of Michael’s celebrity friends), eventually dissociated from him completely.
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Not exactly true for Eddie. I don't know anything about Landis & Spielberg though. Eddie fell out with John Landis during the filming of Coming To America. It had nothing to do with The Twilight Zone, which came out years before Coming To America. But they later made up and made Beverly Hills Cop 3 together. There is no current beef between Eddie & John.
 
Going by that logic why did 750,000 people buy This is It concert tickets considering Michael's reputation 🤔

I had no idea about that John Landis scandal btw 😳
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Because MJ was found not guilty and Landis was found not liable. Meaning he did kill kids but it was not his fault
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He wasn't found not liable; actually, the case was settled. Landis was heavily implicated in the accident, with testimonies stating he kept yelling 'LOWER LOWER!' just seconds before the crash. It makes me sick that MJ chose to collaborate with him, allowing Landis to have two of Michael Jackson's most iconic videos to his name.
 
This is the first I'm hearing about this. MJ probably only chose him because he liked his past work. He was all about the craft. The trial/investigations didn't start until after Thriller was shot. In the eyes of the law, there was technically nothing wrong with MJ working with him.

Wiki:
In October 1984, the National Transportation Safety Board (NTSB) issued its report on the accident.
Landis, Folsey, Wingo, production manager Allingham, and explosives specialist Paul Stewart were tried and acquitted on charges of manslaughter in a nine-month trial in 1986 and 1987.
 
alanram said:
He wasn't found not liable; actually, the case was settled. Landis was heavily implicated in the accident, with testimonies stating he kept yelling 'LOWER LOWER!' just seconds before the crash. It makes me sick that MJ chose to collaborate with him, allowing Landis to have two of Michael Jackson's most iconic videos to his name.
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So he did kill kids, but it wasn't his fault.

I don't like him but that's established.
 
mj_frenzy said:
Ethics and moral principles do not seem to matter in the entertainment industry.

Michael Jackson was not an exception to that rule.

Although the singer knew (in 1982) that there would be a criminal trial against John Landis (for involuntary manslaughter), yet he decided to collaborate with that director (in the following year) for the 'Thriller' music video.
Click to expand...
Why do you think that is the case, and do you think that is a moral failing on celebrities (including MJ) for working with people who may be pieces of shit or not?
 
Michael wasn't the best judge of character as indicated by his entire life. Musically he worked with whoever did things the way he liked.
 
KingofPop125 said:
en.m.wikipedia.org

Twilight Zone accident - Wikipedia

en.m.wikipedia.org en.m.wikipedia.org

This was one of the most infamous and sickening moments in film history. A moment that completely changed the safety standards of filmmaking. Even though Landis was controversially acquitted, it was so bad that Steven Spielberg and Eddie Murphy (two of Michael’s celebrity friends), eventually dissociated from him completely.

I wonder why MJ decided to work with him, because there is no way he didn’t know about the deaths, it was that big. Now John Landis helped create two of the greatest music videos of all time, Thriller and Black or White. But, from an ethical pov, why did MJ work with Landis given his likely criminal negligence?

(Doesn’t help that Landis bad mouthed Michael after making those videos).
Click to expand...
Wait john has criminal negligence???? what happened?
 
Mister_Jay_Tee said:
Because MJ was found not guilty and Landis was found not liable. Meaning he did kill kids but it was not his fault
Click to expand...
True, my point though is that MJ has a reputation of child molestation hanging over him , despite the not guilty verdict.
 
KingofPop125 said:
Why do you think that is the case, and do you think that is a moral failing on celebrities (including MJ) for working with people who may be pieces of shit or not?
Click to expand...
Note that Michael Jackson collaborated again with R. Kelly in 2003 even though he was aware of the fact that R. Kelly in 2002 was charged (by an Illinois grand jury) with 21 counts of child pornography.

Yet, Michael Jackson decided in 2003 to include R. Kelly's 'One More Chance' song on his compilation album, and even as a lead single from it.

Michael Jackson was a guy who seemed to care mainly about success, fame, money, royalties, etc, and he had no scruples about collaborating with people with a criminal record in order to achieve these goals.
 
This was not a lack of morality but rather the opposite, a very practical application of strong principles.
If we pay attention to Michaels stated message, he was into forgiveness, not cold hearted "cancellation". He knew that even if someone in the community has done something horrible, they are still a part of the community and need help and rehabilitation.

An example of this is recounted in Schmuley's book (which I don't recommend for his comments on Michael) that when two little boys had killed another child, and were sentenced to life, he went to visit them in prison. Lisa Marie argued with him that he was rewarding bad kids, and he strongly disagreed, saying they still deserved in life someone to hold them, look in their eyes and say 'I love you', as they had never experienced that.

Of course his forgiveness of children can't be directly compared to adults, or association with them, but it is an extreme example of his attitude.
 
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mj_frenzy said:
and he had no scruples about collaborating with people with a criminal record in order to achieve these goals.
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I don't know, michael was very hesitant to work with people that could hurt his image I believe. So he might have still believed R. kelly himself at that point, instead of the media, or thought that since Kelly was only the writer it wouldn't affect him.

Here you can see that he did try to protect his image (16:57):
 
Victorious said:
I don't know, michael was very hesitant to work with people that could hurt his image I believe. So he might have still believed R. kelly himself at that point, instead of the media, or thought that since Kelly was only the writer it wouldn't affect him.

Here you can see that he did try to protect his image (16:57):
Click to expand...

Yes, that might be the case.

Well, Michael, and R. Kelly were both two extremely successful black men in the (mainly white) entertainment industry. Michael was absolutely harrassed and falsely accused. I don´t need to elaborate. He MIGHT feel that R. Kelly was treated unfairly as well.

This is just a guess!
 
Victorious said:
I don't know, michael was very hesitant to work with people that could hurt his image I believe. So he might have still believed R. kelly himself at that point, instead of the media, or thought that since Kelly was only the writer it wouldn't affect him.

Here you can see that he did try to protect his image (16:57):
Click to expand...
Smh I hated the person asking him the questions. Like dude.....😒 did NOT have common sense!
 
michael said in the original ‘making of thriller’ documentary, that he only knew john landis from ‘an american werewolf in london’ and ‘a kentucky fried movie’. so it’s likely that he wasn’t aware of this tragic incident.

it’s also worth noting that michael stopped working with bob geraldi after his hair caught fire. bob geraldi had previously directed both of the ‘84 pepsi adverts, as well as short films ‘beat it’ & ‘say say say’.
 
Can we just acknowledge that people weren't "canceled" back then? People were more ostracized for being a race other than white than or a gender other than male, much more so than anything, aside from murder. A lot of people being called to account and scrutinized are for things from back then.
 
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